The Netherlands tapped El Chapo phones for FBI ‘due to relaxed privacy laws’

DutchNews, January 9, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com 

The Netherlands tapped the phones of Mexican drugs baron ‘El Chapo’ for several months on behalf of the US, because Dutch privacy laws were not as strict as those in America or Canada, the Volkskrant reported on Wednesday. 

El Chapo, real name Joaquin Guzman, is currently on trial in the US. The Dutch listening-in programme took place from April 2011 to January 2012, an FBI agent told his trial on Tuesday. The Volkskrant says the operation lasted for 18 months. 

The wire-tapping operation was enabled by an FBI informant who had set up a Blackberry network for El Chapo’s organisation. The FBI server used to store all communications traffic made via the network was first placed in Canada but had to be moved because of tough privacy laws, the Volkskrant said. 

The US was not an option because the ‘operation might be noticed’ and the US has relatively tough rules on tapping servers, sources told the paper. 

‘Because the US and the Netherlands work closely together and the Netherlands is relaxed about requests for tapping, the FBI placed the server in a data centre operated by Leaseweb, just outside Haarlem,’ the Volkskrant said. 

The Netherlands did not know the full extent of the importance of the operation nor that El Chapo was the main target until 2013. 

Sing song

The FBI agent told Guzman’s trial on Tuesday that the 61-year-old was easily identifiable by his voice which had a ‘kind of a sing-songy nature to it’ and a ‘nasally undertone.’ 

The agent told the trial, which started in November, that the FBI tapped into more than 800 calls on the Blackberry encrypted system. 

Guzman is on trial for his role as leader of the Sinaloa drugs cartel and was extradited to the US two years ago. 

Close relationship 

The Volkskrant’s sources say the Netherlands and the US continue to work closely together in crime investigations. Some 125 requests for help from US officials are currently open, the sources said. These requests range from tapping computer servers to providing people’s Whatsapp history. All requests have to be checked to make sure they are legal with the public prosecution department, the paper said.

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BlackBerry Goes Cheap to Regain Market Share

Jakarta Globe, Muhammad Al Azhari, May 13, 2014

The new Blackberry Z3. (Photo Courtesy of BlackBerry)

Jakarta. BlackBerry has responded to a falling market share in Indonesia by launching its low-cost, touchscreen Z3 smartphone, John S. Chen, the executive chairman and chief executive at the Canadian company said.

The BlackBerry Z3, Jakarta Edition — built exclusively for the Indonesian market — will hit shelves from May 15 with a price tag of Rp 2,199,000 ($191).

When asked how many units he wanted to see sold in Indonesia, Chen said: “I hope to sell lots … but more importantly I want to focus more on market share. I want to increase our market share.”

The Z3 is the first device introduced by BlackBerry under Chen’s leadership.

Jakarta will be the first city to offer the device to consumers before it gets rolled out to other locations.

“Why did I pick Jakarta first? It’s my recognition and my statement that Indonesian consumers are very important for us. In Jakarta, we have lots of customers, in Indonesia we have lots of customers,” said Chen, who took over the helm at the embattled company late last year.

BlackBerry products were at the height of their popularity in Indonesia about three to four years ago in a country once dubbed a “BlackBerry nation.”

Data from the technology research firm, the International Data Corporation (IDC), shows that BlackBerry had a 43 percent market share of the nascent smartphone market in 2011.

However, cut-throat competition has seen its market share decline since then, and its dominance has been eroded by smartphones from brands that use Google’s Android operating system.

According to IDC data, BlackBerry’s market share had declined to 14 percent globally by last year, while that of Android-based phones, including South Korea’s Samsung, had increased to 81 percent.

“We want to go back to [a market share of] around 40 percent. I had a conversation with one of our major distributors today and we both agreed that we should aim at that … by going back to what he said were the good old days,” Chen said.

“It will take us a while for sure, but the first thing we have to reverse is the losing trend,” said the executive who previously served as the chief executive and president of Sybase, a California-based independent software vendor.

He said Jakarta would be the testing ground on how well consumers receive a smartphone priced at under $200.

“We have been losing market share in the last two years and obviously I would like to turn that corner. If I can turn that corner I would view that as successful,” he said.

The BlackBerry Z3 is the first product by FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group, an electronics contract manufacturing company based in Taiwan, which also assembles gadgets for other manufacturers, including iPhones and iPads for Apple.

The chief at the Waterloo, Ontario-based company voiced optimism that the introduction of a new device aimed at the low-end market, followed by other innovations can help it to improve its financial performance.

BlackBerry posted a loss of $423 million in the first three months of this year, compared with a $4.4 billion loss in the previous quarter.

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Hon Hai's new Indonesian factory to produce Blackberry

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-12-21

Hon Hai's new factory in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. (Internet photo)

Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) will design and manufacture new Blackberry phones for the next five years, our sister paper Commercial Times reported on Dec. 21, two days after the company's chairman Terry Gou announced the company would open a new factory in Yogyakarta, Indonesia after the Lunar New Year.

The Southeast Asian nation is one of the markets that Blackberry aims to target.

Company spokesman Simon Hsing said Hon Hai's new factory in Yogyakarta and another plant in Mexico will be the major manufacturing bases for Blackberry phones, as they are both close to the major markets for the smartphone.

Commercial Times said approximately 50 million cell phones or smartphones were imported to Indonesia in 2012, generating total revenue of more than US$4.5 billion.

Apple Unseats Coca Cola as World’s ‘Best Brand’

Jakarta Globe – AFP, September 30, 2013

Customers wait in line outside an Apple Inc. store to purchase at Easton Town
 Center in Columbus, Ohio, US, on Sept. 20, 2013. (Bloomberg Photo/Luke Sharrett)

 Paris. Coca Cola has lost its crown as the world’s best brand, a closely watched survey said on Monday, unseated by the iconic iPhone and iPad maker Apple.

This marks the first time the soft drink missed the top spot on the “best global brand report”, a line-up created in 2000 by marketing consultancy Interbrand, a unit of the Omnicom advertising conglomerate.

“Every so often, a company changes our lives – not just with its products, but with its ethos,” said Jez Frampton, Interbrand’s chief executive.

“This is why, following Coca Cola’s 13-year run at the top of Best Global Brands, Apple now ranks #1,” he said.

In fact, Coca Cola dropped two places in 2013, also losing to Google, the search engine, which came in second place.

Apple has always been on the list, beginning at #36 in 2000, but has slowly climbed the ranks.

But Interbrand warned Apple needed to keep a close eye on archrival Samsung (#9), especially on the crucial smartphone market.

“To maintain its number one position over the next year, Apple will have to slow rival Samsung’s momentum in the mobile market and never lose sight of what it does best: ‘Think different’,” the consultancy said.

According to Interbrand, the Apple brand is worth $98.31 billion, a 28 percent rise from the previous year with the Google brand weighing in at $93.29 billion.

Computing giants IBM and Microsoft fill out the top five.

Meanwhile, some recent rising stars have now lost their luster.

Blackberry, the embattled phone maker, has disappeared from the list completely and Nokia, once the mobile phone leader, tumbled from 13th place to a lowly 57.

Social network Facebook meanwhile jumped to the 52 spot from 69.

Agence France-Presse

BlackBerry agrees to $4.7 billion buyout

DeutscheWelle, 23 Sep 2013

BlackBerry has agreed to a buyout worth billions of dollars. The move comes just days after the one-time mobile phone pioneer said it was laying off 40 percent of its workforce in expectation of massive losses this year.

In a statement released on Monday, BlackBerry said it would sell its stocks to a consortium of shareholders for $4.7 billion (3.48 billion euros) following disappointing sales.

The Canadian company "signed a letter of intent agreement under which a consortium to be led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited has offered to acquire the company subject to due diligence."

Fairfax - also based in Canada - already owns 10 percent of BlackBerry.

Current shareholders are to receive $9 for each outstanding share, the statement added.

On Friday, Blackberry said it planned to lay off 4,500 employees - roughly 40 percent of its current workforce. The smartphone maker let go nearly as many workers in the previous year as well.

With the release of its Z10 smartphone this year, BlackBerry attempted to rejuvenate its image in a highly competitive smartphone market which is dominated by Apple and Android phones. However, the company said on Friday it still expected to incur losses of $995 million in the second quarter of this year.

BlackBerry phones surpassed technology on the market in the early 2000s by allowing users to access email and other services online. The rise of the iPhone in 2007, followed soon after by Android phones, soon stole away consumers with the touch screen and other technological innovations.

kms/hc (AP, AFP)

Related Article:

BlackBerry to fire 4,500 employees as sales of new device plummet

BlackBerry to fire 4,500 employees as sales of new device plummet

The news comes as Apple released two new iPhones on Friday which analysts predict will sell 5m in the opening weekend

theguardian.com, Dominic Rushe in New York and Charles Arthur, Friday 20 September 2013

The struggling smartphone firm said it expects to lose nearly $1bn on
disappointing sales of a new device. Photograph: Mast Irham/EPA

BlackBerry confirmed it was firing 4,500 of its staff on Friday as the struggling smartphone firm said it expects to lose nearly $1bn in the three months to August on disappointing sales of new phones.

Revenues for the three months were only $1.6bn, the company said, against analysts' forecasts of $3bn – indicative of a collapse in its business after lacklustre sales of its new Z10 and Q10 phones. In all, it shipped 3.7m smartphones in the quarter, its lowest since summer 2007, when the first iPhone came out.

The company's shares crashed from $10.20 to $8.03 before recovering to $8.73, a 17% drop on the day, valuing it at $4.5bn. The shares were briefly suspended as rumours of the loss circulated, and it was forced to indicate its quarterly earnings a week ahead of their scheduled date. It said it would announce a loss of between $930m and $955m next week.

That brings its total losses in the past seven quarters to $1.8bn, putting its viability as a going concern into question.

The company announced it was putting itself up for sale at the end of August – which market observers took to indicate it had failed to find a buyer privately. Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia this month effectively left the Ontario-based company in the cold.

Though Canada's Fairfax Holdings is believed to be trying to put together a private equity buyout, others think it will be sold off piecemeal.

The company blamed the loss partly on "more intense competition" following poor sales of the Z10 and Q10, released in January and April.

Apple launched its two latest iPhones yesterday, which analysts were predicting could sell 5m in the opening weekend.

BlackBerry's firings follow the loss of 5,000 jobs last year and a smaller round of redundancies this summer. The new losses will reduce Blackberry's 12,700-plus global workforce by about 40%. Expenses will be cut by 50% by the end of the first quarter of 2015, the company said.

BlackBerry's share of the smartphone market has plummeted as Apple and devices from Samsung, HTC and others have taken its once sizeable lead.

BlackBerry had over 14% of the US smartphone market in 2011 but, according to research firm IDC, it now has under 3%. Once the market leader, it now trails in fourth place behind Microsoft's Windows Phone brand, devices powered by market leader Google's Android system and Apple, IDC says .

Thorsten Heins, the BlackBerry chief executive, told Bloomberg in April that the Q10 could sell "tens of millions". So far the figure appears to be below 5m.

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NSA can reportedly access iPhone, Android and BlackBerry data

Deutsche Welle, 8 Sep 2013

The US National Security Agency has the ability to access data from iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices, according to a German magazine. Smart phone content from emails to text messages has reportedly been monitored.

The NSA can access smart phone data including contacts, SMS traffic, notes and user location information, Der Spiegel reported Saturday, citing top secret agency documents seen by the newsmagazine.

Der Spiegel cited documents where experts boast about instances where the NSA can access a computer used by a person to synch their iPhone. Mini-programs, called "scripts," then allow at least 38 additional iPhone features to be accessed.

The NSA appears to also have had success accessing BlackBerry data, according to Der Spiegel. One internal document from 2009 said the agency can "see and read SMS traffic." When the company began changing the way it compressed data it temporarily made access to the information more difficult.

"But in March 2010, the department responsible declared it had regained access to BlackBerry data and celebrated with the word, 'champagne,'" Der Spiegel reported.

The documents seen by the newsmagazine also state the NSA has successfully accessed BlackBerry email data, a system previously thought to be very secure.

When questioned by Der Spiegel, BlackBerry officials said: "It is not for us to comment on the media reports regarding alleged government surveillance of telecommunications traffic."

The Canadian company stressed that it had not created a "'back door' pipeline to our platform."

Der Spiegel said the NSA documents indicated the smart phone snooping was not a mass-collection effort but rather targeted spying done without the knowledge of the phone manufacturers.

dr/av (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

BlackBerry 10 unveiled, with company name change

Google - AFP, John Biers (AFP), 30 January 2013

The stage is set for RIM CEO Thorsten Heins to officially unveil the BlackBerry

10 on January 30, 2013 (AFP, Timothy A. Clary)

NEW YORK — BlackBerry launched its comeback effort Wednesday with a revamped platform and a pair of sleek new handsets, along with a company name change as part of a move to reinvent the smartphone maker.

Canadian-based Research in Motion said it had changed its name to BlackBerry as it launched the BlackBerry 10, the new platform aimed at helping the firm regain traction in a market now dominated by rivals.

"From this point forward RIM becomes BlackBerry," chief executive Thorsten Heins told a glitzy unveiling in New York, one of six global events for the product launch. "It is one brand, it is one promise."

The company unveiled two new devices for its new platform, one with a physical keyboard called the Q10, and a touchscreen handset dubbed Z10.

The new BlackBerry "will transform mobile communications into true mobile computing," Heins said.

"Today is a brand new day in the history of BlackBerry."

The launch is seen as critical to BlackBerry, which had been the dominant smartphone maker before Apple launched its iPhone and others began using the Google Android operating system.

RIM says the all-new system will break new ground by allowing customers to flip between applications seamlessly and without first passing through a home page, to boost efficiency and multitasking.

Another key asset of BlackBerry 10 is what RIM dubbed the "BlackBerry balance," a system that allows users to separate professional communications and applications from music, photographs and other personal items.

Such an option means that if a user changes job, his or her former company can disable the device's corporate side without affecting personal data.

RIM's recent performance on Wall Street suggests the market is open to the BlackBerry 10. Shares have risen more than 30 percent since the start of the year, although they dropped back over the last two sessions.

Carolina Milanesi, an analyst for Gartner who specializes in consumer devices, said the aim of the launch "is to reinstill faith in the BlackBerry brand and capture both consumer and enterprises at the same time."

Milanesi said a successful launch will at least give them a shot to get into the game" but that BlackBerry has little room for error, after a launch delayed several months.

"They will not be forgiven for any mistakes," she said.

BlackBerry shares fell 4.4 percent after the launch to $14.98.

According to research firm IDC, BlackBerry's share of the global smartphone market slipped to 4.7 percent in 2012, to 68 percent for Android and 18.8 percent for Apple's iOS.

The BlackBerry 10 mobile platform is seen after being unveiled

January 30, 2013 in New York City (AFP, Timothy A. Clary)

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WhatsApp: the new text messaging

As texting turns 20, could this popular app that allows phone users to chat for free take the place of SMS?

Guardian, Charles Arthur, Tuesday 4 December 2012

WhatsApp … RU still using SMS? LOL! Photograph: Getty Images/
OJO Images

You've heard of texting, right? Billions of people use text messages, which have just turned 20. And you've heard of BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), the free system for users of BlackBerry phones where, unlike texts, sending or receiving messages costs nothing because it's done as data that you have already paid for in your contact.

OK. But have you heard of WhatsApp? If you're under 25, the answer is almost certainly yes. It is a cross-platform mobile messaging app that allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS, and has an estimated 250 million users worldwide. That's more than four times as many as BBM, and it has the mobile operators increasingly worried, because it works like BBM – over data – but on any phone that can run the app, including phones running Android, Windows Phone, Nokia's Symbian and S40, BlackBerry OS and Apple's iOS. To communicate with someone, you both have to have WhatsApp installed. (It will recognise your contacts who do have it from their phone number.) That's a potential market of many hundreds of millions of users, and although the company hasn't released any formal numbers, it's safe to say that it's already really big, and likely to become even more so.

WhatsApp was started in 2009 by two ex-Yahoo staff, Jan Koum and Brian Acton, and presently handles more than 10bn messages per day. And it's also one of the most popular paid-for apps on any platform. Why a paid app (you have to buy it on the iPhone; it's free for the first year on other platforms) rather than totally free? Koum and Acton recently posted on the company blog to explain: "These days companies know literally everything about you, your friends, your interests, and they use it all to sell ads," they wrote.

"We wanted to make something that wasn't just another ad clearing-house. We wanted to spend our time building a service people wanted to use because it worked and saved them money and made their lives better in a small way. We knew that we could charge people directly if we could do all those things. We knew we could do what most people aim to do every day: avoid ads."

Text messaging may still be pulling in the money from pay-as-you-go users, but these days they can get data bundles that let them send endless numbers of WhatsApp messages, and never touch the gold-plated text message (whose per-message cost, especially on PAYG, is miles out of kilter with what it costs to deliver or send).

Tero Kuittenen, of the Finnish consultancy Alekstra, says: "I believe we are facing a period of accelerating erosion of SMS volumes – this is not going to be a linear process." WhatsApp, he says, has grown tenfold in a year: "Even though WhatsApp is such a fresh phenomenon, it has already played a major role in pushing Spain's SMS volume into 25% annual decline."

So if you haven't heard of WhatsApp, you might soon do. And if you have, when's the last time you sent a text?

Facebook is updating its Messenger

 app for Android mobile phones allowing 

people send messages via their data

plan. Photograph: Manu Fernandez/AP

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Volkswagen turns off Blackberry email after work hours

BBC News, 23 December 2011

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UK unions have warned that VW-style
email restrictions might not suit other
companies

Volkswagen has agreed to stop its Blackberry servers sending emails to some of its employees when they are off-shift.

The carmaker confirmed it made the move earlier this year following complaints that staff's work and home lives were becoming blurred.

The restriction covers employees in Germany working under trade union negotiated contracts.

Campaigners warned that the move would not be suitable for all companies.

A spokesman for VW said: "We confirm that this agreement between VW and the company's work council exists", but would not comment further.

Under the arrangement servers stop routing emails 30 minutes after the end of employees' shifts, and then start again 30 minutes before they return to work.

The staff can still use their devices to make calls and the rule does not apply to senior management.

"The agreement was received very positively," Heinz-Joachim Thus of the VW workers council told the German newspaper Wolfsburger Allgemeine.

Spare time

The move follows criticism of internal emails by Thierry Breton, chief executive of the French information technology services giant, Atos. He said workers at his firm were wasting hours of their lives on internal messages both at home and at work. He has taken the more radical step of banning internal email altogether from 2014.

Last month the maker of Persil washing powder, Henkel, also declared an email "amnesty" for its workers between Christmas and New Year saying messages should only be sent out as an emergency measure.

Industry watchers say the moves reflect growing awareness of a problem.

"It's bad for the individual worker's performance being online and available 24-7. You do need downtime, you do need periods in which you can actually reflect on something without needing instantaneously to give a reaction," said Will Hutton, chair of the Big Innovation Centre at The Work Foundation.

"Secondly it has a poor impact on an individual's well-being. I think that one has to patrol quite carefully the borderline between work and non-work.

"So I can see why some firms are taking this action, the problem is that a universal response is impossible... but certainly we should have the capacity to be opted out of it rather than be opted in."

Consultations

Union officials in the UK have also cautioned other firms against repeating Volkswagen's move without consultation.

"The issue of employees using Blackberrys, computers and other devices out of working time is a growing one that needs to be addressed as it can be a source of stress," Trades Union Congress (TUC) secretary general Brendan Barber told the BBC.

"However other organisations will need different solutions and what works in VW may not work elsewhere.

"By working in partnership with their union, Volkswagen's policy will have the support of all their employees. Where employers simply introduce policies on their own, however well-meaning they may be, they are unlikely to be successful."

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Dozens Injured at Indonesian BlackBerry Launch

Jakarta Globe, Michelle Natalie, November 25, 2011

Several people suffered minor injuries as many hundreds of impatient
 BlackBerry fans broke through a barricade to get their hands on the latest
 smartphone during a discount promotion in a Jakarta mall on Friday. (Antara Photo)    

          

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Dozens of people suffered minor injuries as many hundreds of impatient BlackBerry fans broke through a barricade to get their hands on the latest smartphone during a discount promotion in a Jakarta mall on Friday.

As the crowd swelling to well in excess of a thousand people — a number of whom had been queuing since the previous day — rumors began circulating on Friday morning that the BlackBerry Bellagio, also known as a BlackBerry Bold 9790, had sold out during the event at Pacific Place mall in South Jakarta.

This and impatience and frustration caused the crowd to surge forward through a protective barrier, with reports saying that as many as 90 people needing treatment for a range of minor injuries, from losing consciousness to broken bones.

Ambulances and paramedics were rushed to the scene, with at least three people taken to hospital with fractured or broken bones.

Up to 200 police and security guards were also deployed to restore order and prevent similar scenes from reoccurring.

Sherly, 32, who had been waiting since 3 a.m., told the Jakarta Globe that she passed out in the crush.

“The mass just went crazy and began pushing each other,” she said. “It was really scary, I was squeezed by the crowd until I lost consciousness.”

Sherly, who has never owned a BlackBerry but was attracted by the massive discount, was later observed begging a BlackBerry staff member to be allowed to reclaim her position in the queue.

Sandy, a Blackberry staff member, said the queue had begun forming from 4 p.m. the previous day.

During the promotion, in which the phones were sold for Rp 2.3 million ($260) at just half the normal retail price of Rp 4.6 million.

Though each person was initially told that they needed to collect a red bracelet from management before they could purchase a phone, the rule was abandoned as the size of the crowd grew on Friday morning.

“The rules have changed,” said Karim, who had been queuing since early Friday morning. “At 9 a.m., the management said that everyone in the queue would definitely get [a phone], with or without the red bracelet.”

Speaking to the Globe at 10:40 a.m., forty minutes before the phones began selling, Karim said he was still unsure whether he would be able to get into the mall.

At 11 a.m. police were again called into action as frustration again threatened to boil over.

“Everyone, please be patient and stand in line,” a police officer yelled through a megaphone. “Please do not push each other! Everyone who has queued will definitely get a phone. Please remember your own safety.”

Arifin, a security guard with a rottweiler police dog, said the situation remained tense.

“The situation is manageable now, as long as the crowd stay in order.”

Despite the assurances of both BlackBerry and the police the event was closed prematurely at 1.30 a.m., again sparking anger.

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RIM stops new BB launch due to safety concerns

Blackberry services down in Europe, Middle East and Africa

BBC News, 10 October 2011 

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The crash is a blow to Blackberry which
 is struggling to convince people to pick
its handsets

Millions of Blackberry owners across Europe, the Middle East and Africa have been left without services following a server crash.

Owners of the smartphones were unable to browse the web, send email or instant messages.

The problem appears to have originated in a data centre in Slough which handles Blackberry services for the affected regions.

Blackberry UK said it knew about the problem and was "investigating".

In a tweet sent around 14:42 BST, the company said: "Some users in EMEA are experiencing issues."

A subsequent statement said Blackberry was: "working to resolve an issue currently impacting some Blackberry subscribers in Europe Middle East and Africa."

It apologised for the inconvenience that the ongoing problem was causing its customers.

Earlier on 10 October mobile operators in the UK, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar and other nations pointed the finger at Blackberry owner RIM when replying to tweets from customers complaining about the problems.

Business and consumer

Many corporate customers said they had not lost service, suggesting that the problem was with Blackberry's BIS consumer systems, rather than its BES enterprise systems.

"Blackberry runs two infrastructures," explained Simon Butler, a Microsoft Exchange consultant at Sembee.

"The understanding I have is that the BIS service has crashed.

"The business side runs on a different set of servers, although enterprise Blackberrys can still use messenger and the consumer services, so they are also affected," said Mr Butler.

Such a major outage will still come as unwelcome news to Blackberry's owner RIM, which has been losing market share to smartphone rivals - in particular Apple's iPhone.

Many corporate clients have switched to the device after Apple made a concerted effort to improve its support for secure business email systems.

"If you have got companies that are shifting their allegiance to other players in the market and you stop being able to provide them that concrete, reliable service, then that's going to have a detrimental effect," said Stuart Miles of Pocket-Lint.com.

Online complaints

The first signs of trouble emerged about 11:00 BST but seemed to have escalated with tags about Blackberry and its BBM service trending on Twitter.

The only functioning service on Blackberry seemed to be text messaging, prompting many users to voice their frustration online.

In an early report, The Daily Telegraph quoted one Twitter user as suffering "serious Blackberry outrage".

Others lamented the loss of the free BBM network saying they did not know what to do without it.

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Why is Indonesia so in love with the Blackberry?

BBC News, Dewi Safitri , BBC Indonesian Service

Some of Indonesia's three million Blackberry owners use their smartphones
to pass the time until they can break their Islamic Ramadan fast.

As the joke in Indonesia goes, if you don't have the right gadget you may end up a social outcast.

Undoubtedly, the gadget of the moment is the Blackberry smartphone.

A walk through a packed food court at lunchtime in Jakarta proves the point. Most patrons are glued to their smartphones, available in a myriad of colours but covered nonetheless in decorative cases.

Incessant message alerts reverberate around the food hall amid the clatter of cutlery.

Internet guru Onno Purbo believes Indonesian fans see the Blackberry as the trendier, flashier gadget.

Smartphone fever

But it is not just professionals like Purbo who are caught up in the hype. High school students like 14-year-old Haryo Suryo Susilo are also using them to stay in touch with their friends.

When Haryo meets us in a hotel lobby in Jogjakarta, he has been playing on his white smartphone for half an hour, ignoring the fruit platter in front of him.

A certain smartphone is also popular
with members of parliament

"I've only had it three months and I love it," he says. His visibly annoyed mother, Sari Susilo, says he spends all his time on his new device.

Haryo's mother is a smartphone user herself and it is clear his love for his prize piece of technology runs in the family. His father even uses two smartphones to keep his supermarket business running and stay in touch with his family.

But why smartphones, rather than mobile phones? Because they're so much cooler, says Sari.

This kind of smartphone fever means Research In Motion, Blackberry's Canadian developers, needs hardly any advertising to lure in new customers or impress Indonesia's estimated three million existing users.

Despite this, there are high-profile marketing campaigns, most notably featuring the president's daughter-in-law.

New freaks

Sources: BBC Indonesia Country Profile, Internet World Stats, Socialbakers, Penn Olson

Marketing analysts say it is word of mouth that drives smartphone sales in Indonesia but how this all began is a mystery.

The market leader's features are little different to those of other smartphones available, although users can message each other for free. Somehow this lifestyle product has gained cult status in Indonesia.

INDONESIA FACTS

• Population: 232 million
• Internet users: 30 million
• Facebook users: 37 million
• Twitter users: 5 million
• Blackberry users: 3 million

"We are a nation of consumers, always on the lookout for the latest trends," says Purbo.

Self-declared trendsetters like radio DJ Tommy Prabowo echo Purbo's views.

"When I first got a Blackberry in 2008, very few people in Jakarta used them.

"But now I've just got to have it - 99 per cent of people I know use one," he says.

Over the last two years, Prabowo has changed his smartphone four times to keep up with the latest trends.

The phenomenon is similar to the explosion of mobile phones in Indonesia less than a decade ago, making it one of the biggest mobile phone markets in the world.

"You were not cool unless you had the latest Nokia. We're heading in the same direction now," says Prabowo.

The DJ describes himself and his friends as 'new freaks'.

"Some people really don't know how to use any Blackberry features apart from its messaging service. It is new and hip, and that's it."

Online abuse

Prita Mulyasari was acquitted of
defamation after social media backing

The explosion of smartphone users seems to have coincided with a surge in social media enthusiasts.

According to the Internet World Stats website, since 2000 internet usage in Indonesia has grown by 1500 per cent.

Web statisticians Socialbakers estimate Indonesia has 37 million Facebook users, second only to the United States, while traffic counter comScore ranked Indonesia fourth in the world for Twitter reach.

The importance of social networking came to Indonesia's attention in 2009, when Prita Mulyasari, an Indonesian bank worker, was jailed for defamation after complaining about hospital treatment in an e-mail to friends.

Her supporters launched enormous Facebook and Twitter campaigns, sparking widespread national and international media coverage, and she was later acquitted of all charges.

More recently, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono used an address to the nation to denounce critics he claims are spreading lies and rumours about him using social media.

The president even cited Blackberry as a platform that can "improve life" but added that those who "use online media to assassinate character or abuse anyone are irresponsible, ignoble and cowardly.'

While US President Barack Obama may be known to be a long-time Blackberry addict, President Yudhoyono is surely the first head of state to mention its impact in an address to the nation.

The next big thing?

Google launched its Android mobile
operating system in Indonesia last year

Internet guru Purbo believes there are many Indonesians who use communication technology for more than just updating their social status.

"This is what needs to be nurtured and the government should have something to do with it," he says.

For years, the Indonesian government has been negotiating with Research In Motion over regulations that require the Canadian company to build a local server.

Purbo believes the government needs to be more pro-active in pushing Research In Motion to invest in Indonesia.

"Why stop at one server? It's a small piece of equipment and can be put anywhere. Why not ask them to build a factory here?

"Indonesian programmers should be getting involved and sharing some of the profit."

All this could change if Google's Android system, which Purbo describes as "the next big thing" takes over the market.

Android smartphones are yet to win over the Indonesian consumer.

Purbo believes this is because they are largely manufactured in Asia, so are unappealing to Indonesians craving American or European goods.

But with millions of Blackberry users putting pressure on mobile networks, Indonesian providers are having a hard time supplying a reliable service.

"I ditched my Blackberry long ago and use the Android system now, " laughs Purbo.

"It's cheap and made in China."

DJ Prabowo is also keeping a close eye the Android system.

"Some of my friends are using Android already. Others might soon have to catch up," he says with a knowing grin.

Whatever the future holds for smartphone fans in Indonesia, it is clear this is one trendsetter who won't be ending up a social outcast.

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