August 6, 2008

T-Mobile Austria and RIM Launch the BlackBerry Bold Smartphone

Vienna, Austria – T-Mobile Austria and Research In Motion (RIM, Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today unveiled the BlackBerry® Bold™ smartphone, a top of the line BlackBerry® smartphone that features premium design and unprecedented performance for an optimized 3G experience. The BlackBerry Bold smartphone comes with integrated GPS and Wi-Fi® and is the first BlackBerry® smartphone to support tri-band HSDPA high-speed networks around the world. Users can surf the Internet and download large e-mail attachments over the T-Mobile UMTS web’n’walk  network. 

The BlackBerry Bold smartphone has a rich set of multimedia capabilities and displays content beautifully on its half-VGA (480x320 resolution at 217 ppi) color LCD display, which offers stunning definition and clarity. The BlackBerry Bold is also crafted from premium materials, including a luxurious black exterior, satin chrome finished trim and leatherette backplate. 

The new BlackBerry Bold smartphone is designed to give business professionals and power users unprecedented functionality and performance and will be available from T-Mobile in Austria beginning next week.     

“The BlackBerry Bold is the most advanced and performance-driven BlackBerry smartphone in our portfolio. We are also delighted to say that because of the long time partnership with RIM, the handset is very well optimised for T-Mobile Austria's network and services,” says DI Tina Reisenbichler, Executive Management (Sales and Customer Service) for T-Mobile Austria. “With HSDPA and EDGE technology, users can experience a fast and comfortable way of accessing the Internet and intranets through our high-speed network,” she continued.

“We are proud to bring the BlackBerry Bold to T-Mobile customers in Austria,” said Mark Guibert, Vice President of Corporate Marketing, RIM. “The BlackBerry Bold smartphone delivers an amazing combination of functionality, performance, usability and design, making it an ideal choice for business professionals and power users.”

Superior Performance
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone's support for tri-band HSDPA and enterprise-grade Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g) networks and its next-generation 624 MHz mobile processor make short work of downloading email attachments, streaming video or rendering web pages over the T-Mobile network.  With this powerful new smartphone, users can even talk on the phone while sending and receiving email or accessing the Internet.

Web browsing is also very easy as the smartphone's powerful browser and trackball enable users to quickly navigate sites in a desktop-style "Page View" that allows users to point-and-click to zoom in on specific parts of a web page, or users can switch as desired to a "Column View" which presents the web page in a continuous column for easy reading and scrolling on the go. Users can also download Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and edit them directly on the handset using the preloaded DataViz® Documents to Go® suite.

Multimedia capabilities and more
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone features a 2 megapixel camera with video recording capability*, built-in flash and digital zoom.

The advanced media player can display pictures and slideshows quickly, play movies smoothly in full screen mode, and manage an entire music collection. Audio can be played over the handset’s dual speakers in rich, stereo sound, and when using wired headphones or external speakers, the media player gives the user an equalizer with 11 preset filters – like "Lounge", "Jazz" and "Hip Hop" – that boost or soften audio ranges to create the perfect ambiance.

For managing music and video, the BlackBerry® Desktop Manager software includes Roxio® Media Manager for BlackBerry® as well as Roxio Photosuite® 9 LE, which makes it easy to enhance pictures and create photo albums on a computer. For users that manage their collection with iTunes®, the new BlackBerry® Media Sync application provides a simple way to sync iTunes digital music collections with the smartphone**. Support for High Speed USB 2.0 allows files to be transferred quickly from a computer to the BlackBerry Bold smartphone.

In addition, the BlackBerry Bold features integrated GPS for location based services and satellite navigation, including the T-Mobile NaviGate service.

Added features and voice quality for making calls
The BlackBerry Bold comes with numerous premium phone features including Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), Bluetooth® 2.0, with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits (including car kits that adhere to the Bluetooth Remote SIM Access Profile) and other Bluetooth peripherals.  It is a quad-band EDGE and tri-band HSDPA handset that supports global roaming*** and features dedicated 'send', 'end', and 'mute' keys, smart dialing, speed dialing, conference calling and call forwarding. It also features noise cancellation technology that offsets background noise, a powerful speaker phone and support for polyphonic, mp3 and MIDI ring tones.

The BlackBerry Bold smartphone will be available from T-Mobile Austria beginning next week at a starting price for EUR 249 in conjunction with a 24-month contract.

* Video recording requires a memory card, sold separately.
** Certain music files may not be supported, including files that contain digital rights management technologies.
*** Check with service provider for roaming services.

About T-Mobile International
As one of the world’s biggest mobile operators, T-Mobile International offers its customers the latest technologies and modern multimedia services. Since it was formed in December 1999, T-Mobile International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, has established itself as one of the world’s leading mobile operators. 

The development of new technologies and user-centric complete services have enabled the T-Mobile Group to enhance its position each year. The company operates in Europe and the United States and currently has around 120 million customers in the twelve T-Mobile markets.

For more information about T-Mobile please visit www.telekom.de

About Research In Motion (RIM)
Research In Motion is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. RIM’s portfolio of award-winning products, services and embedded technologies are used by thousands of organizations around the world and include the BlackBerry® wireless platform, the RIM Wireless Handheld™ product line, software development tools, radio-modems and software/hardware licensing agreements. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. RIM is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com

Forward-looking statements in this news release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used herein, words such as "intend" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions made by and information available to Research In Motion Limited. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, possible product defects and product liability, risks related to international sales and potential foreign currency exchange fluctuations, the initiation or outcome of litigation, acts or potential acts of terrorism, international conflicts, significant fluctuations of quarterly operating results, changes in Canadian and foreign laws and regulations, continued acceptance of RIM's products, increased levels of competition, technological changes and the successful development of new products, dependence on third-party networks to provide services, dependence on intellectual property rights, and other risks and factors detailed from time to time in RIM's periodic reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and other regulatory authorities. RIM has no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. RIM, Research In Motion and BlackBerry are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be pending or registered in other countries. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Bluetooth word mark and logos are owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and are used by T-Mobile under license. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. Neither RIM nor T-Mobile assume any obligations or liability and make no representation, warranty, endorsement or guarantee in relation to any aspect of any third party products or services.