SINGAPORE, 17 APRIL 2009 - Claiming to be the world’s first ‘clickable’ touch screen smart phone, the Blackberry Storm, the latest model from Research in Motion (RIM), has now been launched in Singapore.
The Singapore launch came towards the end of a global roadshow introducing the Blackberry Storm and comes in the same week as Starhub announced new access to live business news for Blackberry 3.5G phones, plus a new 1GB data plan.
The Starhub ‘Blackberry Premium’ plan, to be available from 18 April, allows customers 1GB of free bundled data at S$19.90 (US$13.30) monthly, with a price cap of S$36.38 (US$24.30) regardless of the amount of data used locally.
A this latest Blackberry Storm launch, Gregory Wade, RIM’s regional vice president, Asia Pacific, said the new model stands out because of its unique SurePress touch screen, rich multi-media features, full html browser, satellite navigation capabilities, social networking features plus leading e-mail and messaging capabilities.
The Blackberry Storm is expected to be available from M1, SingTel and Starbhub from the end of this month.
Enhanced touch interface
The SurePress system recently won the GSMA’s Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough award at the Mobile World Congress 2009. The Blackberry Storm touchscreen depresses slightly ‘dramatically enhancing the touch interface for both typing and navigation’.
Wade told the Singapore launch that “people really appreciate feeling the clicking action as they input information” and the feature stems from “the response to Internet and user feedback”.
Other Blackberry Storm features which stand out include:
• Enhanced HTML and a Web browser with support for online streaming video. Movies can be played in full-screen mode and the display adjusts to the ambient light to make it easily visible;
• The ability to simultaneously talk and e-mail;
• The ability to video and take still pictures with a 3.2 mega-pixel camera, and to e-mail them almost instantaneously;
• One GB of onboard memory and the ability to accept a 16 GB storage card.
• Built in GPS (global positioning system) that supports location-based applications and services, including geotagging photos.
Happy anniversaries
Wade said 2009 was the 10th anniversary of the Blackberry and the 25th anniversary for Research in Motion. He said RIM expects to attract 3.9 million new Blackberry users in the fourth quarter of this year, to add to the existing 25 million subscribers.
Globally, RIM has 475 carriers in 60 countries across the world. In the Asia Pacific, Blackberry has 45 networks in 20 markets.
Despite the economic downturn, RIM expects to generate up to US$3.5 billion in the final quarter this year.
