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RIM's BlackBerry Bold aimed globally at professionals on high-speed networks |
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Written by Luann Lasalle, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
The BlackBerry Bold is shown. The Bold, or 9000, has twice the screen resolution of the current Curve model. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Research in Motion
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MONTREAL - Research In Motion's (TSX:RIM) new BlackBerry Bold is designed for high-speed networks and is aimed at business professionals globally, allowing them to send and receive e-mails while also talking on the smartphone or surfing the Internet.
The announcement of the new BlackBerry helped power shares in the Waterloo, Ont.-company above the previous record. RIM shares ended the day at $142.25, up $8.90 or 6.6 per cent and above the previous record high of $138.18.
RIM describes the BlackBerry Bold as a high-performance smartphone designed for professionals who want an "elegant" device.
"The new BlackBerry Bold represents a tremendous step forward in business-grade smartphones and lives up to its name with incredible speed, power and functionality, all wrapped in a beautiful and confident design," Mike Lazaridis, president and co-CEO of Research In Motion, said in a statement.
The unveiling of the new BlackBerry came as RIM also announced it and several partners are creating a $150-million fund to invest in emerging mobile applications and services for the BlackBerry mobile phone and other mobile platforms.
The new Blackberry will help keep RIM a leader in business smartphones, a field in which it's known for pioneering push e-mail that goes automatically to the wireless hand-held devices without the user needing to download the messages.
With the BlackBerry Bold, users can talk while also sending and receiving e-mail or surfing the Internet - a feature that wasn't available on earlier models - and had improved Web browsing capabilities.
Analysts and commentary on the Internet about the BlackBerry Bold on Monday was positive.
Analyst Nick Agostino said the BlackBerry Bold is for professionals globally and will compete against some of RIM's own models, as well as Nokia and an Apple iPhone for business users.
RIM is looking to stay ahead of Apple's iPhone with its high-speed technology, Agostino said.
"You now get a full-blown Web page whereas before it would bring it in in strips," said Agostino of Toronto-based Research Capital Corporation.
"Now it's full-blown, which is similar in what you get on the iPhone," he said.
"Where RIM is trying to beat the punch as far as Apple is concerned is announcing that it's going to do 3G (technology)."
The Bold will use 3G wireless technology on a GSM network, which is widely used in Europe and Asia and is about 70 per cent to 75 per cent of the global market, Agostino said.
Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX:RCI.B) currently has the only GSM networks nationally, marketed under the Rogers and Fido brands, and so is the only Canadian carrier for which this phone is designed, he added.
The BlackBerry Bold is expected to be launched this summer in the United States on At & T and will likely be introduced in Canada by August or September, Agostino said.
RBC Capital markets analyst Mike Abramsky said the new BlackBerry will have "deeper penetration" in Europe and Asia, where 3G technology is more common.
UBS Investment Research said the Bold should help RIM's international growth and help sales to replace existing BlackBerry phones.
Agostino said the Bold has consumer appeal and could pave the way for other announcements.
"It's setting the stage to take some of these platforms, i.e. the faster speed, the full Web browsing, and you take that base, that foundation and you leverage it into more of a consumer device and that could be a flip phone or that could be the touch screen, both of which have been highly rumoured."
RIM said it will partner with Royal Bank (TSX:RY) and Thomson Reuters (TSX:TRI) and several private Canadian investors in The BlackBerry Partners Fund LP, which will be co-managed by RBC Venture Partners and JLA Ventures.
RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie said the new fund recognizes that mobile applications and services represent some of the hottest opportunities in the technology sector today and "will seek to fund the best and brightest innovators from around the world."
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Last Updated ( Monday, 12 May 2008 )
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