Industry News

Rogers and RIM Introduce the New BlackBerry Curve Smartphone in Canada



Posted On : 2007-05-07 03:54:02( TIMEZONE : IST )

Rogers and RIM Introduce the New BlackBerry Curve Smartphone in Canada

Smallest and Lightest Full QWERTY BlackBerry Handset; Includes Camera and Enhanced Multimedia Capabilities

Toronto and Waterloo, ON - Rogers Wireless (TSX: RCI; NYSE: RG) and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today introduced the BlackBerry® CurveTM smartphone - the smallest and lightest full QWERTY BlackBerry handset. The BlackBerry Curve features a smooth and friendly handset design and delivers the renowned BlackBerry email and messaging experience, premium phone features, intuitive trackball navigation system, 2.0 megapixel camera, fast web browsing and powerful multimedia capabilities. With the BlackBerry Curve, Canadians can stay connected to the people and information that matter most.

"As the leading wireless carrier in Canada, Rogers is committed to bringing innovative products like the BlackBerry Curve to Canadians," said John Boynton, Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer. "Our customers are always looking for smart technology solutions and the new BlackBerry Curve, with its combined power and simplicity, will be attractive to businesses and consumers."

"The BlackBerry Curve builds on what people already love about BlackBerry with a range of new features and a smooth new design," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. "Rogers’ customers will appreciate the flexibility and convenience offered by the new BlackBerry Curve in both their personal and professional lives."

The new BlackBerry Curve from Rogers features:

  • A small and light design with soft curves, smooth edges, liquid silver finish and chrome highlights. It measures 107mm x 60mm x 15.5mm and weighs approximately 111 grams.
  • A 2.0 mega pixel camera with 5x digital zoom, built-in flash, self-portrait mirror and full screen viewfinder. The camera can capture images in up to three picture quality and size resolutions that can be quickly shared via email, MMS, BlackBerry Messenger or Bluetooth. Photos can also be set as a unique caller IDs or Home Screen image.
  • EDGE/GPRS/GSM connectivity operating on Roger's high speed nationwide network, with roaming in over 185 countries for voice and 100 countries for data.
  • Premium phone features including noise cancellation technology to offset background noise, Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), dedicated 'send', 'end', and 'mute' keys, low-distortion speakerphone, and Bluetooth® (2.0) support for hands-free use with headsets, car kits and Bluetooth peripherals.
  • A microSD expandable memory slot for up to 4 GB of additional storage. 4GB microSD cards will soon be available for purchase on Rogers.com.
  • A built-in spell checker with user-customizable dictionary to ensure accuracy of emails and other text entries.
  • A powerful new media manager application included with the BlackBerry® Desktop Manager software. The Roxio® Media Manager for BlackBerry®, which was developed with Sonic® and based on the award-winning Roxio Easy Media Creator® 9, introduces a new level of simplicity, allowing users to easily search for media files on their computer, view and organize them, create MP3 music files from CDs, add audio tags, create playlists and automatically copy or convert pictures, music and videos for optimal playback on the BlackBerry Curve.
  • A 3.5mm stereo headset jack, support for Bluetooth® stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP), and dedicated volume controls.
  • BlackBerry® Maps, which helps find addresses and provides step-by-step directions.
  • Support for polyphonic, mp3 and MIDI and RealTrax ringtunes.
  • Support for instant messaging with BlackBerry® Messenger, Google® Talk and Yahoo!® Messenger pre-loaded.
  • BlackBerry® Internet Service support that allows access to up to 10 personal and corporate email accounts, including most popular ISP email accounts.
  • BlackBerry® Enterprise Server support for enterprise deployments, enabling advanced security and IT administration within IBM® Lotus® Domino®, Microsoft® Exchange and Novell® GroupWise® environments.
Availability
The BlackBerry Curve will be available in Canada from Rogers Wireless in retail and business channels in June 2007.

Source : Equity Bulls

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