Despite the flack BlackBerry got from South Africans when it announced the popular R59 per month BlackBerry Internet Services (BIS) would no longer be available on its new-generation smartphones, the company has seen considerable uptake of its new 10 OS.
Alexandra Zagury, MD for South and Southern Africa at BlackBerry, says although SA presented what was perhaps the company's biggest challenge due to the change in proposition, "SA is still a country full of BlackBerry people".
The Canadian smartphone maker acknowledges it has had to weather a number of storms to stay afloat amid the competitive sea of market contenders, and the company continues to struggle for its stake on the global front, but has found significant solace in emerging markets.
Bob Bose, BlackBerry regional MD for the Middle East and Africa (MEA), painted an optimistic picture of the company's future in emerging markets like SA, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, India and Venezuela. Bose says MEA includes some of the fastest growing markets in the world. "In fact, according to Informa, Africa is now the number one fastest growing market in the world."
He points out that, in many emerging markets, mobility is creating people's first experience with the Internet - and SA is a case in point.
Beating BIS
Zagury says the uptake of BlackBerry 10 in SA bears testament to the fact that, despite the change in BIS to a new data reality and a new proposition, the BlackBerry brand is "alive and kicking".
She points out that, according to GfK (Society for Consumer Research), BlackBerry has been number one in SA for 28 consecutive months.
The research firm places BlackBerry's flagship 10 OS device, the Z10, in the top five selling smartphones in SA. The Z10 launched locally at the beginning of March. BlackBerry says, of the six million devices shipped in Q4 of financial year 2013, around a million were BlackBerry Z10 smartphones.
Zagury says BlackBerry beat the BIS backlash through strong local partnerships. "Everyone always asks why BlackBerry is so famous in SA, and I always say the strength of our partnerships is key."
SA, she says, is a carrier-led market. "If you walk the malls of SA you will see the Z10 is present throughout. All of our carriers have been excited and supportive with the launch of the Z10."
The Z10 launched at the end of January, with Johannesburg being one of the six global launch sites.
While BlackBerry deals with SA's five main carriers - Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Telkom and Virgin Mobile - she notes that SA is unique in that about 30% to 40% of smartphone sell-through exists via independent retailers.
"Even fashion stores sell BlackBerry products - and this is unique to the South African market. You can go clothes shopping and at the same time purchase a phone."
BlackBerry Buddies
She says, in a bid to keep BlackBerry's momentum going in SA, the BlackBerry Buddies system introduced in August last year will be extended "in coming months".
"During the transition [to BlackBerry 10] we made sure to take in customer feedback and we launched this retail project. BlackBerry Buddies are available at kiosks in five of SA's main malls at the moment and we plan to extend this to nine."
The BlackBerry Buddies booths - located in Pretoria (Menlyn), Johannesburg (Sandton), Bloemfontein (Mimosa), Cape Town (Canal Walk) and Durban (Gateway) - are available for BlackBerry queries, but products cannot be purchased through them. Zagury says the project has seen "overwhelming feedback" with about 5 000 interactions taking place per month.
Evolving ecosystem
Another key element to keeping BlackBerry on SA's map, says Zagury, is support of the mobile ecosystem.
"We have a team working with developer partners to ensure that our apps are locally relevant."
She says local price comparison app PriceCheck's recent accolade for app of the year shows investment in the local ecosystem is paying off.
"We have also opened two apps labs in SA. These are really cool and funky places where developers can come and learn how to develop on the BlackBerry platform."
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