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BlackBerry on Reliance coming
Unclear on whether Reliance will
launch its Blackberry service on CDMA
or GSM platforms.
15 May, 2007
Coming soon, BlackBerry On Reliance!
Reliance Communications will shortly
be offering BlackBerrys for use on the
Reliance network. As of now, only
AirTel and Hutch offer Blackberry
services in India. While Hutch and
AirTel are GSM service providers,
Reliance Communications offers
services mostly in CDMA networks.
According to a recent report in
Financial Express, Research in Motion
(who makes BlackBerry) and Reliance
Communications are in advanced
negotiations to offer BlackBerry
services in Reliance CDMA network. The
report said that there are no
technology issues in offering
BlackBerry services on CDMA, since US
carriers like Verizon have been
offering BlackBerry services on CDMA
for a long time.
To a question from PTI, Reliance
Communications official SP Shukla said
that the company will start offering
BlackBerry services soon.
However, it is not clear if Reliance
will be offering BlackBerry services
on CDMA or GSM. The Reliance-ADAG
company holds licences for both CDMA
and GSM services. Their GSM service is
relatively small compared to its CDMA
network.
It has been rumored in internet forums
for sometime that Reliance will debut
BlackBerry services in India with the
BlackBerry Curve, an upcoming mobile
device from Research In Motion. The
Curve is a portable mobile handheld
with a full QWERTY keyboard with a
bigger screen. An earlier BlackBerry
model introduced last year, the
BlackBerry Pearl had a smaller keypad
with a semi-QWERTY keyboard.
AirTel has been offering BlackBerry
services in India from 2004. From
2005, Hutch too joined the BlackBerry
bandwagon. Initially, most of the
BlackBerry buyers were corporate
customers, but the emergence of a
mobile middle class of executives,
engineers, BPO workers and the youth
has powered the spread of BlackBerrys
in India. It is natural that Reliance
would want to target this upwardly
mobile and elite classes with a
Blackberry service.
The latest BlackBerry to hit India was
the BlackBerry Pearl White. However,
India's maximum BlackBerry sales have
come from the regular Black Pearl. All
latest BlackBerrys come with
smartphone features like phone,
e-mail, messaging, organiser, web
browser and other mobile applications.
There is also a digital camera,
multimedia player and an expandable
memory slot.
Recently, Research In Motion made "BlackBerry
Connect" available to a range of
mobile devices, which helps other
handhelds mimic BlackBerry services.
Mobile phones and handhelds powered by
BlackBerry Connect can connect to a
BlackBerry Enterprise server and send
& receive mails. Usage of BlackBerry
services requires the activation of
data services on the mobile phone by
the service provider. AirTel and Hutch
have separate packages for BlackBerry
users priced higher.
Currently, there are over six million
BlackBerry users worldwide. Three out
of four BlackBerry users are based in
the US and Canada.
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