Blackberry goes to China

Pacific RIM

Research In Motion is set to launch its BlackBerry smartphone in China. 

The Canadian outfit has hooked up with China Mobile, which will provide CDMA network support for the device in 14 provinces across the densely-populated republic.

The BlackBerry will initially be offered to business customers only but will offer all the business services currently available for BlackBerry devices.

The company said: “China Telecom understands the needs of its enterprise customers and is pleased to launch the BlackBerry solution, providing an end-to-end integrated platform that delivers effective and efficient communications.”

China will help RIM to bump up the numbers and maintain its leadership in the global smartphone market, its share having come under attack recently from Apple's iPhone and Android-based smartphones amongst others.