Research In Motion moved from an MOU to a definitive agreement with China Mobile to offer BlackBerrys in China. RIM and China Mobile will initially focus on supporting multinational corporations with operations in China, and China's largest mobile operator will soon offer BlackBerry service nationwide and SIM cards to support BlackBerry service. RIM will announce availability of BlackBerry devices and its enterprise server at a later date, likely in 2007. What is likely to be the impact on the Chinese market? UBS says to expect initial subscribers to simply swap from one carrier to another, but the lower monthly costs will eventually drive enterprise penetration beyond upper level management, which should also drive hardware sales.
For more about RIM's deal with China Mobile:
- take a look at this release from RIM