Nice Try, Blackberry Indonesia! Eye`s on the Price

ilustrasi (Dok)

JAKARTA (Indotelko) - Blackberry Passport has been launched in Indonesia. Research in Motion thought this new model will evoke the glory of Blackberry in the market, especially in this country which was known as The Blackberry Nation.

Unfortunately, not every people believe that Passport will become a new tool to gain attention from Indonesian smartphone users. Mainly because the price is too expensive.

“I doubt this (Passport) will bring back the popularity of Blackberry in Indonesia as before. If we see the price, it is not intended for mass market. It’s for premium people or high-end market. In high-end market, we already have Samsung with the Galaxy Note 4 or Apple with the iPhone 6. Both are having a strong market share in high-end smartphone,” ICT Market Watcher, Faizal Adiputra said to IndoTelko.

He said, Blackberry popularity is down to a very low level because they never release any product for mid-low segment with affordable prices. Furthermore, many users prefer to switch handset from Blackberry to Android and iOS, because both platforms also have their own version of Blackberry Messenger.

“The only loyal users of Blackberry are only them who is using Blackberry Messenger and email client.  If they were social network addict, they prefer to use Android,” Faizal said.

On the developer side, creating apps for Blackberry platform is not that easy. Too many parameters needed to build an app. Its way too different from Android which only need an API. It can be adjusted automatically, based on the screen size of the users handset. “It makes faster to create an app,” Faizal said.

According Faizal, Blackberry’s focus is no longer selling apps. They really focus on how to sell as many handsets as they can. If that so, they can start to sell Classic with affordable price instead of expensive Passport. “It only used by them who need prestige, not function,” he said.

The same statement also came from Chairman of Indonesian Mobile Phone Association, Ina Hutasoit. She predicted, Blackberry’s way will be hard to re-gain another attention from Indonesia’s market. It has no new innovation and lack of new feature. “No innovation, nothing new. If they don’t have something new, how can they win?” Ina said.

Blackberry Passport features a large square touchscreen and new qwerty touch-enabled keyboard. The device’s purpose built for productivity driven on business professionals who want a smartphone that empowers them with the mobile tools. It’s written Rp9,6 million on the price tag.(es)