BlackBerry purchases dip by 30-70%, report city mobile stores

BB sales dip as clarity elusive on govt intent

BlackBerry purchases dip by 30-70%, report city mobile stores

As clarity refuses to emerge on the finality of the deal between BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) and the Union Home Ministry to keep the Internet-based services of RIM going, retailers who stock the mobile phone continue to see falling sales in the city.

Until then: A young man tries out his newly-acquired BlackBerry outside a mobile phone store in Jayanagar. Pic/Sanjay M D

Kamlesh Kumar, deputy store manager of Mobile Galleria in Malleshwaram, reported a drastic drop in sales.
"Sales are pretty bad now, having come down 70 per cent from the usual figures. Now only two or three people walk in every other day. So far, only 20 (handsets sold) this month," Kumar said. "There is too much competition in the market, and with this BlackBerry issue now, people are simply reluctant to buy."

Arfan Khan of Phone Galleria on Brigade Road said the slide began last month, when the government announced it would ban the BlackBerry Messenger and the enterprise mail services if by August 31 RIM did not share data with it.

2nd month of slide
"August, in particular, saw a huge drop in sales, of almost 50 per cent. Two months ago we were selling about 50 BlackBerries every month, but this month only seven or eight people have bought these," Khan said.

"Blackberry is one of best in the market but it's been terribly affected by the controversy around it."RaviNayak,
u00a0owner of Vector Solutions in Koramangla, reported a drop of 30 per cent in sales.

"Before this problem started, we would sell about 50 handsets every month but then it came down to 30. Thisu00a0u00a0 month we've sold only 12," Nayak said.

Udit Mittal, managing director of UNISON, was optimistic things would be sorted out soon. "I think the
government and RIM will find a solution soon enough because India is a large market and RIM can't lose out here," he said. "A lot of people use BlackBerry just for the messenger service and nothing else, so I hope they find a solution soon."

Rajorshi Basu, head of the enterprise cell at a telecom giant, said the city was not the only one to see the fall in BlackBerry sales.

"There has been a drop in sales in other metro cities too, for example Pune. This is because there is a lot of miscommunication around the reports of a ban," he said. "People are worried whether their handsets will work if there is a ban, and some are even wondering if the handset itself will be banned."

Security fears

>> The centre had said it would ban BB unless RIM gave the government access to BBM and enterprise mail service data by August 31, but that date is past and there us no ban yet.
u00a0
>> The Union Home Ministry is worried the two services may be used by terrorists and other anti-nationals to communicate with one another as it virtually guarantees anonymity.

>> The Centre and BlackBerry are working out a compromise solution.

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