Taipei, Taiwan – Taiwan Mobile and Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today launched two new BlackBerry® smartphones based on the BlackBerry® 7 Operating System (OS). Powered by the latest BlackBerry software (including Chinese language support), the new BlackBerry® Torch™ 9860 will be available from Taiwan Mobile tomorrow and the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 can be pre-ordered through Taiwan Mobile at the same time.
Featuring RIM’s next generation hardware and software platforms, these new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones offer users a choice of two attractive designs and deliver the ultimate in communications, multimedia and productivity.
The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone ever, offering both a large keyboard and brilliant touch display. The BlackBerry Torch 9860 introduces an all-new, all-touch design featuring the largest display on a BlackBerry smartphone to date.
The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Torch 9860 both support Chinese characters within the user interface and various applications, and both smartphones also support popular Chinese input methods.
“Taiwan Mobile is committed to bringing a variety of BlackBerry smartphones to enhance our customers’ mobile life,” said Paul Huang, Vice President of Taiwan Mobile. “The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 is the best-in-class full QWERTY smartphone while the BlackBerry Torch 9860 is our most up-to-date all-touch smartphone. We believe these new products will appeal to both business users and consumers.”
“We’re pleased to bring the new BlackBerry 7 smartphones to Taiwan,” said Urpo Karjalainen, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific at Research In Motion. “The BlackBerry solution offers an industry leading mobile communications experience that customers love and we think they will be thrilled by the faster performance, enhanced browsing, richer multimedia and localized support delivered by the powerful new BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Torch smartphones.”
Next Generation BlackBerry Browser
BlackBerry 7 introduces a next generation BlackBerry browser with a significantly faster, more fluid web browsing experience 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 found in the BlackBerry 7 based smartphones delivers browsing results that are up to 40% faster than BlackBerry® 6 based smartphones and up to 100% faster than BlackBerry® 5 based smartphones*. Additional enhancements to this next generation BlackBerry browser have also optimized zooming and panning for smoother web navigation and optimized HTML5 performance for incredible gaming and video experiences.
Liquid Graphics
Both of these new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones also feature Liquid Graphics™ technology, with each smartphone combining a dedicated high-performance graphics processor with a blazingly fast CPU and stunning high resolution display to deliver a highly responsive touch interface with incredibly fast and smooth graphics.
Increased Productivity
These two new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones also include a number of pre-loaded applications for increased productivity and collaboration right out of the box. The Premium version of Documents To Go is now included free of charge, offering users powerful document editing features as well as a native PDF document viewer. In addition, BlackBerry® Balance (announced May 2, 2011) is also included, allowing users to enjoy the full BlackBerry smartphone experience for both work and personal purposes without compromising the IT department’s need for advanced security and IT controls.
Improved Social and Entertainment Experiences
BlackBerry 7 based smartphones feature a highly refined and integrated suite of phone, email, messaging and social apps to keep users connected and productive throughout the day. In addition, they also come with the newest release of BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger) which now extends the real time BBM experience to a range of other apps. These ‘BBM connected’ apps can integrate the popular functionality of the BBM service and offer users the ability to interact with their friends from within the app itself.
The updated Social Feeds (2.0) app has been extended to capture updates from media, podcasts, and favorites all in one consolidated view. The new Facebook® for BlackBerry smartphones (2.0) app introduces features like Facebook chat and BBM integration that makes it easier for users to connect with their Facebook friends in real time.
A New Performance Driven Platform
Both BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphones are built on a new performance driven platform powered by the latest BlackBerry software and hardware. In addition to supporting the new BlackBerry 7 OS, both smartphones feature a range of powerful hardware enhancements including a 1.2 GHz processor, HD video recording, 24-bit high resolution graphics, and advanced sensors enabling new augmented reality applications such as Wikitude – all designed to deliver the ultimate in communications, multimedia and productivity.
BlackBerry Bold 9900 Smartphone with Touch Display and Keyboard
The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone yet (at only 10.5mm) and the first to offer the perfect union of a high performance keyboard and touch display integrated within the iconic BlackBerry Bold design.
The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 is also the first BlackBerry smartphone 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 pair accessories or read SmartPoster tags with a simple tap of the smartphone.
Distinguished by its beautiful design, amazingly effective keyboard and brilliant touch display, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is crafted with premium materials including a brushed stainless steel frame that puts the finishing touch on a truly outstanding smartphone.
All-Touch BlackBerry Torch 9860 Smartphone
The BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphone offer the fast, fluid BlackBerry 7 experience in a stylish new all-touch design. With a spectacular new 3.7” display, the largest ever on a BlackBerry smartphone, the new all-touch BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphone is optimized for displaying web pages, photos, videos, and powerful gaming experiences and still delivers the real-time communication and collaboration experience loved by millions of BlackBerry smartphone users around the world.
Pricing and Availability
The BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphone will be available tomorrow from Taiwan Mobile at a standalone price of NT$16,490. Taiwan Mobile will offer the BlackBerry Torch 9860 at NT$1,990** to individual customers who subscribe to Taiwan Mobile’s voice and data plan at NT$1,491 per month. The first 1,000 customers will also receive BlackBerry Torch 9860 accessories from Taiwan Mobile, including an extra battery and a screen protector.
Taiwan Mobile will also start accepting pre-orders of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone tomorrow at the standalone price of NT$19,900. Taiwan Mobile will also offer the BlackBerry Bold 9900 at NT$4,990** to individual customers who subscribe to Taiwan Mobile’s voice and data plan at NT$1,491 per month. In addition, Taiwan Mobile will provide pre-order customers with a BlackBerry Battery Charging Bundle for the BlackBerry Bold 9900 (including an extra battery, battery charger and a micro-USB Y-cable).
For more information on BlackBerry products, pricing and service plans in Taiwan, please contact Taiwan Mobile myfone stores or the customer service hotline at 0809 000 852. For enterprise subscriptions, please contact Taiwan Mobile’s enterprise customer service hotline at 0809 000 809.
For additional information on BlackBerry 7 smartphones, please visit www.blackberry.com.
* Requires BlackBerry 7 OS. Testing was performed by RIM in July 2011 and measured average page load speeds using pre-release BlackBerry 7 software.
** Terms and conditions apply; please contact Taiwan Mobile for details.