BlackBerry has China's Three Telecoms Giants Drooling

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Canada's RIM (Research in Motion) and Digital China have signed an agreement that allows the latter to distribute BlackBerry smartphones in China, officially launching BlackBerry in the domestic individual consumer market and finally fixing a situation for the last three years where only a handful of enterprise customers and smuggled phones could enter the market.

 

At present, BlackBerry has 36 million users worldwide, almost all outside of China, the world's largest consumer market for mobile terminals. The entry to Chinese market has become more urgent for BlackBerry after iPhone's entry into the domestic market through China Unicom.

 

China Mobile has been providing BlackBerry service for three years, but it hasn't marketed the phones themselves due to the cost, the lowest monthly package fee hitting 398 yuan. Li Tong, RIM Greater China Region marketing director, says BlackBerry's major local clients include Ping An Insurance, CITIC Securities, China COSCO, and Baosteel Group.

 

Digital China should bring more businesses and individuals to BlackBerry, becoming the domestic general agent for the latter. Corporate customers of Digital China through its management software and server distribution will also become potential BlackBerry clients.

 

Prior to this, the absence of any formal supply channel had dealers obtaining BlackBerrys through various channels to meet domestic demand, with a disordered market as a result and prices ranging from 200-300 yuan to 4,000 yuan.

 

Some dealers have marketed BlackBerry cell phones returned by European and American consumers. According to policies in these countries, users can return cell phones within 14 days after purchase. These "second-hand" BlackBerrys, known as "14-day cell phones," are sold at a discount. Chinese distributors obtain these cell phones from overseas markets and sell them directly or sell them after replacing the shell. However, abused or discarded phones also enter the market.

 

At present, China's 3G subscribers total around 5 million, serviced by the three major operators. The star smartphone arena is hot and getting hotter, with RIM's BlackBerry as the most current focus.  China Telecom is also negotiating to sell the BlackBerry.

 

Xie Guorui, president of RIM Greater China Region, says RIM is in partnership with over 500 telecoms operators in more than 170 countries, implying that RIM will not conduct exclusive cooperation with only one operator in China. Insiders from China Unicom say that RIM is also in contact with them. All three of the major operators may then be selling BlackBerrys.

 

In his recent visit to China, RIM's global CEO James Balsillie signed with Digital China, and will meet Wang Jianzhou, China Mobile CEO, and sign the latest strategic cooperation agreement.