HCL replaces Redington for BB Services for North, East

After the launch of its much-awaited flagship smartphone Z10 based on the first generation of BlackBerry 10 operating system in India for Rs 43,490, now the company is ramping up its BlackBerry exclusive stores (BES) and has also strengthened its servicing infrastructure in the country by replacing Redington with HCL Infosystems.

With the new service provider coming on board, the handset maker has opened up 100 new service centers that will address consumer queries and complaints within 24 hours. Moreover for the new Z10 users it is offering express service at HCL service centers.

In an exclusive interaction with /The DQ Week/ new channel sales director Prosenjit Sen, who has replaced Amit Mathur informed, "BlackBerry OS10 is the biggest launch for BlackBerry in India and we have been preparing for ramping up our retail, distribution and service network much ahead before the launch. We got lot of time to work on our distribution for the launch of Blackberry 10. Besides our distribution channel and BlackBerry Experience Zone(BEZ) for our OS 7, we took initiative to open BlackBerry exclusive stores (BES), in high streets of major cities."

Currently, the company has 66 BES in top 40 cities and 800 multi-branded BEZ in 62 cities. "Before the Z10, most of our exclusive stores were not there as we were waiting to have a high premium product so that we can sustain these stores, now when BlackBerry Z10 came out, we started the placement. Of 66 BES, we have also opened 4 BlackBerry flagship stores, which would offer complete high-end and enterprise solutions to the premium customers," he added.

As the company is all set to launch its Q10 in the current month, another 6 flagship stores will get opened. Gunning high on the new OS, Sen said, "The OS10 is a new platform being launched with lots of excitement. We launched it with 70,000 apps, no any OS is ever launched with so many apps, of which 9,000 apps were developed locally. Keeping the momentum high, very soon we will be launching Q10, we have already launched it in UK. Most of the BlackBerry users are holding back on Z10, as they are awaiting for Qwerty Q10."

As Redington is in the phase of exiting from services, a lot of Redington centers are being taken over by HCL. "We are almost done with the change. Earlier, Redington was working as a collection center for any repair, the handset used to go to Bengaluru, but with HCL all the repair and replacement will happen at the service center. Moreover the service provider is capable to handle any L1 and L2 service issues. With the new change, we will reduce the turn around time to less than 24 hrs service. For Z10, we are offering express service to the customers," Sen added.

Apart from services and retail enhancement. The company has rolled out attractive offers for the upcountry market. BlackBerry announced the introduction of a new data plan for its BlackBerry OS 7 consumers in India. New BlackBerry subscribers across 15 circles of Aircel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone network can subscribe the plan and avail 1 Gb of data at Rs 129 per month. It has also rolled out 9 EMI offering on BlackBerry 9220 and Z10.