Is BlackBerry ripe for the channel?

If ever there was a sexy, highly functional device ripe for the channel it's the BlackBerry. It has mainstream appeal (sports stars, celebrities, even Barack Obama famously has one) and a high enough price point to offer a good margin.

With its patented push email, the BlackBerry device is no longer exclusively the domain of senior executives.

Models like the Blackberry Pearl Flip phone and BlackBerry Storm touchscreen phone have broadened the Canadian vendor's demographic - some 60 per cent of BlackBerry smartphones sold in fiscal 2008 went to consumers.

 But the Australian IT channel has enjoyed very little of Research in Motion's success.

Here the BlackBerry is sold exclusively by RIM's three local carrier partners (Telstra, Optus and Vodafone) who have complete control of BlackBerry's retail presence and customer ownership.

RIM has a formal channel strategy for systems integrators and resellers in North America - but not in Australia.

It's a challenge that Barnes Lam, RIM's director of alliances for Asia Pacific, is keen to address.

Lam's last job was running the systems integrator program for RIM in  North America before moving to his new base in the Asia Pacific.

Lam argues there is a place for systems integrators to enjoy success with the BlackBerry in Australia but the only way to do it at present is for integrators to partner with those parties that own the customer relationship - Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.

In Australia, Lam says, RIM "aligns our [systems integrator] partners with the carriers".

"Telstra and Optus can't be the be-all and and-all," Lam told CRN. "That's why we have systems integrator partners working with them."

 Plugging the gaps

If recent comments from RIM founder and CEO Mike Lazaridis are anything to go by, RIM is unlikely to broaden its retail strategy for the BlackBerry beyond its carrier partners in the near future.

The Canadian vendor has more than 400 carrier partners in 150 countries.

"The most important thing we offer," Lazaridis told me in a recent interview for iTnews, "is our relationship with carriers. We're working very hard to make sure they are successful."

But on the services and integration side, a select few Australian partners have built lucrative business models around gaps in the capabilities of the carriers.

Sydney-based systems integrator Mercury Solutions Centre, which arguably offers the most complete set of solutions around the BlackBerry in Australia, has built a solid business identifying these gaps.

The 23-person company, whose specialty is managed infrastructure services coupled with custom software development, discovered the opportunity after being asked to support a fleet of devices and back-end infrastructure for a large Australian banking and finance customer.

As the broader market has embraced the market over the past 12 months, MSC has built out a complete managed service around the BlackBerry.

Above and beyond the skills of the typical carrier, MSC integrates BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) - the server-based software used to manage a fleet of BlackBerry devices in an enterprise - with the existing systems, policies and applications of an organisation.

"Carriers are good at provisioning devices, provisioning a SIM, and providing a certain level of device and network support, they've always done that," says MSC managing director Leuk Andersen.

"But when you talk about a piece of infrastructure - software and hardware - behind a client's firewall, which needs to be a part of change management and security processes a company runs - that is a new area of involvement for a carrier."

Curiously, systems integrators in Australia gain no margin on reselling BES as their North American or European counterparts might. But for the systems integrator, says Lam, the opportunity to sell BES is a "services play" rather than a straightforward box sale.

"Whether or not they get a margin just isn't important," Lam said. "The margins are so small; it's not what the integrator is interested in. They want to sell services - maintenance, after-sales support."

MSC, for example, offers everything from back-end BES integration with legacy systems, to training for BlackBerry users, and several levels of support services - ranging from low-touch, basic "phone a friend" device support to full outsourced management of the BlackBerry solution.

MSC runs its own referral programs, seminars and roadshows and has a strong, direct relationship with the vendor.

But to keep overheads low and focus on what it does best, the integrator relies on carriers to act as its field sales force.

Andersen says the engagement  model with carriers varies from deal to deal.

One model involves a basic reselling relationship between integrator and carrier. The carrier brings the integrator an opportunity, the customer signs with the integrator and the integrator rewards the carrier with a referral bonus (cut of the deal).