Blackberry Bold hopes to shake Apple's tree

Research In Motion Ltd unveiled a BlackBerry phone with quicker Web browsing and more room for songs and videos, getting a jump on a faster iPhone that analysts expect next month.

The device, called the BlackBerry Bold, has a brighter screen and better Web browser than previous models, co-Chief Executive Officer James Balsillie said.

The phone, which also has satellite navigation and a video camera, will start selling at AT&T Inc for $300 to $400 this summer in the United States, he said.

A young man speaks on his mobile phone near an advertisement for Reliance Communications Ltd's Blackberry service in Mumbai, India. Bloomberg News

The product sets up a showdown between Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs and Balsillie in the market for so-called third-generation phones, which offer speedier Web access and video downloads.

Such phones are the fastest-growing part of the handset market, with users quadrupling to 400 million in the next three years, RBC Capital Markets estimates.

"You need to provide faster networks, faster processors," said Balsillie, 47. Consumers are using "more and more multimedia" and "there are lots of contenders out there".

The Bold, which also will go on sale in Europe and Asia, is the first BlackBerry to use high-speed downlink packet access, or HSDPA, a network technology that speeds data delivery. Apple may introduce an iPhone with faster data in June, according to analysts such as RBC's Mike Abramsky.

Since the iPhone's debut last June, Apple has seized the No 2 spot in the US market for so-called smart phones, handsets with computer and Internet functions. The BlackBerry ranks first.

Courting consumers

To fend off the iPhone, Research In Motion has expanded beyond business customers, releasing devices that have music players and cameras.

The new BlackBerry lets users listen to songs from Apple's iTunes music program.

In a bid to foster new uses for the BlackBerry, the company started a $150 million venture-capital fund with the Royal Bank of Canada and Thomson Reuters Corp, Balsillie said. The fund invests in companies developing smart-phone applications.

The Bold has 1 gigabyte of memory, more than in any previous BlackBerry. Users can expand it to 8 gigabytes with a memory card. Cupertino, California-based Apple sells the iPhone in 8-gigabyte and 16-gigabyte versions.

While Balsillie unveiled the Bold before Jobs showed the new iPhone, the new Apple handset may still be the one that starts selling first, said UBS AG analyst Maynard Um.

Apple, whose iPhone is sold exclusively in the United States through AT&T, usually waits to show new products until they are available to shoppers.

Research In Motion might benefit from following Apple's introduction because AT&T's rivals are likely to battle the new iPhone with their products, Um said. That may allow the Bold to start selling in a less competitive market later on.

With rounded corners, the Bold's design resembles that of the iPhone. Unlike Apple's product, it has a regular keyboard and not a touch screen.

Agencies

(China Daily 05/13/2008 page16)