BlackBerry to focus on upcountry and product solutions

Reinstating its commitments for the Indian market, BlackBerry is keen to expand into upcountry markets with an added product range besides the regular bundle offers. Further, the telecom major is keen over updating its channel base with Ingram Micro and Redington in offering first level service to its users.

"We are shortly coming up with new ventures, plans and products catering to the upcountry market. Besides metros which has been our stronghold, we are also planning to increase focus on tier-2 cities," says Advait Vaidya, head, product management, BlackBerry India.

However, the vendor is not keen over divulging any of its plans at the moment with Vaidya stating that 'people will hear from us shortly over the upcountry plans'. Over its plans for increasing the channel base as well as upgrade partners, BlackBerry has already initiated the program for technical training for its leading partners in resolving service issues. Presently, among its 3 NDs, the program has been taken up with Redington and Ingram Micro.

Besides its plans for the upcountry, the company is gearing up to offer its users a better smartphone experience through its apps service along with an upgraded messenger service.

"We have recently allowed integration of third party applications with the BBM which is growing at a fast pace. Besides, we have also ensured that updated versions of social media apps are launched to maintain the pace," says Sunil Lalvani, director, enterprise sales, BlackBerry India.

Addressing consumer vexation over BlackBerry maps, Lalvani informed that BlackBerry is addressing the maps problem in India by tying up with Bing to provide mapping solutions for the country. However, for the time being, BlackBerry is not considering adding Indian navigation and mapping features in the critical BlackBerry maps.

With the recent launch of BlackBerry OS 7 and the hardware upgradation of its smartphone range, Vaidya seemed confident of its financial growth in the country. "The new features both in hardware, OS and apps alongwith the system upgrades are tailored to keep up to the recent technological changes and I am confident about our projected growth," adds Vaidya.

Although the vendor did not reveal its growth figures in India, Vaidya stated the growth in the 'emerging markets' globally to be around 65% on y-o-y basis. Besides its focus over channel empowerment and upcountry expansion, BlackBerry is keen to address the enterprise segment, developing BlackBerry balance along with Cisco Webex integration.