BlackBerry India MD Sunil Dutt resigns

Rick Costanzo, will take over the leadership of the management team in India

BlackBerry India on Friday said its managing director, Sunil Dutt, had put in his papers after a short stint of just over a year. He had joined the company in December 2011, with 27 years of experience in mobile technology and telecom sector.

In a statement issued late evening, the company said in the interim, Rick Costanzo, executive vice-president, global sales, will take over the leadership of the management team in India, as it starts the search for a new sales head as soon as possible.

“India is an extremely important market for BlackBerry and our aim is to continue to build on our recent momentum with the launch of BlackBerry 10,” said the statement.

BlackBerry’s market share in India has been seeing a steady fall, despite a strong brand value. Cheap Android smartphones, some selling for less than     Rs 5,000, offer far more features and, especially, a rich ecosystem of applications that BlackBerry’s USPs like BBM and e-mail haven’t been able to keep pace with.

BlackBerry 10 has seen unexpectedly good demand despite the steep price tag of Rs 43,450, and it seems to be a good foundation for the coming Q10 – Qwerty keyboard BlackBerry 10 smartphone and four other devices with yet unknown features and price points, expected later this year.

These phones, by all accounts, should be in the mid-to-low-end of the smartphone segment, thus giving BlackBerry a chance to replicate its erstwhile success in India – with high-end smart phones like the Bold series creating brand aura while cheap, low-end.