Canada-based Research In Motion Ltd (RIM), the maker of the BlackBerry handheld device, will launch a wireless e-mail service next week in China.

This is a landmark development for RIM, which has been negotiating with Chinese regulators and China Mobile for years about entry into the world's largest mobile market by subscribers.

The service, which is extremely popular among business users in North America, enables users to access e-mails and make phone calls using a BlackBerry device.

RIM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James Balsillie said China Mobile would roll out the BlackBerry service across the country next week.

Initially, the service will be provided to international business travellers to China who already own a BlackBerry device.

Currently those people, when travelling to China, have to rely on a roaming service to use their BlackBerry devices, something that is extremely costly.

With the BlackBerry service, also known as the "push mail service," e-mails are sent directly to customers without first having to log on to the Internet.

Balsillie, in an interview with China Daily yesterday, said RIM would start selling Blackberry devices and corporate servers in the coming months.

"We've seen very strong interest in China," Balsillie said.

Many leading companies in the world, especially in North America, have already signed up to the service to allow their employees to improve efficiency and productivity.

Corporate users generally generate much higher average revenue per user for mobile operators.

The service also allows subscribers to enjoy other applications, such as Internet browsing, Intranet access, MMS (multimedia messaging services) and SMS (short messaging services).

RIM, which already offers the BlackBerry service in partnership with more than 160 mobile operators globally, has more than 5 million subscribers across the world.

Balsillie revealed that RIM is now in talks with local OEM (original equipment manufacturing) companies about producing BlackBerry devices in China.

"We are investing a lot in (marketing) the BlackBerry service, in branding and in manufacturing in China," he said.

Currently, BlackBerry devices are manufactured in Eastern Europe, Mexico and Canada.
A local partner means RIM will need a licence from the government to make and sell handhelds with phone functions.

The BlackBerry service is expected to give a strong boost to China Mobile's non-voice services, known as data services or WVAS (wireless valued-added services).

China Mobile has identified improving its revenues from data services as a strategic priority amid tough competition with smaller rival China Unicom in the voice communications market.

"E-mail is a killer application for the corporate WVAS market," said Duncan Clark, managing director of Beijing-based research and consulting firm BDA China Ltd.

Balsillie said the partnership with China Mobile was an exclusive deal, which means it will not link up with China Unicom or fixed-line telephone operators China Telecom and China Netcom.

China Telecom and China Netcom are widely expected to secure licences from the government to offer mobile services in the future.

Balsillie would not disclose how long the exclusive deal with China Mobile would last.

Unicom last month launched a similar service, called Uni PushMail with the brand name RedBerry, which is apparently designed to counter the link up between China Mobile and BlackBerry.

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