Research in Motion (RIM), the company behind BlackBerry smartphone, finally will open a branch office in Indonesia. According to Gregory Wade, Managing Director, South East Asia RIM, during the launch of BlackBerry Torch in Jakarta on Thursday, September 29, 2010, RIM had registered PT Research in Motion Indonesia in Jakarta. This official present in Jakarta shows that RIM is seriously targeting the Indonesian market, which is one of the most important smartphone markets for RIM.
The number of BlackBerry users in Indonesia is growing significantly in the recent years. “Export of smartphones to Indonesia grew by 79% in the second semester last year and is expected to grow by 56.6% in 2010,” said Gregory quoting an IDC data during his interview with Kompas. However, Gregory did not tell exactly when will the branch start its operation. Gregory did not provide his comment regarding the request from the Indonesian government for RIM to open a data center in Indonesia.
In Indonesia, BlackBerry faces a tough competition with various Chinese smartphone brands and Indonesian local brand such as Nexian.
