BlackBerry the Top Smartphone In Emerging Markets Of Africa

By: Talha Bhatti  |   November 12th, 2012   |   Business, News, O Canada, Smartphones

Canadian technology giant Research in Motion (RIM) has seen its market share slip significantly in Western markets like the US and Europe. The company has been struggling lately to compete against smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung and has also been losing against mobile operating system  such as Android in key sectors. The only area where the company still dominates is the developing world where the BlackBerry smartphones still holds a dominant position.

 

Canalys research shows that BlackBerry is the number one smartphone in all of Africa including countries like Nigeria while many other emerging markets like Mexico and Indonesia also favour RIM devices. Data shows that the company has a commanding lead at almost 60-per-cent of the market share in these upcoming markets. However, this may not last long as manufacturer’s likes Apple and Samsung start to penetrate these markets and change public opinion about their products.

 

A market like Nigeria, which is the most populous country in Africa with 170 million people, is a major customer base for RIM. The fast growing population is young and adopting cell phones quickly thanks to the poor penetration of landlines in the country. The country only has about four million smartphones within its borders and half of those are BlackBerry devices. It is no surprise then that RIM is concentrating on the country to keep its lead.

 

Recently, RIM executive Robert Bose, went to Nigeria to open the countries first official BlackBerry store. He stated that, “I don’t think you can underestimate the importance of the developing world, the emerging-markets business that we have, on RIM’s results,” Mr. Bose says. “The company recognizes that. And that’s why we’re willing to invest, and willing to do the things we’re doing here in Africa, to keep that going.”

 

In September 2012, RIM also opened up an office in Lagos to create relationships in the country to help its business grow. Waldi Wepener, RIM’s regional director for East, Central and West Africa talked about the need for the office and said, “In North America, and perhaps Europe, everything is done by contract, whereas here a lot of value is still placed on relationships. We’ve decided to open an entity here so we can get closer to our customers and have more regular face-to-face meetings with them and build those relationships.”

 

The office also manages the company grass roots buzz campaign that is working to create a local and hands on marketing campaign that will get the young population of Nigeria excited about RIM phones. They also will use their new offices to offer people the chance to get support for software and hardware to compete against Nokia and Samsung. They also have negotiated very low priced contracts with carriers to keep Nigerian customers. This may make it hard for the company to make a lot of profit from the region right away but the company believes it is worth the gamble over the long term.

 

RIM’s entry into Nigeria is also meant to stop the fast growing grey market for BlackBerry devices. Used models and even fake devices may account for upwards of 60% of sales for BlackBerry in the region. The company wants to stop this practice and bring more people into their fold as a result.

 

RIM has a long way to go in the country and competitors like Samsung are catching up quickly. The Canadian firm needs to act quickly and make changes to its execution and management to generate profits from the developing markets which can afford lower priced devices. For the near future, RIM is set but it needs to keep its momentum going in order to stay on top of a very competitive global market.

 

Source: The Globe and Mail