BlackBerry will start sales of its recently launched z10 touchscreen smartphone and the BlackBerry Q10 (BB10), a hybrid smartphone that includes a touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard, throughout Latin America beginning with Venezuela on March 12. The company, which was until recently known as RIM, did not reveal when the new devices will be available in Brazil, but BlackBerry did say the devices will be available for purchase in all major Latin American markets by the end of the first half of this year.
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“Venezuela was chosen as first Latin American country because we have a 65% market share there,” said Adriano Lino, BlackBerry market intelligence manager, during a press conference to announce the BB10. Despite the company’s recent fall in sales, Colombia is another market where BlackBerry has a huge penetration. Lino said the Blackberry’s market share used to be 70% and decreased to 49% of the total market in the country.
Globally, BlackBerry usage has declined as Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Android have risen. However, in Latin America, the cell phone maker has kept a strong market share mostly with corporate clients. In Brazil, for instance, the company said it has 15% of the total market and 42% in the corporate segment.
Indeed, the enterprise segment has been a key pillar for BlackBerry since its smartphones are recognized as secure and corporate-focused. But the company has to watch out for more competition in that area as well. Samsung recently announced an agreement to extend the capabilities of its enterprise-designated devices by integrating GENBAND’s unified communications applications.
The Samsung for Enterprise initiative, or SAFE, focuses on security. The world’s leading smartphone maker starts off at a slight disadvantage when it comes to security since its phones run Google’s Android operating system, considered less secure than other systems because of its open architecture. But mobile security experts say there is an unmet demand for secure Android devices, particularly among government customers.
It remains to be seen how BlackBerry will respond to this move and whether its z10 and Q10 can save company. The company is trying to embrace the consumer market. BlackBerry’s new operating system will support both a corporate and a personal identity on one device, and both will be encrypted.
Also, in Brazil, BlackBerry said users will be able to use its devices without the need to subscribe to a BlackBerry plan. Certainly, a step intended to engage more users.
Sales strategy
Lino said that in Brazil, BlackBerry has closed partnership deals with major four telecom operators (Vivo, TIM, Claro and Oi) to sell the BB10 although he did not disclose what the devices will cost. In the past, the company used to make exclusive deals. The cell phone maker also said it is “in discussions” with Nextel, which is currently launching 3G networks in the country.
Lino is betting that sales in Brazil will be driven by the advance of LTE technology since carriers are seeking devices to support their services. The Blackberry devices that will soon arrive in Brazil are compatible with 2.6 GHz frequency band, which is the country’s chosen spectrum for LTE. This week, Nokia also released its Lumia 920 and 820 devices which are also compatible with Brazil’s LTE spectrum.
Lino also noted that enterprises are constantly renewing their devices, and he sees a great opportunity to sell BB10 devices in the corporate market. In addition, Lino admitted that the consumer market is really interesting for the company. “Obviously, we don’t want to lose the corporate segment, but this product meets consumer demands as well,” he said.
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