Verizon-Bound 'BlackBerry Priv' Preorder Window Could Start On Mar 3

Verizon Wireless will apparently start taking the preorders for the BlackBerry Priv smartphone this week.

Jeffrey Nelson, VP of Communications for Verizon's consumer and enterprise businesses, has corroborated this information indirectly via Twitter while answering a user query. According to the tweet, the carrier will open the preorder window on March 3.

While the BlackBerry Priv went on sale in the U.S. and Canada in November last year, the Verizon variant got approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in December. GSM Arena says Verizon will start selling the Priv from March 11. This is the same day Samsung will be releasing the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge globally.

With the next-generation flagships lined up, will the BlackBerry Priv go through a price cut in Verizon? As of now, there’s no confirmation available to ensure this. However, towards the end of 2015, BlackBerry CEO John Chen acknowledged that it makes sense to reduce the price in 2016, as the housed configurations of the Priv will be outdated when compared to the next-generation devices.

Meanwhile, BlackBerry Store has reduced the price of Priv by $50 for a limited period of time. With the offer, this device can now be availed for $649.99, while the regular price used to be $699.

Spec-wise, the BlackBerry Priv features a 5.4-inch display, packed with 1,440 x 2,560 pixels resolution and Corning’s Gorilla Glass 4 protection. This handset comes with a slider keyboard and a dual-curved-edge display, much like the Galaxy S6 Edge. Even though, the phone runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS, it is upgradable to Android 6.0.

The Priv is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 SoC and backed by 3 GB of RAM. It comes equipped with 32 GB of native storage space and a Li-Ion 3,410 mAh non-removable battery unit helps keep the lights on.

Here is the tweet from Nelson corroborating the BlackBerry Priv preorder commencement date specific to Verizon, indirectly: