Reference Auto

Now, BlackBerry is planning a big push into the mass market with an affordable new smartphone Curve 9220 priced at Rs 10,990 but the price seems a tad steep compared with the features offered.

BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) is offering the upgraded BlackBerry 7.1 operating system in its new 9220 handset.

At Rs 10,000, RIM’s BlackBerry Curve 9220 isn’t 3G compatible. That’s a big letdown as almost all handsets (like those of Samsung and Nokia) priced over Rs 10,000 are 3G-compliant. 

Also, with people talking about 4G, a 2G handset could hit a sales bump.

The 9220 comes with a 2 MP camera, which is another reason for aspiring cellphone owners to shun it. Memory is expandable up to 32 GB and the 9220 comes with GPRS, which are standard.

The BlackBerry Curve 9220 smartphone will, however, offer the BlackBerry messaging and social networking features. The new model is believed to offer the longest lasting battery life in a BlackBerry Curve model.

It will allow users seven hours of talk time or 28 hours of music playback or FM radio listening on headphones. Now, that’s a plus. In India, BlackBerry Curve 9220 customers can download a litany of apps from BlackBerry App World worth Rs 2,500 for free.

So, what prompted BlackBerry to offer smartphone Curve 9220 for Rs 10,000? The Curve 8520, one of RIM’s best-selling models, is priced at Rs 8,900, the cheapest from RIM’s stable.

Only cheap phones can help BlackBerry get a big push in the burgeoning Indian middle-class market. That’s a lesson RIM has probably learnt.

RIM, which remained obstinate with its marketing strategy, hasn’t yet penetrated into the Indian market in a big way. Now, there are just over one million BlackBerry users in India.

But if RIM offers smartphones, which are affordable as well as feature-rich, it could make headway as a BlackBerry is a status symbol in India today. 

So, if someone could elevate his status with a cheap BlackBerry, why not?

The Curve 9220 has been targeted at the youth, according to a company official. “The new BlackBerry Curve 9220 comes with a unique mobile experience that youngsters in India will love, thanks to its affordable pricing and unmatched messaging and social connectivity features,” RIM managing director Sunil Dutt had said.

Globally, RIM’s market share in smartphones is slowly eroding and is hovering around the 10-15 per cent-mark (it had fallen to 11 per cent recently). However, India is among the few markets where it has been holding on to its share lately.

The eroding base also saw profits dwindle for RIM, which logged a net loss of $125 million for the quarter till March. Last year, it had registered a net income of $934 million in the same period.

BlackBerry is also embroiled in a security issue over its handsets with the Central government. This had taken a toll on its sales. BlackBerry must find a way to hold on to its share in India.

For it to do so, RIM will have to come up with feature-rich smartphones (much more than what the Curve 9220 has) and price these handsets at par with its competitors for sales to surge as it already has one big advantage in India: the BlackBerry brandname.