BlackBerry set to grow in China

By Paul Taylor in New York

FROM THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Research in Motion, the Canadian manufacturer of the BlackBerry family of wireless e-mail devices, plans to begin selling BlackBerry devices in key Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao.

The Ontario-based company, which has been trying to win approval to sell BlackBerry devices in China for eight years, said it had recently received “device certification” from the Chinese government, removing the final barrier to launching sales on the Chinese mainland.

RIM is also believed to be considering a plan to manufacture the devices in China.

China, which has almost 500m mobile phone users, represents a huge potential growth market for RIM. Up to 25m Chinese business people could be interested in paying for a wireless e-mail service such as the BlackBerry service, according to researchers.

While RIM has been expanding in other overseas markets including India, Korea and Japan, the bulk of its nearly 9m current subscribers are based in the US and other markets such as the UK, where BlackBerry devices are widely used by corporate executives, government officials, lawyers and celebrities.

In the latest quarter, the company added 1.2m subscribers

Jim Balsillie, RIM’s co-chief executive, told analysts on a conference call last week that RIM planned to sell BlackBerry devices in China through its existing partnership with China Mobile. “We are finalising device availability in mainland China and expect to move forward in key cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao,” he said.

“We see strong interest [in China] in BlackBerries,” he added.

RIM’s stock on Thursday gained almost 5 per cent before the opening bell in New York but trimmed its gains in morning trading.

Mr Balsillie’s comments were echoed by a manager in the company’s Beijing office in comments made to the Toronto-based Globe and Mail newspaper this week.

The manager said RIM expected to begin selling its BlackBerry 8700g handset in Chinese shops at the end of next month. He said the company had already received almost 5,000 advance orders for the device, mostly from corporate customers, especially foreign multi-nationals with offices in China.

It will probably be sold in China for the equivalent of about $700.

SOURCE: THE FINANCIAL TIMES