T-Mobile launches the new BlackBerry Bold smartphone for Business Users in the UK

Key features of the BlackBerry Bold from T-Mobile include:

London, UK “ 07 August 2008:  T-Mobile today announces an expansion of its BlackBerry® smartphone portfolio with the launch of the BlackBerry® Boldâ„¢ smartphone from Research In Motion (RIM), which will be available in shops and online from September 2008.

The BlackBerry Bold features a premium design and unprecedented performance to increase the ability of T-Mobile customers to work effectively whilst away from the office.  As the first BlackBerry smartphone available from T-Mobile to support 3G (HSDPA) networks, the BlackBerry Bold allows business users to download email attachments, stream video or render web pages more quickly than ever before. T-Mobile's 3G network coverage is among the best in the UK and will provide almost complete population coverage by 2009 as a result of the innovative 3G radio access network sharing agreement with 3 UK.

For additional high-speed network coverage, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone supports the 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi® standards. It is also the first BlackBerry smartphone to support tri-band HSDPA high-speed networks around the world, including the Far East.

With this powerful new smartphone, users can talk on the phone while sending and receiving email or accessing the web, and the BlackBerry Bold also allows users to download Word, Excel or PowerPoint email attachments and edit them directly on the handset with the preinstalled DataViz® Documents to Go® software suite “ a great advantage for those working on the go. The BlackBerry Bold also comes with a 2 megapixel camera that supports video capture and a media player for taking entertainment on the go. It includes 1 GB of on-board storage memory, as well as a microSD/SDHC memory card slot for additional storage of music, video, pictures and office documents*. 

The BlackBerry Bold will be available to all T-Mobile Business 1-Plan customers.  The Business 1-Plan tariff enables companies to reap more value from their mobile communications investment by building a truly flexible allowance of voice, data, texts and international calls “ removing the complexity of surrounding costs by providing one simple plan tailored to meet the user's mobile communication needs.

Business 1-Plan includes calls from the UK to Europe and North America as T-Mobile recognises that many business transactions are no longer confined to the UK.

Oliver Chivers, Head of Business Marketing, T-Mobile UK, said: As greater number of businesses recognise the benefits of mobile working, demand for mobile broadband connectivity speeds is escalating rapidly.  T-Mobile customers using the BlackBerry Bold smartphone will have access to one of the most innovative mobile business devices on the market supported by a network that independent tests reveal delivers a superior mobile broadband experience. For the business world, this translates into opportunities to extend the boundaries of productivity and efficiency."

The BlackBerry Bold also features integrated GPS with support for location based applications and services such as satellite navigation with local search capabilities, a valuable tool for remote and mobile workers traveling to a meeting at a new venue or for locating the nearest petrol station. It also features Bluetooth® 2.0, with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits and other Bluetooth peripherals

Adding to its wealth of functionality, the BlackBerry Bold provides access to email (including attachment viewing), text and instant messaging, organiser, web and other mobile applications. Chivers adds: We already know that business users are incrediblyenamoured with the capabilities of their BlackBerry smartphones. The BlackBerry Bold from T-Mobile offers all the features they expect, as well as a range of advanced functionality that enhance its business benefits. We are sure it will prove a popular choice with both SME and enterprise customers.�

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* MicroSD/SDHC memory cards are available today in configurations of up to 8GB and the BlackBerry Bold is expected to support upcoming 16GB microSD/SDHC cards. 

Note to Editors:

The independent and regular assessment of T-Mobile’s mobile broadband network is performed by the leading test house P3 Solutions. The tests are conducted by measuring examples of real customer experience and T-Mobile benchmarks itself against all competitors.  Examples of the tests conducted include downloading the most popular live web pages such as the BBC, Google, Bebo and eBay; downloading a YouTube file; sending an email via Outlook and downloading and uploading a 1Mbit file using FTP.

The initial tests are based on 13 zones in greater London but will be extended in the near future to Slough, Maidenhead, Reading, High Wycombe, Brighton, Crawley, Birmingham and Coventry. The tests are conducted between 10am and 10pm which covers peak evening usage when performance matters most to customers.

Contacts:

T-Mobile Press Line                                                                  +44 (0) 7017 150 150

Brands2Life                                                                              +44 (0) 207 592 1200

About T-Mobile UK

T-Mobile is one of the world’s largest mobile operators with more than 123 million customers worldwide and is the service provider of choice for 16.8 million customers in the UK, making it one of the largest networks. T-Mobile has a range of innovative products and services, such as Solo, the SIM only option offering market-leading minutes and texts (at £30 per month) on a 30-day rolling contract; Combi, our best package deal; Flext, a unique tariff with a flexible allowance; U-Fix, a tariff that combines pay-as-you-go and a minimum term contract, and web'n'walk, which enables customers to surf the internet on the move. Competitive high-speed Mobile Broadband tariffs include access to the largest worldwide Wi-Fi network, with more than 1,000 HotSpots in convenient locations in the UK and 27,000 worldwide. Network coverage is among the best in the UK at over 99 per cent of the UK population. T-Mobile operates an advanced 3G HSDPA-enabled network capable of supporting effective mobile broadband speeds of up 4.5Mbps and is the first UK operator to provide a nationwide HSUPA capability for faster uploads.

For more information about T-Mobile UK, please visit www.t-mobile.co.uk

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.