Security is an industry issue: RIM India

MUMBAI, INDIA: Amidst the Indian government’s ongoing demand over BlackBerry’s corporate email access and encryption, a top executive of Research In Motion India dubbed ‘security’ as an industry issue.

“Security is an industry issue and it’s not a BlackBerry-specific issue,” said Frenny Bawa, Research In Motion (RIM) India’s managing director. “We are still in dialogue with the government as an industry and being part of the industry, we are participating in dialogue at industry level, too.”

Interacting with media here on Wednesday evening on the sidelines of the launch ceremony of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, Bawa told reporters that the talks with Indian government are still on at the industry level. According to Bawa, security has two parts — industry security and national security.

“Indian economy is growing and is at a junction where it is witnessing growth across industries like the BPO, where international clients’ data are processed. So the growth indicates the need of security for the industries,” she said.

India strategic to BlackBerry

According to Francois Mahieu, RIM’s senior director — Product Management Asia Pacific, India is among the few selected countries outside North America where BlackBerry PlayBook has been launched.

“Tablet market in India is perfect for RIM. BlackBerry PlayBook is a device that makes life easy with six key aspects including perfect portability, best-in-class media experience, un-compromised web browsing, high performance, multi-tasking and enterprise readiness,” Mahieu said.

He explained that the BlackBerry experience will be amplified by pairing BlackBerry with PlayBook using BlackBerry Bridge that will allow real-time access to email, calendar, address book, task lists as well as BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).

“Users will not have to change the data tariff plans and can access high-speed connectivity and Internet over wireless networks,” Mahieu added.

While the Indian tablet market is already flooded with Apple's iPad, Dell’s Streak as well as products from local tablet makers such as Spice, Olive and others, RIM is banking on the Indian consumer-specific and relevant applications to bet the competition. In near future more players like HTC are also entering Indian market.

Largest BlackBerry app developer community

With 17,000 BlackBerry Application developers, Mahieu pointed that the BlackBerry application developer community in India is the largest in Asia. “Over 100 India-specific applications are available on BlackBerry PlayBook,” he said.

However, the unavailability of Wi-Fi or wireless Internet at large in India could hit RIM's expectations from BlackBerry PlayBook.

The Canadian firm started business in India in 2004 and last year or so it claimed that its headcount in India has doubled. However, RIM refused to disclose the actual number of staffs. “Our headcount has doubled in the last year or so and in the next three months we will be increasing it further by 30 per cent,” Frenny Bawa said.