Jaguar, Rover new models will be 85 times more expensive than Nano.
After unveiling the world’s cheapest car, the Nano, Tata Motors is now gearing up to tap the other extreme of the market with new models of its recently acquired brands Jaguar and Land Rover priced in excess of £100,000.
“Jaguar and Land Rover, now owned by the Tatas, are drawing up a business strategy that will take both brands into the £100,000-plus pricing territory, currently occupied by a handful of cars such as Bentley,” a report in the UK daily The Financial Times said.
Earlier this year, the Tata group unveiled the Nano, which is expected to hit the Indian roads in the next few months, with a base model price of Rs 1 lakh. Compared with the Nano, the new models of the Jaguar and the Land Rover will be over 85 times more expensive at a price of over Rs 85 lakh.
Currently, the most expensive Jaguar model is priced at £80,000, while the majority of its models are priced between £25,000 and £75,000. The most expensive model of Land Rover is priced at £72,000, the report said. Tata Motors acquired Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.3 billion in April from the US auto giant Ford Motor.
As reported yesterday, Boy Genius Report gave us a detailed first review of the BlackBerry Bold, scheduled to hit the stores next month.
What they also did was to pit the Bold against the iPhone 3G and the result is the first ever iPhone vs BlackBerry story. They did have interesting results as far as some of the features are concerned, but who takes the crown? Read on.
Design-wise, the phones are quite dissimilar. The iPhone has the sleek, mimimalistic approach to design while the BlackBerry adds the already rich corporate touch to the phone with the excellent QWERTY keyboard and a great screen. Even though the approach to design is different, it's clear that the iPhone would take the crown easily had there been a beauty contest for phones.
Some issues with the BlackBerry screen's build quality yesterday, though. The screen is easily scratched and does not inspire confidence like the sturdy and durable iPhone (in spite of its fragile-looking glass screen).
As for the screen's functionality, the BlackBerry's 480x 320 screen trumps the iPhone anyday! It's brighter and better for everything from watching videos to photos. However, the larger size of the iPhone screen tilts the balance slightly in its favour. To answer the question of which screen is the best, the answer is clear - the BlackBerry Bold.
The iPhone OS has been a dark horse of sorts. Even though it is based on the MAC OS, it lacks some basic features like copy-paste. That's a shame for a smartphone. But with the eye candy and functionality that the iPhone OS gives, it still takes the crown as one of the best smartphone platforms available today. As for the BlackBerry, it is well known that BlackBerry loyalists swear by it. But there is little change from the previous versions. To put it simply, you won't find a guy buying the Bold just for its OS. On the contrary, most people get the iPhone for that very reason. Moreover, the number of apps for the iPhone, with the App Store and the new SDK will increase exponentially. As BGR put it, "the iPhone wins over any other handset in the world in regards to applications."
As for the other facets, no device can come close to the BlackBerry when it comes to email. Not even the iPhone with MobileMe and exchange server support. E-mail has always been RIMs domain and it seems it will be like that for quite some time. Call-quality wise, there is little to choose between the two.
On a final note, it is clear that the Bold is an effort to enhance the multimedia abilities in a device known for its corporate affinity. The iPhone on the other hand is a consumer-friendly device which in its latest avatar is much more corporate-friendly.
