New Delhi, Apr 19 (IANS): Canadian mobile handsets maker Research in Motion (RIM) Wednesday launched BlackBerry Curve 9220 for the global markets in India to regain lost market share in the smartphone category.
BlackBerry Curve 9220 is priced at Rs.10,990 and will be available in the market from this Thursday.
The new smartphone has a raft of features, including a dedicated BlackBerry messenger key, and is loaded with the company's latest operating system (OS) 7.1 OS. The smart phone also has an in-built FM radio.
The company is also offering many free applications with the phone such as pencil camera, photo studio pro and horoscope oracle worth Rs.2,500 for free till June 30, 2012.
Carlo Chiarello, executive vice president, RIM's smart phone division, said "the growing economy and large youth population has made India one of the company's key growth areas for us".
The country has recently witnessed launch of a handful of low cost smartphones in the sub Rs.6,000 range to tap the rising demand for such devices.
According to data by IT research firm CyberMedia, smartphone sales in India surged 87 percent at 11.2 million units in 2011 over the previous year.
However, RIM's market share declined last year following increased competition from Apple and Samsung. According to research firm Gartner, RIM's market share dipped to 11 percent in the third quarter of 2011.
Rim said the product will soon be launched in other countries.