We won't play the volume game, says Blackberry India

Nixes entry into low-end market

Handset maker Blackberry has no plans to get into the low-end handset market in India, according to Blackberry India Managing Director Sunil Lalvani.

“The low-end handset segment in India, though is the biggest in size and growth in the country, is quite crowded. It constitutes close to 75 per cent of the total handset market in the country with lots of Chinese players present in that segment as well,” Lalvani told Deccan Herald.

If we go for low-end handsets in India, it will hit our gross margins and therefore, we will continue to focus on the mid to high-end segment in India and are not looking at the low-end handset segment in India, Lalvani added.

The company, which has three devices in India currently, namely Passport, Classic and Z3, has launched its latest offering in the India market, Leap. Though the company declined to comment on the pricing of the device in India, it said that the device will be available in India from May 12. The Leap is priced in the US at $275.

According to Lalvani, the company is looking at bringing in more devices to the Indian market during the course of this year.

“The Slider is likely to make its debut in India later this year. We had launched a tablet globally in associaton with Samsung, and Blackberry may look at launching that in India as well, if the market demands it,” Lalvani said.

Blackberry had phased out its tablet Playbook from the market as a corporate decision. Around 42 per cent of our revenues come from hardware, 10 per cent from software and 48 per cent from the services business.

The revenue mix is quite similar when it comes to India and India will remain among the top tier countries that we operate in currently, Lalvani added.

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Low-end handset segment holds 75% of market
Blackberry to focus on high-end matrket only
Leap will be available from May 12 in India
Mulls launch of more global products in India