BEIJING—Research In Motion Ltd. and its new partner in China, operator China Mobile Communications Co. Ltd., have cut a deal to offer BlackBerry service in the world’s largest wireless market.
The news gave RIM’s stock a welcome bump in pre-market trading this morning. RIM offers BlackBerry service with more than 160 carriers in more than 60 countries worldwide, but its first-quarter earnings did not meet Wall Street expectations.
According to RIM and China Mobile, the companies plan to first pursue multinational corporations with a presence in China, whose workers already carry a BlackBerry from home. China Mobile said it plans to offer SIM cards for that market segment and support BlackBerry service nationwide. BlackBerry service on China Mobile’s GPRS network will enable corporate customers to access e-mail, phone, organizer, Internet and other corporate data applications.
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The companies plan a future announcement on the availability of BlackBerry devices and the BlackBerry enterprise server. RIM has said it intends to launch a 3G-enabled BlackBerry device in China, possibly in the third quarter.
The timing of the deal may be important. China Mobile has two-thirds of the country’s subscribers, but its competitor, China Unicom Ltd., recently announced it would offer a competing “Redberry” service to its customers—a plan that Jim Balsillie, RIM’s co-chief executive officer, called “strange,” “brazen” and “a poke in the eye” in an interview with the Associated Press.
What—if any—action RIM could take to stop the copycat remains unclear. Western companies operating in China typically place their business plans above demands for enforcement of such matters by the Chinese government.
