BlackBerry Dominates Smartphone and Push Mail In Pakistan - Warid On Board As Well
As a regular BlackBerry user myself, I am pleased to see that Pakistani consumers now have much better choices for using BlackBerry. Warid has started offering BlackBerry and that too - unlocked. This year has seen two new entrants for BlackBerry service in Pakistan: Ufone and Warid.
Both Ufone and Warid are hurting with subscriber growth and low ARPUs and could use more business subscribers. The introduction of BlackBerry service should definitely help them. With more competition for BlackBerry the rates and services are going to converge to a stable point.
It is going to be a lot less painful for foreigners and expat Pakistanis to bring in their BlacBerries to Pakistan.Telenor is the only remaining telco without a BalckBerrry offering - as I wrote in my last BlackBerry post and other bloggers are asking too - but its only a matter of time as they are probably busy with handling their fast pace of growth.
This brings me to the big picture view of Smart phone market in Pakistan. So the guys at RIM have done a good job with the otherwise Nokia dominated Pakistani market. I guess this is their global plan: get people hooked on to BlackBerries before Apple starts invading their territory. Good work. Now we need to see some cool apps customized for Pakistani market - how are we doing there?
Related Posts:
Blackberry in Pakistan/ Ufone joins blackberry club in Pakistan
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I am warid post paid subscriber, This is a great news. I was willing to opt for BB but could not as it demands change in network service company.I was using E51 Nokia for my emails and now i think i should move BB. I beleive the next customized application will be GPS navigation . But when …a BIG questionmark?
Telenor also has a push mail service by the name of Smart Mail. But this solution does not require any specific hand set like BB. A large number of Symbian and other mobiles support this service which means to get the same services customer do not need to change his handset.
This is by dominated Pakistani market Nokia Intellisync Mobile Suit for email.
I also not finds any state of art in this mobile phone. I have WiFi, Push gmail, Push outlook mail, high quality music, 8 GB memory, HSDPA, 3G high speed 7.5 mbps data service, Nokia Maps, Google Maps, GPS capability, small and stylish phone and lot of other option so why I go for Blackberry… which needs special activation from service provider, special configuration for emails required and in return Service Provider charges Monthly high fix line rent in addition to normal usage line rent.
Opportunity cost is not low to keep Blackberry and features are now not as attractive as it were in start of this phone. Open source softwares will kill these kind of copy right oriented companies. big threat for all phones is coming i.e. GOOGLE mobile operating software for mobiles. So question arises that how Blackberry will keep its edge in features.
The best way to enter the Pakistani market was to introduce a totally different set like BB Kickstart (flip). All of them offer BB (U,W,M), so really no difference in launch of any. Brining in BBK would have been a marketing adventure for competition. Right now you arent really differenciating on the product, so that being the main ingredient missing which leads to consumer hype and curiosity of a new thing.
State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan » BlackBerry Dominates Smartphone and Push Mail In Pakistan - Warid On Board As Well…
BlackBerry arrived in Pakistan with full boom….
I think There are only three major players world wide, Apple, RIM and HTC, in the non-Symbian based smartphone market. And with an estimated 40 per cent plus growth rate for this sector in 2008, we believe the market is too pessimistic on the iPhone 3G’s impact on HTC’s growth.
ufone’s BlackBerry launch has been banned !! this is very unfortunate a set back for ufone. .
maybe they shouldn’t have even tried. .while following what everyone else is doing one has to take care if they can even keep up with what they’v taken up. .
what do you guys think contributed to the failure??
UFone’s blackberry prepaid service has been suspended by PTA due to not obtaining noC from them. .
they might refresh the service again once they get the matter in control . .they have been asked to withdraw the promotions in print and electronic media immediately. .
is this actually going to lead to a complete ban eventually??
Sara, I have heard the same thing about Ufone. I think they will come back after getting their NOC. Let’s see.