Press Release:
Beijing and Guangzhou, China – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9930 smartphone will be available in China through the corporate sales channels of China Telecom.
Running on China Telecom’s CDMA network, the BlackBerry Bold 9930 smartphone is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone yet and the first to offer the perfect union of a high-performance keyboard and touch display integrated within the iconic BlackBerry Bold design. It supports global roaming and Wi-Fi® connectivity. With its industry-leading keyboard and popular Chinese input options, responsive high-resolution touch screen and high-speed browser capabilities, the BlackBerry Bold 9930 continues the tradition of delivering the world’s best mobile communications experience. It features a highly refined and integrated suite of phone, email, messaging, social networking, multimedia and business apps to keep customers connected and productive throughout the day.
The new BlackBerry Bold 9930 is also the first BlackBerry smartphone available in China to include built-in support for NFC (Near Field Communications), a new technology that is enabling many new and exciting capabilities, including the ability to make mobile payments, pair accessories or read SmartPoster tags with a simple tap of the smartphone.
“We’re excited to launch the BlackBerry Bold 9930 smartphone in China,” said Urpo Karjalainen, Regional Managing Director, Asia Pacific, at Research In Motion. “The new Bold will feature the new BlackBerry® 7.1 operating system and provide customers with an outstanding communications, web browsing and multimedia experience. IT managers will also benefit from the renowned enterprise-grade features of the BlackBerry solution.”
“The BlackBerry Bold 9930 smartphone and BlackBerry® Enterprise Server software together provide a secure, manageable mobile solution for enterprise customers. The BlackBerry enterprise solution enables significant productivity and efficiency gains for Chinese customers and it is trusted by over 90% of Fortune 500 companies around the world,” added Karjalainen.
Next-Generation BlackBerry 7.1 OS
The BlackBerry 7.1 operating system (OS) introduces a next-generation BlackBerry browser that is among the best in the industry. Combining the dramatically improved performance of the advanced WebKit browser engine, together with the powerful hardware enhancements of the BlackBerry Bold 9900, means that browsing results are up to 40% faster than BlackBerry® 6-based smartphones and up to twice as fast as BlackBerry® 5-based smartphones*. Additional enhancements to this next-generation BlackBerry browser also include optimized zooming and panning for smoother web navigation and optimized HTML5 performance for incredible gaming and video experiences.
With BlackBerry 7.1 OS, customers can now be productive from virtually anywhere. They can turn their BlackBerry smartphone into a mobile hotspot that can be shared by up to 5 Wi-Fi -enabled devices, including laptops and tablets**.
The BlackBerry 7.1 OS also incorporates a new feature called BlackBerry® Tag that allows BlackBerry customers to share information and content in a convenient new way. By simply tapping their NFC enabled BlackBerry Bold 9930 smartphone against another NFC enabled BlackBerry smartphone, customers can make sharing easier than ever. They can instantly invite a friend to BBM or exchange contact information, documents, URLs, photos and other multimedia content. They can also pair their BlackBerry smartphone with an NFC enabled Bluetooth® device.
The BlackBerry Bold 9930 will be showcased at the China Telecom 3G Trade Fair in Guangzhou from June 15 to 17. Please visit the BlackBerry booth at 9.2-B20.
* Testing was performed by RIM to measure average page load speeds using pre-release BlackBerry 7 software.
** Mobile hotspot feature requires BlackBerry 7.1 and may require an additional data plan. Please check with your service provider.
About Research In Motion
Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market Exchange (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.
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