Interviews

Blackberry focussed on Partner Profitability in India

BlackBerry
Prosenjit Sen
Director, BlackBerry
Blackberry has not exactly set the stage alight with its recent launches. However, the company believes that things are not all that bad in the price segment that they’re in. Prosenjit Sen, Director, Channel Sales at BlackBerry India discusses the scenario in the country, addresses concerns over the quality of service and various other aspects in a free-wheeling chat with ChannelTimes.

How are you addressing the issue of market share loss? The Z10 and Q10 were key for a turnaround. However, not much happened post the launch?

Let me address this at two levels. In terms of market share, it is important to categorize the market by price point. BlackBerry doesn’t play in the sub $150 market and we have one product in the sub $200 category. Compare this with the slew of products on other platforms in the sub $100-150 category and immediately market share becomes redundant.

In terms of device success, you have to appreciate that BlackBerry 10 as a platform has only been on the market for about 8 months and we are pleased with the response we have received here in India. BlackBerry Z10, Q10 and Q5 smartphones cater to a varied set of audience. Relevant promotional schemes such as buy back offers and EMI schemes, application ecosystem and the uniqueness of BlackBerry 10 platform have further helped in increasing sales.

Further, we continue to focus on BlackBerry 7 OS and have launched BlackBerry 9720 smartphone which will be a significant contributor in driving BlackBerry growth in youth and tier 2 cities
We will continue to focus on relevant innovation and pricing of BlackBerry devices for the Indian market. We will invest in our retail distribution and marketing activities across the nation with our partners Redington, Ingram Micro and Brightpoint.

It has been seen that BlackBerry users are not so satisfied with the existing service support? Can you explain BlackBerry return and repair policy?

We understand and value the importance of after sale services especially in a country as diverse as India. While we continue to ramp up our authorized service centers across the country, we also urge our consumers to purchase products and accessories via authorized sales channels. This ensures that our customers enjoy the rich product experience and complete peace of mind.

Can you elaborate the existing channel distribution model you have for range of products? How your partners are catering to home and enterprise customers, can you tell us the split of both?

Retail distribution set-up has played a key role in our overall growth in India and we will continue this momentum by remaining very active on the sales and distribution front with presence key touch points across India. Further, with the help of our partners and distributors such as Ingram, Redington, Brightpoint and HCL Infosystems we have managed to take these initiatives a step forward by setting up more BlackBerry retail stores which will offer an in-depth product experience for consumers to experience BlackBerry services. Further with attractive promotions and schemes we continue to see excitement at our retail stores.

Now that BBM will be available on iOS and Android platforms as well, do you think you’ll be able to retain customers, particularly the youth?

BBM™ lets you have real conversations with friends. Not only does BBM let you know when your messages have been delivered and read, it also tells you when people are responding to your message. Emoticons for every mood and emotion help you express yourself in your chats. This powerful messaging application will no longer be restricted to BlackBerry users alone. We have announced that BBM will be available for Android and iOS users.

While BBM is one of the most popular apps, it’s not the only the reason for purchase of BlackBerry smartphones. The overall messaging experience on BlackBerry will continue to be a key driver for purchase of BlackBerry smartphones and we will continue to invest in making this experience relevant with changing times.

In challenging times, with product prices going high and rupee dropping against the dollar, how do you see the sentiments of channel and profitability maintained?

While it is indeed challenging times, BlackBerry is committed to the Indian market and we’re working closely with our channel partners to ensure that we do not pass this on to the customer. We haven’t increased the prices of our products and the consumers can continue to buy their favourite BlackBerry smart phones at the prevailing market prices.

What are your key priorities for the channel partners? What are the new opportunities you see for your enterprise channel partners?

I think this is a fairly simple answer; our focus for channel partners is to ensure profitability despite the challenging macro-economic scenario. BlackBerry continues to an aspirational brand. With the increase in tele-density more consumers started to rely on smartphones for their increasing communication needs beyond voice calls. Leveraging this trend BlackBerry has significantly expanded our reach in tier II and III cities across India.

A BlackBerry device does much more than a traditional smartphone; it caters to the utility and productivity needs of the user. We have seen over the years that our brand excites the enterprise and consumer segment alike. Hence, we have devices such as the Curve series which are the entry level smartphones, mostly targeted at the youth segment that are looking for affordable phones with a good productivity quotient. The higher end series such as Torch, Bold and the newly launched BlackBerry Z10 devices are meant for the more sophisticated users who are primarily based in the enterprise segment. We shall continue with the momentum in both the segments and keep on pushing the bar of innovation to churn out highly efficient mobile computing devices for our users across various segments. We plan to use our channel partners’ expertise in tier 1 and 2 cities to further strengthen our presence and growth.

Blackberry does not have strong presence in tier-II cities, what are your plans to enter into smaller cities and how?

I’d tend to disagree with this and as mentioned earlier, we have retail and service presence across the country. While smartphone market is growing in tier 2 and 3 cities we are focused on markets which are relevant from a BlackBerry target audience. These markets are adequately equipped with stores and service centers that cater its growing demand. Our portfolio of devices on BlackBerry OS 7 and BlackBerry 10 platform cater to the basic and aspirational needs of consumers. Additionally, we have lowered the total cost of ownership with tariff plan of Rs.129/- per month and EMI schemes on Curve series of smartphones. These factors have helped us to be a strong smartphone player in tier 2 and 3 cities.

With the availability of alternative channel like IT, telecom, TV, online and LFRs, how is BlackBerry putting thrust on these channels? Also, which is the fast evolving channel for you?

BlackBerry is available at multi-vendor outlets and large format retail stores in addition to having set up our own BlackBerry Experience Zones and BlackBerry Exclusive Stores across the country. We also work with carriers to provide bundled offerings to our customers. The online sphere is definitely among the fastest evolving channels and we are focused on ensuring we leverage this well.

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