BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) seems to have had a good start in Indonesia, selling its Z3 model. On the official BlackBerry blog, Eric Lai claimed that the device was sold out in its first day in Jakarta. Any way you look at it, first day sales of Z3 were far better than those of other BlackBerry10 handsets. Furthermore, positive consumer feedback ensured that sales would continue throughout the weekend.
“According to my Asian colleagues, first-day sales of the Z3 were several times stronger than for our other recent BlackBerry 10 handsets,” Lai wrote in the blog.
Pricing strategy to help BlackBerry revive
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) CEO John Chen decided to launch the Z3 in Indonesia because the smartphone maker still holds a substantial following in the country. In 2011, BlackBerry enjoyed 43% share of smartphone market in Indonesia. However, sales were hammered by the low-priced Android phones, which dropped BB’s overall share to 14% by 2013. Chen is counting on Indonesia to revive BlackBerry’s sales.
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has priced the Jakarta edition of its smartphone just under $200, a price point receiving much attention from users who were not interested in buying higher priced Z10, Q10 and Q5 devices.
“Priced affordably, the BlackBerry Z3, Jakarta Edition will extend the full capabilities of the BlackBerry 10 Operating System version 10.2.1 experience for a new generation of customers in Indonesia,” Chen said earlier. Analyst firm IDC said that BlackBerry’s usual focus on high-end devices has affected market share in Indonesia, which dropped to 36% in 2012 and even further to 14% in 2013.
Superior specs for lower price
Though BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) Z3 is inexpensive, it still has impressive specifications like a five megapixel rear facing camera and 1.1 megapixel front camera, 8GB of storage, a MicroSD slot, 1080p HD video recording and a 549×960 pixel display. Z3 has a dual-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm MSM8230 application processor and the 2,500 mAH will last for 15.5 hours on a single charge. BlackBerry Z3 has dimensions of 140mm by 72.8mm, with 9.26m thickness, which is similar to recently launched high-end Z30 all touch smartphone.
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s Z3 Jakarta Edition has ‘Jakarta’ written on the back of the phones, which were custom-made for the Indonesian market. The Canadian firm will also launch the model in India in the coming months, where the company’s smartphone sales have slumped significantly.
