[Charusen]

The leading models of BlackBerry 7 smartphones were introduced in India starting from the iconic BlackBerry Bold 9900 back in August 2011. Later till December, all other phones BlackBerry Torch 9810, BlackBerry Torch 9860, BlackBerry Curve 9360, BlackBerry Curve 9380 & BlackBerry Bold 9790 were launched successfully. The Curve series, as usual, is the enrty point Blackaberry & the pricing of Rs. 19,900 for Curve 9360/9380 has been a turn-off factor for many. Though it sports NFC & Radio with the latest OS 7.1, the new Crackberrys preferred staying behind with Curve 8520 which is still a huge successor.
According to Mr. Sunil Dutt, MD, RIM India, the price drop for all devices will eventually occur later this year. The starting range of Blackaberry 7 smartphones will be available for less than Rs. 15,000 cutting those recently vast hyped prices due to crash of Indian currency rate.
This news from officials also hints the upcoming devices later this year sporting company�s upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS which is mostly based on BlackBerry PlayBook�s Tablet OS. BlackBerry 10 is set to demo at Mobile World Conference later next month and will display the future of company�s roadmap.

Source: SocialBarrel

All BlackBerry 7 Smartphones Prices to Reduce in 2012 | BlackBerry India

[BBNation]

makes sense. Get rid of all 7s, increase BBM users and market share.

[sam_b77]

And I just bought a 9860 for my wife. Life is on a mission to screw me

[llllBULLSEYE]

That's pretty smart by RIM gotta keep their big markets happy.
Hope they do the same for the other countries.
Same thing in my country everyone still sports the 8520 curve
the rest the 9700
while only a few have the $21,000 Bold 9900
That's 3 months average salary

[sam_b77]

That's pretty smart by RIM gotta keep their big markets happy.
Hope they do the same for the other countries.
Same thing in my country everyone still sports the 8520 curve
the rest the 9700
while only a few have the $21,000 Bold 9900
That's 3 months average salary

$21,000 Bold 9900?? Is that US Dollars or African Dollars?

[llllBULLSEYE]

no lol damn sorry not in $ U.S
its about $567

[EchoTango]

No big surprise here. When products get stale in a fast moving market, prices must come down in order to maintain volumes. I'm sure it's part of RIM's product plan and fully baked into the financial forecasts.

The only real question is when. Having to discount earlier is often a sign that the products are not selling (alla Playbook) and pricing actions is needed to clear inventory or risk having to take a significant inventory write off. Of course the reverse is also true, which would indicate volumes are still maintaining a healthy level and discounting can be delayed. A problem all device manufacturers would like to have.

Unfortunately for RIM, they dealt BB7 a death blow by talking up the BB10 devices, including providing unrealistically aggressive delivery dates, causing many folks to delay purchases in order to get the "new" phone. They seemed to realize this just prior to CES and didn't hint/speculate/leak anything regarding the BB10 devices.

One has wonder at the business acumen of RIM's senior management, not seeming to understand these marketing 101 principles.

[Rootbrian]

If I had a company, I wouldn't leak anything until it was released.

But things happen and leaks aren't secured enough. I doubt it's a "death blow", it's just introduction of new devices/platforms.

Sent from my Crackberry @ wapforums.crackberry.com

[_StephenBB81]

No big surprise here. When products get stale in a fast moving market, prices must come down in order to maintain volumes. I'm sure it's part of RIM's product plan and fully baked into the financial forecasts.

The only real question is when. Having to discount earlier is often a sign that the products are not selling (alla Playbook) and pricing actions is needed to clear inventory or risk having to take a significant inventory write off. Of course the reverse is also true, which would indicate volumes are still maintaining a healthy level and discounting can be delayed. A problem all device manufacturers would like to have.

Unfortunately for RIM, they dealt BB7 a death blow by talking up the BB10 devices, including providing unrealistically aggressive delivery dates, causing many folks to delay purchases in order to get the "new" phone. They seemed to realize this just prior to CES and didn't hint/speculate/leak anything regarding the BB10 devices.

One has wonder at the business acumen of RIM's senior management, not seeming to understand these marketing 101 principles.

Or when you actually read the Article and compare India and see that the price drop is in part due to the falling currency

and bringing the phones in line with the nations disposable income. the devices are 4 months old, so early adopters have purchased, the country doesn't have contract discounts for people to be waiting for contracts to be over, so a price drop maintains distribution and keeps people buying.

[sam_b77]

Or when you actually read the Article and compare India and see that the price drop is in part due to the falling currency

and bringing the phones in line with the nations disposable income. the devices are 4 months old, so early adopters have purchased, the country doesn't have contract discounts for people to be waiting for contracts to be over, so a price drop maintains distribution and keeps people buying.

Spot on. Every mobile phone price drops in India after 4-5 months. Its expected and many people wait before buying the new model. The idiotic early adopters like me know this yet we have to have the device a day before launch for bragging rights and happily pay the launch price. The price falls by around $50 by the second or third week.

The Bold 9900 fell by around $50 a month after I bought it (one day before launch, the day Kevin put up his unboxing video ). Then it went up around November owing to the fall of Indian Currency against the dollar.

That fall has hit the sales of all imported products and over all sales have suffered in India. For people questioning RIM's business acumen for discounting, consider this that the auto companies were begging for customers to sell their stock to.

For a country that imports its tech items, the fall against the dollar almost stops sales of imported items.