Just as we thought, RIM is moving into Africa in a big way. They’ve partnered up with EMS and Celtel to release phones in Madagascar and Nigeria, and with EMS and Orange for a release in Botswana. Nigeria will be getting the 8100, 8300, and 8800, while Madagascar will be hooked up with just the 8800. Botswana will get the 8100 and the 8700g. Just a another example RIM’s continuing focus on the African market.
Archive for the 'Hardware Release' Category
Hayden just noticed this neat little gadget. The Liberty is a small USB dongle which plugs into your PC or laptop and communicates with your BlackBerry via Bluetooth, allowing you to view its screen on a much larger display and interact with it on a full-size keyboard. After configuring everything, you simply open the viewer on your BlackBerry and the software is automatically launched on your PC. The Liberty uses your BlackBerry’s internet connection rather than the PC, so any emails that you send are sent via your BlackBerry, and any webpages requested are fetched through the phone. It’s security-conscious, too: the view has to be launched from the BlackBerry, to prevent roving Bluetooth users from stealing your data, and the data can be encrypted with AES to evade snoops. It’s a bit pricey at $99.99, but well worth it you need the functionality.
A poster on the Pinstack forums noted that Canadian operator Telus has launched a pink BlackBerry Pearl 8130, and they have announced that they will donate $25 to Rethink Breast Cancer with every purchase. Rethink Breast Cancer is a charity aimed at educating young people about breast cancer as well as donating to research and support programs. Pretty much everyone has released a red 8130, but this is the first new pink theme since Verizon released theirs a couple weeks ago. It also comes with a swanky pink chameleon theme.
RIM has announced the launch of the BlackBerry Curve 8300 in Uganda in conjunction with MTN, one of the largest telecom companies in that area. MTN will be offering two BlackBerry services in the area: Enterprise Server, which offers Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange, and Novell GroupWise integration; and Internet Service, which offers up to 10 POP3 or IMAP4 email servers including Gmail and Yahoo. RIM has been expanding all around the region, so this new release doesn’t come as much of a surprise.
3 and RIM have announced the launch of the BlackBerry 8707g for customers in Sweden. That area hasn’t seen a lot of BlackBerry devices before so it’s good to see RIM expanding like this. The UMTS-enabled 8707g has a full QWERTY keyboard, and Cognos has modified their Go business intelligence system to work for the device. Additionally, 3 has pledged that they will collaborate with VM-data when customers need assistance integrating with existing business systems.
Stefano at BBWorld has been cordially invited to RIM and Vodafone’s party for the Italian launch of the BlackBerry 8110, happening on January 30th. The GPS-enabled Pearl’s launch was predicted by Jibi last November, and will be available in 3 colors - red, blue, and grey - and also features a 2 megapixel camera. There’s no word yet on when the rest of the world will get their hot little hands on it, but if past experience with the 8120 release is any indicator, the GPS Pearl will spread to other European countries pretty quickly and North America will get it… well, sooner or later.