Asia Bizz: Research In Motion, the popular BlackBerry handset maker slashed the prices of its handsets by up to 26 percent in the Indian market on March 28, 2012. With the latest move by the company, RIM aims to grab more market share in the most lucrative market in the world. The company has reduced the prices of its smartphones after it cut the prices of its PC PlayBook tablet in the month of December last year.
Sunil Dutt, the managing director of RIM India, said that RIM is a brand that has moved from just an enterprise device to a more consumer device. Dutt added that they have seen a strong uptake by the youth be it their service or the product in order to get the devices into more hands. Sunil even expressed that the move will help them tap a wider base of the large market that India has to offer.
In terms of the new prices, the entry level model Curve 8520 has been reduced to more than 18 percent to Rs 8,999 from Rs 10,990, while the price of the Torch 9860 has been reduced up to 26 percent from Rs 29,990 to Rs 21,990. Even the retail price of the Curve 9380 and 9360 has been reduced to Rs 16,990 and Rs 18,990 respectively; the handsets were earlier available for Rs 20,990 and Rs 19,990. Dutt added that the four handsets comprised the bulk of the sales in the Asian country.
CyberMedia Study has mentioned that the smartphone shipments touched 11.2 million units in the year 2011, which recorded an 87 percent growth. Meanwhile, Nokia became the leader in the smartphone segment with 38 percent share in the market and then came Samsung with 28 percent share. RIM stood in the third place with 15 percent share.
