Honest 836 Report post Posted October 14, 2008 Unbundled BlackBerrys on store shelves soon Economic Times l 14 Oct l Mumbai Canada-based Research In Motion (RIM), the maker of BlackBerry devices, is planning to sell unbundled handsets through retail chains and some exclusive stores in India, the world’s fastest-growing wireless market. “The company is on fast track to roll out a few own outlets and sell its devices through other mobile stores. This is in addition to the operators with whom it has tied up in India,” sources said. They added that the company is in talks with RPG Cellucom, HotSpot, Mobile Store and Mobile Kingdom for retail tie-up. In response to a questionnaire by ET, RIM India VP Frenny Bawa said, “RIM has not made an announcement on this front and does not typically comment on rumours or speculation about its future plans, but as always we listen to our customers and market needs. We have an exciting roadmap of innovative products and initiatives planned and will continue to drive the evolution of the mobile market in India. We will be happy to discuss further updates when formal announcements are made.” India is adding around 9 million subscribers every month. While the creamy layer of subscribers is with Airtel and Vodafone, a huge market remains uncovered. Launching retail operations will give BlackBerry access to a bigger customer base. This is in sharp contrast to RIM’s practices world-wide, where it sells the smart phone through select operators in each country. The phone is locked to operators’ networks and users have to sign up with the specified service providers. In India, RIM has partnerships with Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, BPL Mobile, Tata Communications and Reliance Communications. These operators sell the smart phone through their own outlets. The exceptions are the US, Canada and Australia, where the demand for BlackBerry is huge. In these three countries, RIM retails devices on-line. In Canada, which is the home for RIM, the handsets are also available through Rogers stores, which sell communications products. Sources said RIM is already hiring people for its India retail operations. “India is an important market for RIM. We have several offices in India and we expect to continue growing and to continue supporting our network of partners,” said Ms Bawa. BlackBerry offers two kinds of services in India, for enterprise customers and internet services, which are for individual users. Majority of its over 1,25,000 customers in India are from the enterprise segment. Ms Bawa said India is an important and strategic market for RIM and the company is committed to growing its business in India, working together with its partner network of carriers and independent software vendors. “RIM has adopted an indirect business model to launch the BlackBerry solution in different marketplaces. This model leverages mobile operators’ expertise and network in their local markets, while RIM focuses on supporting carriers and developing leading products and services. We have experienced strong successes in our partnerships with Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, BPL and recently extended our reach to CDMA customers in India with Tata Indicom,” she added. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
