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While BlackBerry prepares lower-cost devices for the emerging markets like India and Indonesia, it has no plans to compete in the entry-level segment, offering devices that cost as little as $50. According to the company’s CEO Thorsten Heins, it’s important to understand where you are playing and resist being talked into segments that you know will not serve your purpose and will not result in shareholder value. He added: “You will not see us getting into the 50-, 60-buck phone segment. This is not BlackBerry.”
And BlackBerry doesn’t need that market apparently, as its India subsidiary managed to move five days’ worth of inventory in just two days. This is despite the fact that users can only buy an unsubsidized Z10 for 43,490 rupees, which translates into roughly $800.
The Canadian company is now more focused on Asia where its devices sell much better than in developed markets of Europe and North America. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t want these users as well — quite the contrary, we’re expecting new LTE-enabled BlackBerrys to be released later in the year.
In the meantime, we’re still not sure what to think of BlackBerry’s efforts which may or may not prove enough to stay relevant in this ever competitive market…
[Via: Bloomberg]
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
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