BlackBerry in the Philippines

Here’s an interesting news bit from Inquirer.net:

Philippines fastest-growing market for smartphones—GfK Asia

MANILA, Philippines—Two out of three new mobile devices sold in Southeast Asia today are application-rich, Internet-enabled smartphones, fueling the exponential surge in data services, according to the Singapore-based research firm GfK Asia.

The Philippines was noted as the fastest-growing market, with the value of smartphones sold growing by 402 percent in the first quarter of 2012 over the same period in 2011.

It’s no wonder Research in Motion, maker of BlackBerry smartphones, is becoming more aggressive in its marketing efforts in the Philippines.

RIM Philippines country director Cameron Vernest

In fact, RIM country director Cameron Vernest recently held a media and bloggers briefing in Davao City to share the latest development on BlackBerry. Here are some interesting tidbits he shared:

• BlackBerry 8520 was the #1 smartphone in the Philippines (January – June 2011)
• BlackBerry 8520 is now even more affordable at P6,990
• BlackBerry smartphones are sold in over 800 stores across the Philippines
• BlackBerry has 5 stores in Mindanao
• BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) plans are now more affordable starting at P99/month
• BBM has 56 million active users (worldwide)
• There are 48 new BBM users every second (worldwide)
• 40 schools in the country now offer (or will soon offer) courses in BlackBerry app development
• 80,000 apps are now available via the BlackBerry App World with some apps developed by Filipino developers
• The BlackBerry PlayBook is now more affordable starting at P10,990

BlackBerry Handsets

For more on BlackBerry, visit their website at http://ph.blackberry.com or follow them on twitter @BlackBerryPH

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