by CIO Staff

RIM Signs On New BlackBerry Partner in India (UPDATED)

News
Oct 09, 20061 min
MobileSmall and Medium Business

Since this story was originally posted, it has been updated to accurately represent that BlackBerry service was first offered in India in Oct. 2004.

Research In Motion (RIM) has signed a deal with operator Hutchison Essar to offer the company’s BlackBerry push e-mail service in India.

RIM’s BlackBerry Pearl
BlackBerry Pearl

Under terms of the agreement, Mumbai-based Hutch will offer BlackBerry handsets and the related push e-mail service to its subscribers. Hutch and RIM did not offer a time frame for the launch of the service, but Hutch executives promised BlackBerry will be available in India “soon.”

The BlackBerry service was first offered in India in October 2004 through a partnership with Bharti Tele-Ventures, which uses the Airtel brand for its mobile services.

Over the past year, RIM has expanded the availability of BlackBerry in Asia, adding China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan to the list of countries where the service is available or will soon be offered.

-Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service (Singapore Bureau)

Related Links:

  • RIM Targets Consumer Market With BlackBerry Pearl

  • HTC Develops 1/2-Inch Thick Smart Phone for Cingular

Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage.