The head of Research In Motion‘s operations in Indonesia could face charges related to a stampede at a recent promotional sale where dozens of consumers were injured, another incident that could tarnish RIM’s brand.
Canadian Andrew Cobham was among four suspects who is facing possible charges of negligence leading to injury, Jakarta police spokesman Col. Baharudin Djafar said Monday.
The crime carries a maximum penalty of nine months in prison.
Dozens were injured and several people fainted at the Nov. 25 debut of RIM’s BlackBerry Bold 9790 in Jakarta. There were reports that 5,000 people attended, drawn by a 50 per cent discount to the first 1,000 shoppers.
The Waterloo, Ont., company said it sincerely regrets that some customers were injured and others experienced frustration and upset.
“RIM is actively co-operating with the authorities who are investigating this incident,” RIM said in a statement. “We are also undertaking our own investigation to prevent any recurrence of this sort of situation.”
Technology analyst Carmi Levy said the Jakarta incident only makes things worse for RIM’s struggling consumer brand.
“What it does is damage the brand still further at a time when it’s already suffering a significant amount of damage in the marketplace,” Levy said.
‘RIM can ill afford to have its brand image further tarnished by anything, let alone things that are pretty much out of its direct control.”
The latest RIM incident comes days after two employees at its Canadian operations were slapped with a big fine after their drunken rowdiness forced the diversion of an Air Canada flight. The plane was flying to Beijing from Toronto but had to be diverted to Vancouver last week.
George Campbell, 45, of Conestogo, Ont., and 38-year-old Paul Alexander Wilson of Kitchener, Ont., pleaded guilty to mischief. They were ordered to pay $71,757 in restitution after receiving suspended sentences and probation for a year.
Research In Motion has seen its BlackBerrys lose market share to Apple’s iPhone and Android-powered smartphones. The RIM PlayBook computer tablet has also been struggling to win customers.
