Telstra and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) have launched the “BlackBerryВ® Pearl” which will be available in stores from tomorrow.

Weighing approximately 89g and measuring just 107mm x 50mm x 14.5mm, the “BlackBerryВ® Pearl” is one of the world’s smallest and lightest smartphones. The “BlackBerryВ® Pearl” is easy-to-use and features support for phone, email, messaging, organiser, web browser and other mobile applications. It also incorporates a digital camera, media player, and expandable memory slot for the first time.

Telstra’s Enterprise and Government Group Managing Director, Mr David Thodey, said Telstra customers would benefit from the national coverage of its EDGE network that was unmatched by its competitors.

“The BlackBerryВ® Pearl” operates on Telstra’s enhanced GPRS network, known as EDGE, which is the largest network of its kind in Australia, reaching more than 96 per cent of the population,” Mr Thodey said. “Telstra’s EDGE network delivers data speeds more than twice as fast as GPRS.

“With the wide adoption and acceptance of BlackBerryВ® as a business communications tool, many of Telstra’s enterprise and government customers are already using BlackBerryВ® for solutions that extend beyond the great email capability of BlackBerryВ®. This helps Telstra’s customers drive even greater productivity and accelerates their return on investment.

“Today many Telstra customers are using BlackBerryВ® to access a variety of applications beyond email, including sales force automation, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), remote network management and dispatch. Telstra also provides fully managed mobility solutions through KAZ Group, Telstra’s ICT and IP services subsidiary.

“Telstra is about offering our customers choice, because we understand that they all have different needs.”

Since September, Telstra began switching on its EDGE network, meaning many existing Telstra customers are also experiencing faster data speeds on their EDGE capable BlackBerryВ® 8700g and BlackBerryВ® 7130g handsets.

“Despite being one of the smallest and lightest smartphones available, the “BlackBerryВ® Pearl” offers the full BlackBerryВ® experience that has become so popular around the world. We’re pleased to be working with Telstra to expand its BlackBerryВ® portfolio to include the highly-acclaimed “BlackBerryВ® Pearl”,” said Norm Lo, Vice President, Asia Pacific for Research In Motion.

Group Managing Director for Telstra Business, Ms Deena Shiff said Telstra was offering its customers access to new applications on the BlackBerryВ® Pearl”.

“Only Telstra customers can access our Business Portal which allows them to download applications on any BlackBerryВ® device, like spell checking, an email preview capability, and the ability to print emails and attachments to any fax machine in the country – all billed to your Telstra Mobile account,” Ms Shiff said.

“Telstra’s BlackBerryВ® Individual Solution customers can also access Sensis’ Whereis” location based technology via one click and unlimited internet browsing on BlackBerryВ® devices at no extra charge.”

Telstra is offering small and medium business customers a new plan to encourage the take up of wireless technology. The Small Business Edition (SBE) software has been dropped from $2,500 to $500 allowing customers to adopt up to 15 “BlackBerryВ® Pearl” smartphones at a lower upfront cost.

The “BlackBerryВ® Pearl” is available with BlackBerryВ® Individual Solution from $99.95 ($60 voice plan and $39.95 for BlackBerry data Plan) per month over 24 months for ‘all-you-can-eat’ email and internet browsing.

The “BlackBerryВ® Pearl” is available at $199 upfront for BlackBerryВ® Enterprise Solution customers taking up a 24 month contract for $89.95 per month. This gives you ‘all-you-can-eat’ wireless email, calendar, contacts and internet browsing.

Telstra customers can also purchase the phone outright for $679 in conjunction with either a BlackBerryВ® Individual Solution or BlackBerryВ® Enterprise Solution.

For people who are ready to move up to a full-featured mobile phone that includes everything needed to stay organized, Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) has announced the availability of the Palm(R) Treo(TM) 680 smartphone, a GSM/GPRS/EDGE quad-band world phone, on Rogers Wireless, Canada’s largest integrated wireless voice and data network.

Customers will find the Treo 680 smartphone easy to use, slim and compact, yet packed full of features beyond its stellar phone capability, such as email, web browsing, messaging, multimedia, calendar, contacts and more. Palm believes this product will appeal to price-sensitive feature-phone owners who want a more capable mobile-computing device.

“The Treo 680 is the smartphone for everyone. It’s small, sleek, fast and is available in four fun colors on the Palm Canada online store,” said Michael Moskowitz, vice president, Americas International, Palm, Inc. “It’s a great phone design for messaging and email, and provides users easy and fast access to the Internet and to their favorite music and pictures. The Treo 680 makes it easy for people to balance their business and personal lives while on the go.”

“As Canada’s leading wireless carrier, operating on Canada’s only GSM network, we are proud to offer our customers leading-edge mobile devices like the Palm Treo 680. Email availability on a stylish, thin form factor will make the Treo 680 particularly appealing to small and medium-size businesses by enabling them to save time by having access to outstanding mobile innovation and email connectivity,” said John Boynton, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Rogers Wireless.

With the introduction of the Palm OS(R) based Treo 680 smartphone, Palm is targeting new users in the rapidly growing smartphone and feature-phone markets. Market research firm In-Stat, estimates that 25 per cent of all wireless handsets worldwide will be smartphones by 2011. Research conducted by Palm suggests a substantial population of feature-phone users have not purchased smartphones, fearing they were too expensive and too difficult to use. The Treo 680 will offer an affordable, simple and fun way to get started and stay connected.

New Smart Device Offers Cingular Consumer and Business Customers a Slim and Sleek Device Packed Full of Functionality

Cingular Wireless and Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) today introduced the new Palm(R) Treo(TM) 680 smart device, whose brand-new look, broad range of features and economical price will appeal to both consumers and business customers — just in time for the holidays. The Treo 680 quad-band world phone on the Palm OS(R) platform — which is available beginning Friday, Nov. 24, for as low as $199.99 — boasts Palm’s hallmark ease of use to keep any user productive, all with a slim and compact feel.

Cingular business and consumer customers will be able to better balance their personal and business lives, as the all-in-one Treo 680 seamlessly combines a compact, full-featured mobile phone with so much more, all at a competitive price. Users can do even more with their phone, from accessing email and editing documents at the airport to organizing photos and music while waiting for a friend at the coffee shop.

Market research firm In-Stat estimates that 25 percent of all wireless handsets worldwide will be PDAs and smartphones by 2011, which makes the Treo 680 the ideal phone both for feature-phone upgraders and new users.

The Palm Treo 680 is easy to use and affordable because of the multiple innovations it encompasses:

– A new internal antenna enables a sleeker design;

– An improved phone application on the Treo 680 smart device allows users to dial faster;

– The ability to ignore calls with a quick text message lets users tell a caller “I’m in a meeting” or “Can’t talk now”;

– The large, bright color screen is perfect for viewing email, documents or spreadsheets via DataViz Documents To Go(R), and even photos and movies;

– The highly regarded built-in QWERTY keyboard has improved buttons, making it even easier to type emails or SMS messages;

– The messaging application displays text-messaging conversations as “threaded chats,” similar to IM, so users can see their entire conversation with a particular person; and

– The Treo 680 smart device also can be used as an MP3 player and has an integrated digital camera, camcorder and video player, with simpler organization for photos and photo slideshows.

“The Palm Treo 680 will open up the popular Palm experience to a much wider audience of Cingular customers,” said Jeff Bradley, vice president, business data services, for Cingular Wireless. “This next-generation Treo comes with all of the outstanding business features that Palm devotees have come to expect plus rich entertainment capabilities, and all at a very attractive price that will appeal both to businesses and individual users.”

The Palm Treo 680 operates on Cingular’s nationwide EDGE network, the largest national high-speed wireless data network in the United States with availability in more than 13,000 cities and towns, and along some 40,000 miles of major highways. Treo 680 users also can take their device with them abroad to make calls on six continents and over 190 countries, with wireless data roaming in more than 115 countries.

EDGE’s widespread coverage makes the Treo 680 an ideal platform for business customers and consumers who want an easy-to-use way to check their email, send SMS, browse the Web and more.

“Palm remains focused on introducing Treo smartphones that are user-friendly and affordable for any audience — from single users to wide-scale business deployments,” said Tara Griffin, Palm vice president and general manager. “The Treo 680 from Cingular Wireless is an excellent proof point. We have a tremendous opportunity to serve customers the world over by helping them stay more connected to important people and information, whether it’s through contacts and calendar, email, messaging, documents, web browsing, photos or music. This mobile phone enhances work and leisure time.”

Business Customer-focused Solution

While Palm’s ease of use and affordability are beneficial for new or upgrading consumers, business users also can take advantage of the Treo 680 smart device, because of the following:

– Flexibility: The all-in-one Treo 680 smart device is ideal for deployment across any business, small or large, and offers the security and flexibility needed by IT departments for easy integration;

– High return on investment: Because of its attractive price and ease of use, the Treo 680 brings increased mobile productivity to help businesses realize a quick return on investment, all in a budget-friendly smart device;

– Staying productive: Phone, web, add-on business applications and more help customers stay in touch and on top of their work; and

– Staying connected: Customers can access such Cingular-enabled wireless email solutions as Cingular Xpress Mail, Microsoft Exchange Active Sync, and Good(TM) Mobile Messaging from Good Technology, as well as POP3 and IMAP accounts.

“The Palm Treo 680 smartphone is a natural and affordable choice for our business,” said Robert DeLille, chief executive officer of Creative Office Environments. “With more on-device memory and the availability of intuitive applications, such as Google Maps for Mobile, on the Cingular Wireless network, our workforce can be more productive and stay in touch with customers and colleagues.”

Pricing and Availability

The Treo 680 is available beginning Friday, Nov. 24, for as low as $199.99 to consumers and businesses nationwide at Cingular Wireless retail stores, www.cingular.com, select national retailers, through Cingular’s B2B sales organization and at http://www.palm.com/treo680. A variety of monthly data plans are available, including an unlimited Cingular PDA Connect plan for $44.99 per month.

For a limited time, the Treo 680 will come with a music bundle from Yahoo!, which includes a 30-day free trial to its Yahoo! Music Unlimited To Go service and Yahoo! Music For Mobile. Users have the ability to access the Yahoo! Music Unlimited music library from the phone and to send tracks remotely to a PC.

The Palm Treo 680 from Cingular Wireless also supports a wide variety of third-party, Cingular Wireless certified applications, such as the TeleNav GPS Navigator(TM) solution. With TeleNav GPS Navigator, Treo 680 users now can get turn-by-turn voice and on-screen GPS directions directly on their device for use when driving or walking.