BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is losing ground in Indonesia, one of the most important markets for the company. Indonesia the fourth largest populated country in the world has been a priceless market for BlackBerry. With population of 250 million, the emerging market makes one of the most important parts of BlackBerry’s success story.
Also, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) hugely relies on this market to counter the headwinds rising from slipping worldwide shares, especially in the developed markets. According to a report from the Globe and Mail, the Canadian smartphone maker is losing the grip on this country because of wrong strategic steps, stiff competition and friction with the company’s head office in Waterloo
Blackberry’s declining brand value
According to Steven Chandra, the store owner on an upper floor of central Jakarta’s Ambassador Mall, three-years ago the only phone in demand was BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB), and nine out of 10 phones sold were BlackBerry. However, now the scenario has changed entirely as no one is interested in buying BlackBerry phones and instead opt for other brands such as Lenovo, Samsung and HTC, which were considered unfashionable sometimes ago. Chandra said that now he hardly sells any Blackberry phones.
In 2011, the market share of the Canadian smartphone totaled 43% of the new smartphones shipped to Indonesia, according to global research firm IDC. The story has changed completely now, and in the first half of 2014; BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is left with meager 3% of the market. Market share of the company lags far behind the global leader Samsung and more obscure ones such as Advan, Evercoss and Smartfen. BlackBerry smartphones can be seen in the hands of politicians and businessman, but it has become a rare sight.
Strategic missteps hurting BlackBerry
“BlackBerry became more and more boring, we didn’t see any innovation,” says Gupta Sitoru, who at a robotics company in Jakarta, and recently shifted to iPhone.
Andy Cobham, former country head of BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) said that the company was brimming with fantastic technology and expanded its business to new heights before it fell apart. He pointed that one of the missteps taken by the company was that it accessed all its operations through Waterloo. Cobham added that BlackBerry was a world class product, and “Waterloo just mismanaged it.”
