Uncapped BIS in South Africa on life support?

Good news, FINALLY Blackberry users will start getting proper phones instead.
 
Simply lower the standard data prices no need to create new data packages for a specific brand
 
No point in having/getting a blackberry then...
 
Unlimited BIS here to stay (at least from 8ta)

Not all operators are planning to do away with unlimited BIS just yet.

8ta said that it will continue to offer unlimited data BIS packages after 1 March 2013 (when BlackBerry 10 is launched).
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These guys are all smoke and mirrors.

What 8ta is doing is just not being clear what exactly they are refering to. Vodacom on the other hand are very clear. They say:

"...that product information on their new Blackberry products (hence after 1 March 2013) is not available at this stage"
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So, in effect, 8ta are trying to mislead us into thinking that you just might get BB10 devices with BIS too. They look like a much better option to plan your BB10 purchase from. But, the fact is, there is a huge difference between current BB7 and new BB10 devices, which 8ta opts not to acknowledge in its response.
 
BIS is perceived as a loss to operators, but to be honest, although BIS usage increased over the last few years, the bandwidth cost has dramatically increased. Operators are still disproportionally milking the users when it comes to bandwidth cost.

I was hoping that BlackBerry would actually work with service providers to create a better value proposition - this seems to work well in the UK/Europe/US. BlackBerry does not consider the SP relationship integral to their future and I think BlackBerry would vanish in emerging markets such as ours. BBM has only a merit because it does not cost anything compared to SMS/Whatsapp. Once BB charges for data you will see a direct shift off BBM to WhatsApp or similar applications. Users will ditch their BIS phones and not move to BB10 - they will choose to go with some cheap Android phone with WhatsApp and a small data bundle.

At the launch event SA BlackBerry representatives did mention to me that the current BIS market is not the demographics BB is after since their product placement is now in the high-end market and will challenge Apple/Samsung. That will be a tough (and unsustainable) challenge for them.
 
Just out of curiosity; Will RIM remain in the SA market if BB7 cannibalizes BB10? BB7 still seems like a better proposition to the mass market in SA because of uncapped BIS. But if they take away the uncapped part, people will jump ship and their market share will drop. Japan being a typical example where BB is pulling out of there.
 
http://crackberry.com/no-you-dont-need-bis-plan-blackberry-10-phones


Hopefully that clears things up, but just to refresh:

•Yes you can use any smartphone data plan for the Z10 and Q10
•Yes, a dedicated BlackBerry plan will still work
•No, you can't use a feature plan like email only or BBM only
•Yes, you need a micro SIM card to use in the Z10 or Q10 (or a iPhone 5 nano card in a micro SiM adapter will work too)
•Yes, BES users still need a BES plan

Sounds to me that the abolishment of BIS by our local telco's has nothing to do with BB10 but more on capitalising on greed!
 
Fox1 said:
Just out of curiosity; Will RIM remain in the SA market if BB7 cannibalizes BB10? BB7 still seems like a better proposition to the mass market in SA because of uncapped BIS. But if they take away the uncapped part, people will jump ship and their market share will drop. Japan being a typical example where BB is pulling out of there.
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BB market share in Japan was already a mere 0.5 percent hence BB decided not to develop for the Japanese language.
If you look at UK for example BB z10 has sold 3 times more devices than any of its previous devices in the first week already.
 
Shiveer said:
http://crackberry.com/no-you-dont-need-bis-plan-blackberry-10-phones


Hopefully that clears things up, but just to refresh:

•Yes you can use any smartphone data plan for the Z10 and Q10
•Yes, a dedicated BlackBerry plan will still work
•No, you can't use a feature plan like email only or BBM only
•Yes, you need a micro SIM card to use in the Z10 or Q10 (or a iPhone 5 nano card in a micro SiM adapter will work too)
•Yes, BES users still need a BES plan

Sounds to me that the abolishment of BIS by our local telco's has nothing to do with BB10 but more on capitalising on greed!
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Exactly. Which is why SA will finally catch up with the 21st century. Worldwide Blackberries are already pretty rare and the main reason they survived over here for this long is the free internets and BBM. Once that's gone, more and more people will realise that if they have to pay this much anyway, why not get something good while you're at it?
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
BBM has only a merit because it does not cost anything compared to SMS/Whatsapp.
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Whatsapp on my iPhone

Messages Sent : 9444
Messages Received : 52235

Media bytes Sent : 6.3 Mb
Media bytes Received : 49.7 Mb

Message bytes Sent : 21.1 Mb
Message bytes Received : 52 MB

Total Sent : 27,4 Mb
Total Received : 101,6 Mb (this is largely because I have auto image downloads enabled).

27,4 + 101,6Mb = 129 Mb

9444 + 52235 = 61 670 Messages

129 Mb x R2.5 (highest data charge) = R 322

R 322 x 100 = 32 200 cents / 61 670 = 0,5 c per message (yes half a cent).

Had iPhone for just over a year now and have never reset Whatsapp.

R322 / 12 = R26 per month to use Whatsapp and sent/receive images as I pleased.


Willing to bet a user that didn't download every image would get away for <R10 a month. Someone who doesn't send any images at all? <R5.

And that's all on a R2.50 per MB rate which generally is no longer applicable. If you bring CellC's 15c equation into it then I don't see any reason why you would bother with a Blackberry at R59 per month.

The Blackberry proposition hasn't made sense for a very very long time already.
 
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I think the idea of being able to surf the net, send/receive emails and download apps etc *as well* as unlimited BBMs for a fixed fee of R59/R60 pm was the whole attraction to BIS. i.e. BBM was just part of it. IIRC, a BB user on BIS can technically send unlimited WhatApps messages at no extra cost, yes? <- I'm not sure but theoretically sounds right...

Yes you can still limit your data usage drastically with a non-BB phone but for youngsters on a strict budget or maybe folks with a few teenagers to worry about, the whole "unlimited data" at a *low* fixed price made perfect sense.
 
SauRoNZA said:
snip...
The Blackberry proposition hasn't made sense for a very very long time already.
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THIS ^^
(or, to elaborate - get a R7.50 data bundle from cell C = 50mb/month and 15c/meg out of bundle. Done deal)
 
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