RIM mulls India-made handsets

Tatas roll out BlackBerry services

Research in Motion, the makers of BlackBerry, which was until recently under the government scanner over security concerns, is now looking at an India-specific strategy that includes local manufacturing.

“We are aggressively developing a ‘Made in India’ strategy to bring in India-specific products. We are absolutely committed to some of the very special plans and programmes, and are working with our carrier partners to this end,” co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Balsillie said.

Without disclosing details, Balsillie said that the strategy is to make tailored products that contribute “to a less expensive manufacturing and design cycle”. The other element of the plan is to locate logistics operations in the country.

The Canadian company is the latest to log on to India with global handset and equipment majors such as Nokia, Alcatel and Motorola already setting up manufacturing and research centres.

The rush for India is partly attributed to the large talent pool and high volumes in the world’s fastest growing mobile phone market. Several of the phone makers have innovated with cheaper handsets and $20 phones as part of their expansion strategy.

The cheapest BlackBerry handset costs around Rs 11,000 in India which is the price for an upper-end phone for other manufacturers. “Our growth in Asia is key to our strategy and India is an incredibly strategic growth market for RIM,” said Balsillie.

The RIM co-CEO is on his first trip to India for the launch of its service along with Tata Teleservices (TTSL). RIM also launched its BlackBerry Bold today in the country.

Tata joins Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, Reliance Communications and BPL Mobile Communications in offering BlackBerry services to its over 29 million subscribers.

In a statement, TTSL Managing Director Anil Sardana said, “We take immense pride in launching the much-awaited BlackBerry solution. The BlackBerry smartphone has become a way of life – an office on the move for corporate executives and business professionals – and its many user-friendly features make it truly desirable.

“The BlackBerry 8830 World Edition smartphone also adds a powerful capability to support seamless roaming on international networks.”

TTSL’s plans to launch BlackBerry services were delayed after the government turned down its request, citing security concerns.

The Indian government had asked RIM to provide “legal intrusion” into its servers to monitor the data moving over its network. RIM has mentioned that it was working closely with the government to sort out the issues.