Thursday, October 21, 2010

RIM Lighting Up the BlackBerry Torch Smartphone in Australia

Highly anticipated BlackBerry Torch 9800, first to feature BlackBerry 6, combines touch screen and easy-to-use keyboard plus rich new browsing experience

Sydney, Australia - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today introduced the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone in Australia. The BlackBerry Torch is the world’s first smartphone to combine a user-friendly BlackBerry® keyboard with a full touch screen experience and the first to include the new BlackBerry® 6 OS.

“The BlackBerry Torch has been highly anticipated here in Australia and we are very proud to be launching this innovative new smartphone with our carrier partners,” said Adele Beachley, Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, Research In Motion. “The new BlackBerry Torch smartphone builds on the familiar and powerful capabilities of the BlackBerry platform to provide the features that are ideal for socially connected consumers while also providing the tools that business customers trust.”

The new BlackBerry Torch features an exciting combination of a large touch screen, optical trackpad and backlit slide-out BlackBerry keyboard. It offers support for high-speed 3G (UMTS/HSDPA) networks around the world, includes the latest generation in Wi-Fi® (b/g/n) connectivity and features built-in GPS for location-based applications and geo-tagging. Its 5 MP camera takes exceptional pictures with continuous auto focus, image stabilisation, scene modes and zoom, and it also supports video recording. In addition, it comes with a combined 8 GB of media storage out-of-the-box and includes a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that can bring the total storage memory to 36 GB for customers who want more.

BlackBerry 6
The BlackBerry Torch is the first BlackBerry smartphone to launch with BlackBerry 6, a new operating system that retains the trusted features of the BlackBerry brand while delivering a rich experience that’s powerful and easy to use. It includes expanded messaging capabilities with intuitive features to simplify the management of social networking and RSS feeds (Social Feeds), and provides integrated access to BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger), Facebook®, Twitter™, MySpace™ and various instant messaging applications available on the BlackBerry Torch smartphone. Its enhanced multimedia experience rivals the best in the industry and includes a dedicated YouTube app and Podcasts app.

BlackBerry 6 has a redesigned interface and integrates a new and rich WebKit-based browser that renders HTML web pages (as well as HTML email) quickly and beautifully for a great browsing experience. It features tabs for accessing multiple sites simultaneously, pinch to zoom for easy navigation and a zoom feature that can intelligently wrap text in a column while maintaining the placement of a page's key elements (simply double-tap on the BlackBerry Torch).

“One of the new features of BlackBerry 6 that I particularly like is Universal Search,” said Beachley. “It is easily accessible and allows users to search through everything on their handset – email, messages, contacts, music, videos and more – as well as extend their search to the Internet or to discover applications on BlackBerry App World™.”

Pricing and Availability
The new BlackBerry Torch smartphone is expected to be available from Optus ‘yes’ stores from the 21 October 2010. The BlackBerry Torch 9800 will be available from Telstra and VHA in the coming months. Please check with carriers for in-store dates and pricing.

About Research In Motion (RIM)
Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionised the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

MTN South Africa Launches the New BlackBerry Torch Smartphone in South Africa

Combines New Touch Screen Experience with Easy-To-Use Keyboard First to Feature New BlackBerry 6 with Rich WebKit Browser

Johannesburg, South Africa - MTN South Africa today launched the new BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone in South Africa. Ideal for socially connected consumers and packed with the tools business customers love, the new handset offers elegant styling with top-of-the-line features and functionality. It’s the world's first smartphone to combine a BlackBerry® keyboard with a full touch screen experience and the first to feature the new BlackBerry® 6.

“We live in an age where people want to connect to the Internet and their social networks at anytime and from anywhere. MTN is committed to ensuring it offers its customers innovative solutions that meet their diverse needs and communication requirements,” says Serame Taukobong, Chief Marketing Officer at MTN South Africa.

The new BlackBerry Torch features an exciting combination of a large capacitive touch screen and optical trackpad with a backlit slide-out BlackBerry keyboard, designed to feel optimally balanced when opened for typing. It also offers support for high-speed 3G (UMTS/HSDPA) networks around the world, includes the latest generation in Wi-Fi® (b/g/n) connectivity and built-in GPS for location-based applications and geo-tagging. Its 5 MP camera takes exceptional pictures with continuous auto focus, image stabilization, scene modes and zoom, and it also supports video recording. In addition, it comes with a combined 8 GB of media storage out-of-the-box, and includes a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that can bring the total storage memory to 36 GB for customers that want more.

The BlackBerry Torch is the first to launch with BlackBerry 6, a new operating system for BlackBerry smartphones. It features a redesigned interface, and a new and rich WebKit-based browser that renders HTML web pages (as well as HTML email) quickly and beautifully for a great browsing experience. The browser includes tabs for accessing multiple sites simultaneously, pinch to zoom and an auto-wrap text zoom feature that can intelligently wrap text in a column while maintaining the placement of a page's key elements (simply double-tap on the BlackBerry Torch).

BlackBerry 6 features a redesigned interface that seamlessly works with the touch screen and trackpad, includes expanded messaging capabilities with intuitive features to simplify the management of social networking and RSS feeds (Social Feeds), and provides integrated access to the BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), Facebook®, Twitter™, MySpace™ and various instant messaging applications available on the BlackBerry Torch smartphone. Its enhanced multimedia experience rivals the best in the industry and includes a dedicated YouTube app and Podcasts app. A universal search feature allows users to search for content on the smartphone, as well as extend the search to the Internet or to discover applications on BlackBerry App World™, which is included and now supports credit card payments.

The BlackBerry Torch smartphone is expected to be available from MTN South Africa in mid-October through all MTN outlets and on all MTN price plans. For more information visit www.mtn.co.za or www.blackberry.com/torch.

Register for Rica wherever you buy an MTN PayAsYouGo starter pack or get an MTN TopUp or MTN AnyTime contract. Registration is free of charge. Just remember to bring your ID book and proof of residential address.

ABOUT MTN GROUP
Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications group, operating in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code: "MTN".

As at the end of 30 June 2010, MTN recorded 129.2 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. The MTN Group is a global sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ and has exclusive mobile content rights for Africa and the Middle East. Visit www.mtn.com and www.mtnfootball.com.

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