[sf49ers]

RIM strengthens India team before BlackBerry 10 launch | Business Standard

[bhrgvr]

Can you please post the article here? Unable to open it on my phone browser...

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[Andrew4life]

RIM strengthens India team before BlackBerry 10 launch
The company is strenghtening its sales, marketing team to ensure the pitch is ready for the new model

Before Blackberry launches its newest innovation – BlackBerry 10 in the Indian market by end of February, the company is strengthening its sales and marketing team in India to ensure that the pitch is ready for the new kid.

But, before it launches the newest device in India, the company is in process of strengthening its India team to ensure that the pitch is ready for the new kid. BlackBerry has recently hired Prosenjit Sen as Director (Channel Sales), a newly created position. Sen moved to BlackBerry from Samsung Electronics as a Director (sales – south and west region).

Earlier, the company had two sales directors looking after enterprise and retail sales.

“We are strengthening our sales team keeping in mind the rising smart phone sales in India,” said Sunil Dutt, Managing Director, Research In Motion India Pvt Ltd.
Besides, BlackBerry has appointed Ashish Gupta as its new marketing director. Gupta, an ex-HP hand, will replace Krishnadeep Baruah who has moved to a bigger role for BlackBerry’s Asia Pacific operations. The company also hired Sumita Tandon as its HR head. Tandon is also moving from HP.
Meanwhile, to boost presence in the retail market, BlackBerry is planning to spread wings to atleast 100 more cities, primarily in the smaller ones, across the country over the next one year, said Dutt.
BlackBerry currently has six exclusive premium retail outlets and sells products through about 5,000 retail touchpoints across 250 cities in India.
“Besides enhancing our retail presence, we will be opening about 100 walk-in service centres across India over the next six months,” added Dutt.
However, BlackBerry that currently has about 12% market share in India’s smart phone market has no plan to tap the fast growing sub-Rs 10,000 smart phone category.
The above Rs 10,000 smart phone market is growing at about 20% in India, said Dutt, adding that the company is growing in line with the market.

[Dapper37]

Keep it up BlackBerry!

[bhrgvr]

thanks a lot Andrew...

BlackBerry already has some old phones like the 8520 being sold close to 10k region.... Going below 10k will dilute the brand and image in the minds of the conscious middle class Indians. BlackBerry is an aspirational brand and people will want to buy it... Otherwise it becomes just like the other cheap phones.

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[bhrgvr]

And yeah... WTG BlackBerry... Looking forward to seeing the z10 in my hands soon. Rumours point to 24th February release in India

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[Omi_Ons]

i work for blackberry KIPO india.. n i get atleast 15-20 calls daily for the query "when is the BB10 releasing in india?" ... theres already a big excitement within my colleagues n frnds for this handheld.. even am also waiting for this release rumoured feb 24th...
i dont care abt the apps availability but one thing tht takes my step back for getting bb Z10 is the processor of texas instruments for the replacement of S4 snapdragon processor in india... i understand theres no 4G/LTE network n we use 3G/UMTS network... but the this processor will really matters on other sticks like gaming... i wonder i will have Z10 with snapdragon...:

[Whitecaps]

1.3 billion people there.... A great number of Z10s will be sold like crazy... This kinda explains why there r such a low number of stocks in Canada and UK... Theyre saving most of them for Indians!

[bhrgvr]

Remember that nearly 60% of the Indians sustain on less than a dollar a day. So that diminishes a whole lot of the 1.3B. But yes the market is big and will happen if BB gets the price point right.

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[BBNation]

People keep saying that india is lower handset market and under esitimate higher and middle class.. higher and middle class users are in millions...it's 2nd largest cell phone market..over 500 mill users..even if half mil sold in India is pretty good. add that up to many countries, global lauhc..we are talking millions..

[duckJAI]

when's the India launch?

any word on the China launch?

[world traveler and former ceo]

BB Z10 will be huge in India! .. Its an amazing phone and already very popular in UK and Canada ... the first two countries to launch! ...

[travaz]

Crank em out.... just be mindful of the build quality

[richardat]

1.3 billion people there.... A great number of Z10s will be sold like crazy... This kinda explains why there r such a low number of stocks in Canada and UK... Theyre saving most of them for Indians!

No. That's incorrect. As bhrgvr points out, much of India lives at a very low income level. The actual market for smartphones is smaller than 1/4 of the US if I recall one former metric correctly.

[Requiems]

I feel qualified to talk about this since my father follows the Indian markets due to work.

There's a LOT of money in India.
Yea, it's concentrated among the a low percentage of total people. But those people love to spend, and 20% of 1.3B is still 250m, which is 80% ofthe population of the USA. And India, unlike the USA, still loves BlackBerry.

It's a gold mine for Blackberry if the company plays it right.

[BBNation]

Looks like it is sold for over $1500 in grey market in India..the legit will cost around 40k ruppes..about $789. Good buzz, profit margin for BB. rumour launch date is feb 24
BlackBerry Z10 is here, costs Rs 80,000!

[stberry]

there is a lot of craze for blackberry and apple products in india....blackberry has a stronger hold as they release their product quickly after the launch unlike apple....!!
just wondering when will they release q10..... my birthday's here....and i want it !!

[Emu the Foo]

They need a big launch everywhere!!!

[Tim-ANC]

Crank em out.... just be mindful of the build quality

This concerns me too.

[richardat]

I feel qualified to talk about this since my father follows the Indian markets due to work.

There's a LOT of money in India.
Yea, it's concentrated among the a low percentage of total people. But those people love to spend, and 20% of 1.3B is still 250m, which is 80% ofthe population of the USA. And India, unlike the USA, still loves BlackBerry.

It's a gold mine for Blackberry if the company plays it right.

LOL. Not sure if that came from your dad, but it isn't quite that simple! It is true though, there is potential for a lot of growth in India. In the next couple of years I could see it reaching 1/2 the US marketsize.

[Whitecaps]

LOL. Not sure if that came from your dad, but it isn't quite that simple! It is true though, there is potential for a lot of growth in India. In the next couple of years I could see it reaching 1/2 the US marketsize.

Dude you've probably never been to India?
image.jpg
This man spent $22,000 for that shirt...

[pallav_db]

http://www.univercell.in/buy/Blackberry/Z_10
Stores are getting ready for Z10 in India

[bhrgvr]

Crank em out.... just be mindful of the build quality

Generally the quality of BB's are good here

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[bhrgvr]

http://www.univercell.in/buy/Blackberry/Z_10
Stores are getting ready for Z10 in India

I am going tomorrow and booking one.... I got to have it.

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[world traveler and former ceo]

bb Z10 - Has a launch date been announced for india? ...