Budiey
MAXIS TO OFFER FIRST
BLACKBERRY PEARL FLIP SMARTPHONE IN MALAYSIA
Malaysia’s leading operator also lowers the BlackBerry service package price
Malaysia’s leading mobile operator, Maxis Communications Berhad (‘Maxis’), and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the launch of the BlackBerry® Pearl™ Flip 8220 smartphone in the country. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 is the first BlackBerry® smartphone to feature the popular “clamshell” or “flip” design. It builds on the success of the original BlackBerry® Pearl™ series and offers phone enthusiasts a new fun and stylish choice.
Matthew Willsher, Maxis Chief Marketing Officer said, “Today, we are extremely excited to bring our customers the next level of mobile communications with the BlackBerry Pearl Flip, a great-looking phone and so much more. It has a design that people are comfortable with and will enjoy using for voice calls, multimedia applications, text and email messaging and Internet browsing. This innovative phone is the ideal choice for first time BlackBerry smartphone users, and we hope it will encourage our retail customers to enjoy the freedom of accessing their emails, communications and multimedia needs on the go.
“More and more lifestyle-friendly features have been introduced on the BlackBerry platform, allowing easy access to popular social networking sites (such as Facebook®, MySpace.com® and Flickr®) and instant messaging applications (such as Yahoo!® Messenger, Windows Live™ Messenger and Google Talk™), while supported by the renowned push-based BlackBerry service. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip offers a powerful combination of functionality, performance and usability to support the mobile lifestyle and takes it a step further with its compact and sleek design.”
“The BlackBerry Pearl Flip brings the appeal of the BlackBerry smartphone to flip phone lovers and helps extend the reach of the BlackBerry platform to a broader market,” said Gregory Wade, Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, Research In Motion. “We are very excited to bring this smart, innovative and stylish phone to Malaysia together with Maxis.”
The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone is available at all 29 Maxis Centres nationwide at RM1,199, if purchased with a Value 150 postpaid plan and a BlackBerry service package that comes with a 24-month contract. Without a contract, it retails at RM1,999.
In line with Maxis’ efforts to drive the adoption of BlackBerry smartphones among its retail customers, Maxis also announced that it has significantly reduced the BlackBerry Service Unlimited Data package to only RM120 per month, from RM154 per month previously.
Willsher added, “Maxis has always been at the forefront of mobile communications and innovation. We were the first operator to introduce the BlackBerry wireless solution in Malaysia in 2004 and have continued to lead the way by introducing new BlackBerry smartphone models to the market. Thanks to these efforts, Maxis today has the largest base of Blackberry users in Malaysia. With the simplified and affordable data package, we hope for continued growth in BlackBerry smartphone adoption among our customers.”
The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone comes in a sleek, stylish black finish and a chrome-finished frame surrounding its smooth, luminescent face. It features two high-resolution, light-sensing colour displays: an external screen allows the user to view incoming calls, emails and text messages without opening the device; and an internal 320 x 240 resolution screen displays messages, video and web browsing results. As part of the BlackBerry Pearl series, it also includes the popular SureType® QWERTY keyboard that makes typing messages and dialing numbers fast and easy.
Wireless options for the BlackBerry Pearl Flip smartphone include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support. For even greater mobile productivity, DataViz® Documents to Go® is pre-installed, enabling customers to edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on the smartphone. In addition, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip has a 2-megapixel camera with flash and video-recording* capabilities.
Willsher said, “Many of our customers who are BlackBerry smartphone enthusiasts have told us that they love the
BlackBerry platform for its superior email-on-the-go capabilities, advanced security, cost efficiency and user-friendliness. For them, the BlackBerry smartphone is a fabulous choice and we look forward to more Maxis customers enjoying these benefits.”
For more information on the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone, please visit www.maxis.com.my.
*Video recording requires a microSD card which may be sold separately.
