New BlackBerry phone with FM

Canadian based Research in Motion (RIM) maker of BlackBerry, on Wednesday, launched its new smartphone ‘Curve 9220’ here. It is priced at Rs 10,990.

“The phone has a number of features, including a dedicated Black Berry messenger key, and is loaded with the company's latest operating system (OS) 7.1 OS. It also has a built in FM radio,” RIM Managing Director India Sunil Dutt told reporters. This is the first time the RIM launched its product in India for global market.

The Curve 9220 may be the most affordable BlackBerry smartphones with upgraded BlackBerry 7.1 operating system. Currently, the Curve 8520, which is one of RIM’s best selling models, is available at an MRP of Rs 8,999.

“RIM is growing 35 per cent year-on-year and it added 20 million customers last year across the world,” Dutt said adding the company has over 77 million customers globally. The new BlackBerry Curve 9220 smartphone will offer all BlackBerry messaging and social-centric features, he said.

The company is also offering many free applications with the phone including games, pencil camera, photo studio pro and horoscope oracle till June 30, 2012.RIM posted a net loss of US$125 million for three months ended March 3, 2012 compared to net income of US$934 million in the same quarter of fiscal 2011.

During the quarter, RIM shipped 11.1 million BlackBerry smartphones and over 500,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets. “RIM is growing 35 per cent year-on-year and it added 20 million customers last year across the world,” Dutt said adding that the company has over 77 million customers globally. As part of the India launch, BlackBerry Curve 9220 customers can download a selection of apps from BlackBerry App World worth Rs 2500 for free.

“This’s something we’ve done keeping the Indian requirements in mind,” said a RIM spokesperson. “Having an in-built radio would enable users to tune into radio without having a data plan.”

According to CyberMedia, smartphone sales in India surged 87 percent at 11.2 million units in 2011 over the previous year. However, RIM’s market share declined last year following increased competition from Apple and Samsung.

Bets on local apps to drive sales   

Bangalore, dhns: Research In motion (RIM) is banking on local apps and localised content in India to bounce back in the smartphone market.

“Definitely an app that gives local information and developed in the country would get more buyers than the one that has no local attraction,” RIM Application Development Consultant Alan Wong said.

To take the localised initiative further, RIM has introduced BlackBerry Curve 9220 that for the first time comes with an FM radio.

The company revealed that providing high quality applications through their app stores would be an important strategy in sustaining BlackBerry’s reach amongst general consumers. For this purpose RIM, which has 30,000 developers in India, is conducting workshops throughout India for them to come out with local apps.

“We provide developers with test devices, simulators and latest tools that they can use to build apps for the latest devices.” said Wong, adding their new platform QNX-based BlackBerry 10 would have “tonnes of apps” once it releases in second half of this year. Interestingly RIM had acquired QNX Software Systems in 2010.

BlackBerry, at present has 70, 000 apps on their app store which is a meagre portion of the approximate four lakh apps that Google Play has.