Will Indonesia accept Blackberry the way it used to?

Blackberry remains to be perceived as a premium brand; it cannot rely solely on BBM and has to adjust to market demand

Blackberry had decided to discontinue manufacturing its own handset; in Indonesia, it handed over manufacture and distribution to PT BB Merah Putih, a joint venture between Blackberry and Tiphone.

This partnership will certainly help Tiphone to “rule” over the manufacturing process of a device that was once extremely popular in Indonesia. Together with Tiphone, Blackberry will be manufactured as an Android-based device. This is part of the company’s licence-sharing agenda; it will continue to negotiate more partnerships with more manufacturers in other markets.

Tiphone itself is a smartphone manufacturing company with no significant product in Indonesia so far. About 25 per cent of its shares is owned by Telkom Group. Tiphone has partnered with Taiwan-based phone manufacturer called Arima Communication, forming a joint venture as well.

The two companies have built a 7,000 square meter factory in Delta Silikon, Cikarang, with smartphone production capacity of up to 300,000 smartphones per month. There is a strong likelihood that the new Blackberry device will also be produced here.

What does Tiphone want to focus on?

Tiphone’s greatest challenge lies in its ability to produce a handset that is able to bring back the past glory of the Blackberry brand to the market. It is certainly not easy, and a number of people are skeptical of the return of Blackberry’s success in Indonesia.

One of those people is smartphone industry expert Herry SW. He even went as far as to suggest that the two companies not highlight the fact that Blackberry’s new hardware is manufactured by Tiphone.

Also Read: Blackberry blues. Corporate innovation is broken: Paperclip HK CEO

“Considering consumer behaviour in Indonesia, the idea may negatively impact Blackberry’s sales here. Tiphone is known as an unpopular local brand. It does not have a special quality in it. My concern is that, if the fact that Blackberry’s hardware is being produced by Tiphone is being emphasised, it will become a boomerang. There’s a possibility that the public will perceive the latest Blackberry hardware to have the same quality as a Tiphone product,” he said.

There are many reasons why consumers are behaving irrationally

There are many factors that affect the popularity of a smartphone brand. No matter how great the specifications are, the consumers are irrational beings, according to digital industry expert Aulia Masna. From that point of view, he stated that it is too early to justify a handset’s upcoming success simply because it is produced by a certain factory.

He gave the example of Xiaomi, a popular brand with great quality that is not too successful in Indonesia, falling way behind Oppo and Andromax though the quality between the brands is not too different.

Also Read: Viber unveils new BlackBerry update amidst buzz over BBM

“Nowadays there are more price-conscious smartphone buyers, and Blackberry is a premium brand. So Tiphone has to carefully decide to which segment it is going to market itself. There are already too many competitors,” Masna said.

A certain group of people stated that the company still have a considerable amount of power in Blackberry Messenger (BBM). BBM has been used by more than 60 million smartphone users in Indonesia, and Emtek Group continues to maintain and develop its quality to ensure users to stay. The next big question lies in Blackberry’s ability to rely on BBM in marketing its latest handset.

“BBM surely is still relevant. There remain tens of thousands of its users in Indonesia, and it is one of three most popular messaging apps in this country, so there is still a great opportunity for Emtek, as long as they maintain BBM’s relevance as an app,” Masna explained.

Also Read: Instant messenger app Hike gets US$65M in funding led by Tiger Global

But there is also a piece of information stating that Blackberry users had started to move on to other services.
According to Henry SW, “Blackberry’s golden days are over. Now BBM is no longer something that is desirable and interesting. Take a look at those people around you. There are many BBM users that have converted to Whatsapp, Telegram, and many more. Even if some remains, the number of traders, property agents, and even vegetable delivery man who are using BBM to run their business have decreased rapidly since a couple of years ago.”

To become the Blackberry that Indonesian consumers love

It is clear that Blackberry is facing a tough competition against Android smartphones. Despite the present situation, according to Henry, there are some things that may have increased Blackberry smartphones’ sales, such as the use of Android platform and dual SIM support.

He also added that the Blackberry brand is still identical to the utilisation of physical keyboard that offers great comfort to use. This could serve as a plus point, especially since there is almost no player in this field anymore. Related to sales price, Blackberry may try to embrace the middle class by selling devices with price ranging from IDR1.5 million (US$115) to IDR3 million (US$231) with specifications that are equal to a global brand in the same price range.

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The article Apakah BlackBerry Masih Bisa Diterima Seperti Dulu Lagi was written by Randi Eka Yonida and was first published on DailySocial. English translation by e27.

The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your article here.

Image Credit: Blackberry

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