Blackberry India’s managing director quits

Mumbai, India (4E) – Canadian smartphone maker Blackberry said that its managing director for Indian operations resigned abruptly on Saturday.

The Waterloo, Canada-based company BlackBerry announced the resignation of Sunil Dutt, its India managing director, leaving the company with immediate effect. He joined the company formerly known as Research in Motion in 2011.

BlackBerry India corporate communications director Varghese Thomas said in an interview with Times of India that executive vice president for global sales Rick Costanzo will be the interim head of the team in India as Blackberry begins its search for a new sales lead.

Dutt’s departure comes just as when Blackberry is going through an important period after the launch of BlackBerry Z10, the company’s new smartphone offering, with which it seeks to regain market share lost to Android and Apple’s iPhone devices.

In February, the BlackBerry Z10 was launched in India. Chief Executive Thorsten Heins earlier this month said that sales of the Z10 in India beat company’s expectations.

BlackBerry’s market share has sharply declined in the last few years as consumers preferred full-touchscreen phones with operating systems developed by Google and Apple.

BlackBerry’s shipments to India in the fourth quarter of 2012 was so low that the company failed to make it in the top five smartphone vendors compiled by IDC.

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