RIM to strengthen retail presence across India

Research In Motion, which makes Blackberry mobile handsets, would step up its retail presence across the country to stay afloat in the fiercely competitive smartphones market.

"There is a need to increase our retail presence in the country. RIM has six premium stores at present and the number will be increased," RIM India managing director Sunil Dutt said.

Inaugurating the first premium Blackberry store in the city in Kolkata on Thursday, Dutt said that all the stores were operated through the franchisee route.

The other cities where these stores are located are: Delhi, Gurgaon, Bengaluru

and Mumbai.

Replying to a query, Dutt said there had been no decline in the sales and market share of Blackberry handsets in India.

"We will cater only to the high-end market. Our price points range between just below Rs 10,000 and Rs 1,40,000," Dutta told reporters.

Saying that RIM would never enter the lower end of the market, Dutt asserted that RIM was the only company to manufacture hybrid phones, touchscreen with QWERTY keypad.

He pointed out that RIM's main customer bases were enterprises and the open market.

Asked about the PlayBook tablet, he said the response is good.

He announced the new Blackberry 10 mobile operating system would be launched in the first quarter of the next financial year.