Blackberry Smart phone entered Cambodia
Monday, November 16, 2009 8:49Blackberry, produced by Canada’s Research in Motion (RIM), is the kind of smart phone in the biggest global suppliers with 19.9 percent of the global market in the first quarter, according to the Bloomberg. At the end of April 2009, 2G Blackberry has been imported into Cambodia by phone operator Hello owned by Kuala Lumpur-based Axiata.
Hello, third mobile phone service provider, had became the first phone operator to offer the Blackberry in Cambodia’s phone market after launching RIM’s 2G handsets Pearl 8120 and Curve 8320 on April 2009. There were nearly 1,000 two handsets sold since launching.
Hello’s Chief Executive Officer Simon Perkins was quoted by the Post as saying that the 2G Blackberries “have been a surprising success for us – we didn’t know the corporate market was that big,” adding that “we’ve created a niche.”
Blackberry is not popular amongst Cambodia’s phone users because its price is more expensive than other phone brands. The users who afford Blackberry are businessmen. Most of ordinary people like using cell phone made in China with low price. Nokia series are the leading brand in Cambodia.
Following the launch of 2G Blackberry, Phone operator, Hello, launched its 3G Blackberry service on July 23, 2009.
Speaking at the launch, Perkins said that Hello imported only 200 Bold handsets of Blackberry and that another 1,000 were passing through Cambodian customs following importation from Canada.
Gary Foo, Hello’s Brand Manager, said that this model is very popular worldwide, it not the most popular of the Blackberry smart phone range of products. He added that the company sells the Bold handsets for US$68 a month as part of a two-year Blackberry service contract.
On October 26, Hello dropped the entry price of its BlackBerries from US$68 per month to $41 per month, and allowed existing BlackBerry owners to sign up to a Hello plan without having to purchase a handset, according to the Post.
MobiTel, Cambodia’s leading mobile-phone service provider with 55 percent market share, will plan to launch Blackberry service this year. It will become the second phone operator to offer RIM’s Blackberry in Cambodia.
Mark Hanna, chief financial officer of Royal Group, which owns a 38.4 percent share in Mobitel, said 3G Blackberries would be launched in the fourth quarter, reported the Post.
According to Tuesday’s announcement, MobiTel, CEO Jeffrey Noble, said that “mobile connectivity is becoming more and more important to mobile users in Cambodia and we’re very pleased to be working with RIM.”