RIM slashes Playbook rates by over 50% in India

Image via Wikipedia

Research in Motion (RIM) the Canada based makers of Blackberry Playbook is offering the tablet at a highly discounted rate of over 50% in India. This was announced today as part of limited season offer.

The 16 GB model can be bought at Rs.13,490 ($254) in the Indian market instead of Rs.27,990 ($527) as it was originally priced. The 32 GB model is available for Rs.15,990 ($301), the 64 GB model is being offered for Rs.24,490 ($461) against their regular prices of Rs.32,990 ($401) and Rs.37,990 ($462) respectively.

This could be the much needed push towards gaining a part of the market share in emerging markets like India where Apple products like iPhones and iPads are just beginning to make their presence felt. RIM has just been able to sell 800,000 Playbooks globally during the first 9 months of its launch which is dismal when compared to Apple, which sold over 11 million iPads till September. With a growing middle class having a disposal income, gadget shopping is fast becoming the favourite pass time of Indians.

No doubt Asian markets like India are price sensitive and could provide RIM the much needed depth when global cues have increasingly added to its long list of woes.

The year 2011 has been particularly bad for RIM, when it saw being threatened to be banned by governments of India and Indonesia for not being able to follow local government data and privacy laws. Recently, RIM announced that it would be taking charges worth over half a billion dollars due to two major failures this year.  The over production of Playbook tablets had amounted to $485million as surplus inventory for the company. Earlier another major disaster struck RIM in the form of network outages in October which affected users in Europe, Middle East and Africa, further lowering consumer confidence in Blackberry.

RIM’s shares this year have plummeted to a multi-year low, the company has shed about $30 billion in value this year so far. The year is not yet over for Blackberry, which is also facing a trademark lawsuit from BBM Canada, a research measurement organisation over the Blackberry Messenger (BBM) trademark. In an earlier instance a US court had forced RIM to change the name of its operating system from BBX (now its called Blackberry 10).

Related articles

• Trademark lawsuit leads to Blackberry’s woes (socialmediaalley.wordpress.com)
• RIM and Indonesia battle it out over security concerns (socialmediaalley.wordpress.com)

Trademark lawsuit leads to Blackberry’s woes

Image by Roozbeh Rokni via Flickr

Adding to the woes of Research in Motion Ltd, the Canada based manufacturers of Blackberry devices has been sued by BBM Canada for using the BBM trademark. BBM popularly known as Blackberry Messenger (BBM) is the messenger service by RIM with 50mn users’ worldwide.

However, BBM Canada which stands for Bureau for Broadcast Measurement, a broadcast and audience measurement organisation has expressed the trademark infringement citing that it has been in operations longer than RIM. BBM Canada was established in 1944 much before RIM’s messenger service came into existence. Though, Bureau for Broadcast Measurement started using the shorthand of its name BBM only since 2001.

RIM has been known to spend a considerable amount advertising its BBM services and such a suit if settled against it could lead to losses. Earlier in the month, a US court had forced Research in Motion to change the name of its new operating system, which was originally called BBX. BBX has now been renamed to ‘BlackBerry 10.’

It has been possibly the worst year Research in Motion Ltd with several lows. RIM was threatened to be banned from countries like Indonesia and India for non-compliance with government policies and refusing to share encrypted data services provided on Blackberry mobile phones.

After a recent warning last week regarding the delay in the launch of new Blackberry device which is now scheduled to arrive only in the latter half of next year, RIM’s shares had plummeted to a multi-year low. RIM is not doing good sales and is facing tough competition from Apple’s iPhone and other Android based devices. Rim has also shed about $30bn in value this year so far and has been facing problems due to over production of Playbook tablets which amounted to $485million as surplus inventory. The prolonged network outages during October in Europe, Middle East and Africa had played its part in dipping consumer confidence in Blackberry’s ability to provide a seamless service.

This article of mine was originally published in Daily Post. You can access it here

RIM and Indonesia battle it out over security concerns

Blackberrys

Adding to the woes of Blackberry, Indonesian Telecommunication Regulation Body (BRTI) has threatened to end Blackberry’s messenger service popularly known as BBM after the firm refused to set up a network aggregator in the country and instead opted for Singapore for BBM servers. It has been reported by media in Indonesia, which has quoted a member of BRTI, saying: “Because RIM has not been cooperative, it is possible that we will soon end BIS or BlackBerry Internet Service) and BBM service. BlackBerry therefore, would just be like other cellular phones.”

Indonesia is home to the largest number of Blackberry users in Southeast Asia. Indonesian government has cited security reasons for insisting on hosting servers in the country. Currently, it is impossible for the government to access and monitor any of the data flowing through BIS and BBM, which is processed in Canada, the home of Research in Motion (RIM), manufacturers of Blackberry.On Saturday, RIM came out with clarifications over the issue stating that Indonesian government has given no advice especially on setting up of data center in the country, which lead to their decision of establishing the unit in Singapore.

Earlier in the year, RIM had promised to fulfil four key demands of the government, which included providing customer care and service centers, facilitating lawful interception, blocking pornographic content and building a regional data center called a network aggregator.However, the agreement between the government and RIM did not specify the location of the data centre that would allow the government to monitor data sent by Indonesians over Blackberry services.

BRTI has cautioned Indonesians about using Blackberry services considering that the safety of the data cannot be guaranteed by the government. Though RIM  in the past has shared some information with  governments around the world, a nd maintains that there is no way possibly to monitor the messenger services. BBM services are maintained through RIM’s data centres in Canada without any local nodes in any of the host countries. Though the governments around the world have pressurised the company to share users data, RIM has fought hard to maintain the promise of encrypted and safe data service to the users, which is often used by corporations for their sensitive dealings. Such controversies are not new for Research in Motion, which faced similar threats from the governments of India, UAE and Saudi Arabia in the past. Though yet to be seen how this battle plays out and whether any compromise could be reached any time soon.

The current fiscal has not been a particularly good year for RIM, which announced last week that the firm would be taking charges worth over half a billion dollars due to two major failures this year. The first failure is due to the over production of playbook tablets, which amounted to $485million. The second disaster to struck RIM was prolonged network outages in October in different countries.

Above is my article originally published in Daily Post, view it here

Related articles

• Indonesia may block BlackBerry service over Singapore envy (electronista.com)
• Indonesia threatens to shutdown BlackBerry data services (thestar.com)
• Indonesian Government Threatens BlackBerry Services Over “Security Reasons” (textually.org)