BT STRIKES LANDMARK BLACKBERRY DEAL WITH RESEARCH IN MOTION (RIM)

BT today reinforced its presence in the mobile market by signing an agreement with Research in Motion (RIM) to become Europes first mobile virtual network operator to sell the range of BlackBerry wireless communications solutions.
 
The deal will enable BT to offer BlackBerry to its corporate customer base, building on BTs success in the business mobile market and extending the benefits currently available to BTs mobile customers. The BlackBerry handhelds will be co-branded with both BlackBerry and BT.

Developed and manufactured by RIM, BlackBerry offers BTs customers secure, always-on, wireless access to their corporate email and data, via an advanced BlackBerry handheld with integrated phone, SMS, internet, calendar and organiser capability. BlackBerrys always-on push technology also means customers dont have to periodically connect to their email to check for new messages as messages are automatically routed to the handheld. BT is initially offering the BlackBerry 7230 and BlackBerry 7730 handhelds with a range of tariff options.

For corporate customers, BlackBerry Enterprise Server software tightly integrates with Microsoft Exchange or IBM Lotus Domino and works with existing enterprise systems.
Steven Evans, CEO of BT Mobile, said: This partnership with RIM is another strong example of BTs commitment to offer leading edge mobile solutions to corporate customers. The fact that this is the first European deal that RIM has done with a mobile virtual network operator is a strong reflection of BTs strength in the corporate mobile market. The flexibility that wireless solutions and services can give companies is particularly appealing and BlackBerry has already become indispensable to thousands of organisations across the world.

Larry Conlee, chief operating officer, RIM, said: BT has a large corporate customer base with a strong support infrastructure and we are very pleased it has chosen to offer BlackBerry to its customers. Together, we can help mobile professionals achieve significant business and personal benefits through advanced connectivity solutions.