 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Blackberry is in for tough competition in India with global majors like Hewlett Packard and Microsoft gearing up to offer products to the smartphone and handheld PC segment in India, a segment which till now was ruled by Blackberry.
However, it is not all bad news for Blackberry as telecom majors like Hutch and Reliance Communications are planning offer its services in the country, banking on the expiry of an exclusive agreement with Blackberry.
The Indian market is slowing moving towards high-end mobile use, with users going in for a multitude of connectivity modes on a single phone.
These include the tri-band (850/900/1800) GSM, GPRS and Bluetooth, apart from Pushmail and Packet MSN. Moreover, applications like Word, Excel and Powerpoint have emerged as a need of the day.
HP is positioning its iPaq series in the country, which will help it get a foothold on the high-end telephony equipment market.
The Sao Paulo-based company has launched around four models of its iPaq series mobile phones, while a couple of additional models are expected to be launched in the country soon.
"We have launched the iPaq series, positioning it for the enterprise segment customers, who would be using it for accessing both voice and data. We intend to have around 6-7 models by the end of this year as the market for high-end phones is on an upswing," HP India Country Manager (Consumer Portables) Rajiev Grover told Business Standard on Tuesday.
HP hopes to sell around 4,000-5,000 units per month in the country, as the industry is witnessing an increasing trend in people moving over to high-end devices.
Microsoft is also planning to enter push e-mail segment, which was monopolised by Blackberry by supporting e-mail on handheld devices.
The company's partners in India are iMate, HP, O2 and Eten, and according to sources Microsoft would be working with these partners, even as it is scouting for new partners.
Airtel, through an exclusive tie-up, had introduced Blackberry and had sold around 60,000 handsets in the country. The tie-up had expired last month and now, Hutchison Essar and Reliance Communications are looking at offering the services.
Both the mobile operators are expected to begin offering BlackBerry phones in the next few months, even though an official deal is yet to be finalised.
Hutch is likely to to offer the services by next month, while Reliance is likely to offer these in the next three-month period. Officials of both the companies declined to comment, stating that the companies do not divulge their future plans.