BlackBerry joins the bling brigade with new limited edition gold Passport smartphone

In what seems to be an ever-growing trend of mobile phone firms “going gold,” BlackBerry is the latest to join the bling brigade with a new limited edition black-and-gold Passport smartphone.

Launched last year to mixed reviews, the very “square” BlackBerry Passport has so far been available in white, black, and a limited red edition. Now, 50 people will be able to land the black-and-gold incarnation engraved with “Limited Edition” and the relevant production number. The damage? $899 in the U.S. and C$999 (about US$811) in BlackBerry’s native Canada.

Earlier this month, Microsoft leapt on the bling bandwagon, too, with the launch of a gold edition Lumia 930 smartphone and one for its recently unveiled Lumia 830. Apple, too, launched a gold version of the iPhone 5S back in 2013, while Samsung introduced a glitzy color scheme for the Galaxy S4.

While BlackBerry has restricted the initial run to just 50, if it sees demand, it could well make more available.