Blackberry Storm launched locally

"Things we consider are the mobile penetration rate, the Internet penetration rate and the penetration rate of social-networking, messaging and data-centre establishments. We think it is the right time for us to move to the consumer segment in the Thai market," Gregory Wade, vice president for the Asia-Pacific, said yesterday.

Blackberry devices have been present in the local market since 2005 through Research in Motion's partnership with Advanced Info Service (AIS).

The Asia-Pacific is a high-growth market for Blackberry, and Thailand is a country that is expected to offer high growth for the product too, Wade said.

Three strong selling points encourage Blackberry to believe it would be successful in the mass markets it enters, he said.

They are consumer-friendly features, a partnership with the largest mobile-phone operator in each market and the increasing number of mobile applications developed specifically for Blackberry. The price of BlackBerry Storm is Bt29,900.

"Blackberry has been moving its strong presence in the enterprise-corporate segment to the consumer segment. In the fourth quarter of last year, some 70 per cent of new global Blackberry subscribers were from the consumer market," he said.

Somchai Lertsutiwong, executive vice president for marketing at AIS, said his company offered service packages customised to fit with mass-market users, be they local prepaid phone customers or foreigners travelling in Thailand.

Blackberry Storm users will be subject to both airtime charges and service charges, such as for messaging and using the Internet browser.

AIS prepaid packages cost Bt40 a day for Blackberry Storm users, while visiting foreigners can pay Bt500 for three days and Bt900 for seven days.