Research in Motion (News - Alert) (RIM), the maker of BlackBerry smart phones and solutions, is planning to enter into a partnership with Indian retail chains to expand distribution and reach in that market. This is expected to put an end to the practice of SIM-locked handsets being sold by operators. With this, Indian consumers may soon be able to purchase a BlackBerry (News - Alert) handset and choose their mobile operator.



 
As of now, RIM will be looking to enhance its presence in the Indian business phone market which is seeing increasing competition from vendors such as Nokia, Samsung and Motorola (News - Alert). The company plans to do this by energizing its relationship with Indian operators and expand its product portfolio. Also, the company is looking to work closely with Indian software firms to develop local applications. The company is also looking to enter into partnership for local gaming content and social networking.
 
The company will also soon launch applications like BlackBerry Unite (for easy synchronization with a home computer), BlackBerry Professional Software (for small and medium businesses) and BlackBerry Application Suite (which will deliver BlackBerry solutions on a device based on the Windows Mobile 6 operation system) in India.
 
RIM vice-president (Asia-Pacific) Norm W K Lo was quoted in an Economic Times of India report as saying, “We are planning to grow the distribution reach in India for a bigger retail presence. Tying up with multi-vendor telecom retail chains is an option which we are actively evaluating. We are even open to the idea of selling unlocked handsets in India. In the last four months, we have entered into partnership with two new operators -- Reliance Communications and BPL Mobile. We have also launched a dozen handsets in India in the last one year and the momentum will continue. The handsets will also have a lot more consumer-friendly applications.”
 
Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
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