RIM Pushes BlackBerry Into Consumer Handset Market

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Research In Motion, Thursday launched its first mass-market consumer mobile phone, in a bid to expand beyond its traditional business e-mail customer base, where it faces rising competition.

The e-mail messaging hardware and software manufacturer plans to first make available its BlackBerry Pearl product on Sept. 12 through mobile operator T-Mobile in the US, followed by distribution deals via Roger Wireless in Canada and European operators including France Telecom-owned Orange.

In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, RIM's Chief Operating Officer Don Morrison said the company is looking to grow its customer base and target professionals who are short of time but want to send e-mails via mobile phones, alongside using MP3 music players, digital cameras and mobile internet.

"It is an addressable market that could be 10 times the size of our traditional market and it has extremely low penetration right now," said Morrison.

Through retail tie-ups with mobile phone operators, RIM will target individual consumers in addition to its existing enterprise customer base, which is targeted on a corporate basis.

Nick Spencer, research analyst at Canalys, says the launch will help expand RIM's potential customer base and increase sales volumes, and allow it to offer greater software services.

"E-mail messaging and browsing data are good markets but they are niche. It will put BlackBerry into the millions, rather than hundreds of thousands," Spencer said.

The move will also help RIM reduce its overall reliance on corporate e-mail messaging, a market Microsoft is aggressively targeting.

RIM declined to outline customer acquisition rates or revenue forecasts for the BlackBerry Pearl product.

Carmine Eggberry, vice president and managing director of RIM in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the company expects sales levels to be the same in North America and Europe. She added that the potential user base in Western Europe it is targeting is 41.2 million, and 95% of that market remains untapped.

"This isn't us changing our entire business, it's us moving into new markets. It's the first launch of a consumer product both in terms of hardware and services," said Eggberry.

The Blackberry Pearl phone, which has been the focus of much rumor for months, will be considerably lighter and thinner than other RIM devices and will be the first to include a 1.3 megapixel camera phone. It will also include an MP3 and video player.

Company Web site: http://www.blackberry.com

-By Daniel Thomas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9264; dan.thomas@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 7th September 2006