BlackBerry India Managing Director(MD) Sunil Dutt, who recently unveiled the company?s next generation of smartphones with the launch of the BlackBerry Z10, has resigned. He had joined the company in December 2011. The BlackBerry Z10 has been seen as an important launch for the beleaguered company, as it fights to gain back the market share against market competitors such as Apple?s iPhone and Google?s Android operating system.
The news of Dutt?s resignation is extremely surprising as Thorston Heins, the CEO of BlackBerry had stated that the Z10 had received encouraging response in India. In fact initial batches of Z10 had sold out 2 days after the launch.
?I was surprised when we launched in India how well the Z10, which is a high-end device, sold. We shipped into the channel product that we thought would have been good for at least five days and I got an emergency call from our manager in India, saying that they were sold out in two days.?
A BlackBerry India spokesperson has confirmed the news.
?I can confirm Sunil Dutt has left his position as Managing Director, BlackBerry India with immediate effect. We wish Sunil well for the future. In the interim, Rick Costanzo, Executive Vice President for Global Sales, will take over the leadership of the talented management team in India as we start the search for a new Sales lead as soon as possible. India is an extremely important market for BlackBerry and our aim is to continue to build on our recent momentum with the launch of BlackBerry 10.?
There is no denying that BlackBerry?s market share has been falling steeply not in India but also in the rest of the world. This jolt only heightens the troubles of the Canada-based smartphone maker. India has been one of the markets where BlackBerry has had a good foothold. BlackBerry also has a strong brand value, especially among the youth in India. I might go on to say that BlackBerry was even a status symbol some time back in the country.
According to a Voice & Data Survey, RIM?s revenues dropped 25 percent to Rs 1,460 crore from Rs 1,950 crore between 2011-12 as compared to 2011.
RIM had a market share of 4.7 percent and was at the fourth spot behind Nokia, Samsung and Micromax. Cybermedia Research had also reported in the last quarter of 2012 that while Apple shipped 280,000 devices in India, BlackBerry only shipped 210,000 units. BlackBerry sales now account for less than 5 percent of smartphone sales worldwide.
I could name a number of good reasons which have led to the downfall of BlackBerry. One major reason was that RIM?s management refused to believe that Androids and iPhones were bringing about a change in user needs. The main reason was they failed to innovate; and ultimately got dethroned and even lost out the advantages of their USP: business-class email servers and the popular BBM. Smartphones from competitors with a huge number of apps then gave RIM(now BlackBerry) a run for their money. Later on, BlackBerry also dabbled with a tablet, Playbook which came with a QNX-based OS, but to no avail.
On the other hand, the company?s launch of BlackBerry 10 sporting smartphone Z10 has received praise from the tech media industry to some extent(there were brickbats as well).
BlackBerry 10 has been touted as the only scope of a rebirth for the company. I feel BlackBerry can rise up to the competition, provided they make the right moves. The way the next few months pan out, I think will decide whether BlackBerry will live or die.
Until then, fingers crossed.
Story Source | BGR India
Image Source | Economic Times and Ubergizmo
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Rohit Singh Jain
blogger. technology enthusiast. kind of a gamer and an open source aficionado. email: rjrrohit@gmail.com Twitter: @rohitsinghjainncaa final game reba mcentire acm awards the killing april fools global payments eli young band
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