RIM to offer voice, data BlackBerry

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By Bob Brewin

(IDG) -- Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) announced deals Wednesday with major wireless carriers in North America and Europe to deploy a new version of its line of BlackBerry pagers that offer voice and data services.

RIM said it had agreements with Redmond, Washington-based AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Toronto-based Rogers Wireless Inc. and London-based MmO2 PLC to use the company's new integrated voice/data pager, which has the form factor of a Palm personal digital assistant (PDA), in their Global System for Mobile/General Packet Radio Service (GSM/GPRS) networks.

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Analysts said RIM's international expansion would put pressure on Santa Clara, California-based Palm Inc. to make similar deals to support its wireless e-mail pager and services, which are also aimed at enterprise users.

The deal with MmO2, formerly part of British Telecom PLC, will include service for the new voice/data handheld in that company's networks in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany, as well as roaming throughout Europe. RIM previously signed a separate agreement to provide its service in Italy with the mobile division of Telefonica Italia. MmO2 currently offers an e-mail-only version of the BlackBerry in the U.K., the Netherlands and Ireland.

Mark Guibert, vice president of brand management at Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM, said the flurry of agreements is part of a company strategy to make the BlackBerry a global tool for corporate road warriors. Guibert said widespread roaming available on GSM/GPRS networks means that the BlackBerry pagers can be easily used throughout Europe and, with a change of a network card, in North America.

RIM is also in discussions with operators of mobile networks in Asia, but Guibert declined to say when the company would extend its service there. "We're engaged in discussion in Asia," Guibert said, "and we want to become a global resource" for enterprise users, spurred in part by the desire of RIM's multinational customers for global service.

The new Palm handheld, which was introduced Monday, operates only on the Cingular Wireless's Mobitex data network, which is also used by RIM. Craig Mathias, an analyst at Farpoint Group in Ashland, Massachusetts, said Palm needs to make similar network deals if it intends to compete with RIM and the BlackBerry. "They have to find other network partners," Mathias said.

But Mathias wondered about the utility of a combined phone and e-mail pager. "You have to plug a handset into the BlackBerry to use it as a phone," he said, which is an awkward use of technology that may prompt users to continue to rely on the "two device" phone and PDA approach.

RIM provided few details on the launch of its new voice/data pager, except to say that AT&T Wireless would offer the service soon. The company didn't provide pricing details.