Canadian phone maker Research in Motion (RIM), left gasping by the global assault of Android phones and iPhone, is left clutching at straws to try and reel in some much-needed revenues and subscribers.
Canadian phone maker Research in Motion (RIM), left gasping by the global assault of Android phones and iPhone, is left clutching at straws — specifically, its still popular messenger service — to try and reel in some much-needed revenues and subscribers.
This week, Vodafone and Airtel slashed their Blackberry Messenger plans in half, with Idea and Aircel set to follow suit. They are offering freebies with handset purchases. too.
RIM is also under attack from mobile peer to peer messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, so it is desperately seeking a way to lure the heavy texters.
But it’s not clear how mobile operators will benefit from weaning away subscribers from SMS to messenger, said an analyst.
Ankita Somani, research associate with Angel Broking, said RIM must be offering some incentives to operators, some of which get passed on to subscribers.
“Since RIM has been steadily losing market share in the last one year due to the Android explosion, this is an attempt to reverse the trend,” Somani said.
A Vodafone spokesperson said BlackBerry users also presume that messenger services are free.
“They do not realise that the cost of service is included in the total rental they pay. However, with this plan, customers can avail of only the messenger services at a much lower cost,” he said.
An Airtel spokesperson said the primary reason for the incentivisation is that customers, especially youth, prefer to use just the messenger and voice/SMS services part and not the other BlackBerry services that get bundled in.
Would this lead to another tariff war on Telecom Avenue?
Vinay Jaising and Vanessa D’Souza, analysts with Morgan Stanley, said that’s unlikely.
“Our reassessment of the tariff packages suggests that Bharti’s promotions are in circles that contribute to only 20% of its revenues. Even if all the subscribers in these circles move on to the new tariffs, we believe the overall impact on revenue will be less than 1% and the impact on profit would not be meaningful. We believe that the current tariffs will not lead to a tariff war,” they said.
Rajan Matthews, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India, concurs. “Since this is a limited offer and that too just for one million BlackBerry users in the country, out of a total wireless subscriber base of 800 million, I do not see this as a reversion to tariff hikes.”
Amit Sachdeva, partner-telecom practice, Ernst & Young said these offers are the result of a combination of factors which include the Android explosion, the increasing dominance of Samsung and the growing presence of Indian players who have launched cheaper handsets with features that are very similar to BlackBerry’s.
Kunal Bajaj, director and partner in Indian telecom research firm, Analysys Mason said due to the heat of competition against Android globally, RIM, which tasted success in India, is trying to ensure it doesn’t lose out to Android in the messaging market as well.
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