Canadian BlackBerry fans can now pre-order the company’s new Classic smart phone wireless service provider BB) has started taking pre-orders for the Classic through its own online store. The company is selling the handsets without a wireless plan for $499.

The Classic comes with a 3.5-inch display and is powered by a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor and runs the BlackBerry 10.3 mobile operating system. It has 2GB of RAM, A 2515mAh battery a 2MP front-facing camera and an 8MP rear-facing camera. But the much awaited featured of the 178-gram device is its physical QWERTY keyboard which harkens back to the design that made BlackBerry smart phones the favourite of business users up until Apple’s iPhone and the horde of Android phones began eating up its market.

Why is the Classic’s release important?

• Since its painful restructure move, BlackBerry has released a series of new products but none has really captured the consumers’ hearts
• The recently released mould-breaking Passport has generated much interest, but how people receive a traditional design that recalls BlackBerry’s glory days is an important litmus test for the company because of it link to BlackBerry core brand image
• A December 17 release could be risky for BlackBerry because many buyers would want to make sure they receive their handsets in time for Christmas