Indonesians Still Love Their BlackBerrys

Indonesians Still Love Their BlackBerrys - For Sanuri, a client service technician at a national capital physical science chain, shopping for a phone could be a massive call. The 28-year-old father of 1 (who like several Indonesians has only 1 name) makes concerning $160 a month, pay within the Indonesian capital. however like several national capital residents, he’s willing to pay additional for AN impressive-looking phone. Last year he set to urge obviate his previous Nokia in favor of a $440 BlackBerry Torch. To finance it, he had to urge a loan from his leader.

The phone was definitely worth the expense, says Sanuri, World Health Organization depends on the free BlackBerry courier service to stay in-tuned with colleagues and schedule consumer visits. “Everyone is aware of what the others do,” he says. even if Indonesian retailers area unit providing additional alternatives to BlackBerry, Sanuri isn’t switch. “There area unit additional advantages I will get from BlackBerry,” he says.

While smartphone users round the world area unit moving their BlackBerrys and shopping for Google’s (GOOG) Android-powered phones and Apple’s (AAPL) iPhones, Republic of Indonesia remains a rare bright spot for analysis In Motion (RIMM). the world market share for the Waterloo (Ont.)-based company’s smartphones fell to simply four.3 p.c within the third quarter of this year, down from nine.5 p.c within the same quarter of 2011, per marketing research firm IDC. nevertheless in Republic of Indonesia, the BlackBerry software system accounts for thirty seven p.c of the market. RIM remains losing ground there, simply not as quickly as elsewhere (in 2011, BlackBerrys accounted for forty three p.c of the market). robot is currently the highest software system, however BlackBerry remains prior the two.5 p.c share for No. three Apple iOS, thanks mostly to the dominance of BBM. Indonesians conjointly like RIM’s cheap BlackBerry web Service plans like BIS Social and BIS fat-free that provide access to social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook (FB) for as very little as $4.69 a month.

“Any retail merchant should have BlackBerry,” says Ryota Inaba, chief officer of Rakuten Belanja on-line, AN e-commerce venture of Japanese on-line retail merchant Rakuten and international Mediacom (BMTR), Indonesia’s biggest media company. Republic of Indonesia “is the marketplace for RIM.” Inaba could be a BlackBerry user himself, albeit a reluctant one. “I don’t like victimization BlackBerry, to be honest,” he says. however few of Inaba’s forty workers members have high-end smartphones and lots of them don’t even use e-mail, preferring instead to talk over BBM. “BlackBerry is that the quickest thanks to communicate,” says Inaba, World Health Organization sends concerning twenty instant messages daily via the BBM service.

Indonesia isn’t as desirable a market as China or Asian nation, however it will have the world’s fourth-largest population (some 242 million people), and its economy is anticipated to extend over vi p.c this year. RIM clearly views it as a market value protective. Singapore-based interpreter Benjamin Chelliah says RIM is “currently investigating” launching a brand new cash transfer system for its Indonesian BBM platform. RIM is additionally attempting to foster Indonesia’s growing app developer community. In October, RIM opened a BlackBerry Innovation Center at the metropolis Institute of Technology to supply scholarships and different resource to young engineers engaged on BlackBerry mobile apps; identical month, RIM corporate executive Thorsten Heins traveled to national capital to push the complete.

In late Nov, RIM hosted a two-day conference for app developers in port, a part of a campaign to make interest prior the January launch of its new software system, BlackBerry ten. Regional decision maker Urpo Karjalainen told attendees that RIM is “absolutely committed” to Asian markets, which its “unique BlackBerry service has been the inspiration of our success here.”

Fending off competition and retardation its market share slide won’t be straightforward. Google’s robot software system has been creating vital inroads into geographic area. Samsung has been the most beneficiary, with its smartphone market share doubling from a year past to forty p.c. RIM’s share across the region is currently fourteen p.c, down from eighteen p.c in 2011. Nokia is taking aim at Republic of Indonesia too, asserting on Dec. four the launch of 2 Lumia smartphones victimization Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows eight software system.

In response, RIM and retailers area unit providing cheaper BlackBerrys priced around $100. “There’s planning to be a bit little bit of AN OS war,” says Sudev Bangah, country manager in national capital for IDC. As that fight heats up, aggressive valuation and new BBM services can permit “RIM to reinvent itself during a put up for sale cannot afford to lose.”

The new software system can most likely have restricted impact on Indonesians in rural areas, preferring cheaper phones. except for the upmarket market, a dear new BlackBerry may draw interest in national capital, wherever individuals “are willing to pay a bit bit additional,” says Bangah, World Health Organization expects the new OS to spice up BlackBerry shipments next year. In Republic of Indonesia, at least, RIM’s not finished nevertheless.