Exclusive Launch of BlackBerr

RNS Number : 3231F

Vodafone Group Plc

08 October 2008

 



8 October 2008

VODAFONE LAUNCHES THE NEW EXCLUSIVE BLACKBERRY® STORM™ 

• First 'clickable' touch screen smartphone purpose built for Vodafone - revolutionary tactile touch display

• Building on BlackBerry platform's strong wireless heritage, the BlackBerry Storm is ideal for both consumers and business users featuring:

-    Large, high resolution screen coupled with Vodafone's ultra high speed
           network delivering world class Internet browsing

-    Fast and easy access to customers' favourite social networking sites

-    Turn by turn satellite navigation

-    Great for keeping in touch - all e-mail, SMS and MMS in a single in-box

• Multi-media services including outstanding music and video experience:

-    Download music or transfer it from the PC

-    Incredible sound quality

-    Largest screen on a BlackBerry smartphone

Vodafone Group today announces the launch of the BlackBerry Storm smartphone from Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX; RIM). The BlackBerry Storm is the first ever 'clickable' touch screen smartphone and will be available exclusively on Vodafone's high speed 3G mobile broadband network in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand from next month. Also, the BlackBerry Storm will be available exclusively from Verizon Wireless in the US.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone, which is the result of a long term strategic alliance between Vodafone and RIM, takes what customers have come to expect from a BlackBerry smartphone - a great phone with market leading e-mail, messaging, multi-media and Internet capabilities - and revolutionizes the experience with the introduction of a ground breaking large touch screen and virtual keyboard.  

'We are delighted to bring the power of the BlackBerry Storm, purpose built for Vodafone, directly into the hands of consumer and business customers,' says Frank H Rovekamp, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Vodafone Group. 'With its unique clickable touch screen, giving access to all the desirable multi-media features and services such as browsing, music and video, turn by turn satellite navigation, messaging and social networking, and BlackBerry's mobile heritage and strong business reputation, the BlackBerry Storm is being brought by Vodafone into the consumer world. With Vodafone's ultra high speed, reliable mobile network and this exclusive and exciting new smartphone, there has never been a better time to be with Vodafone.'

Coming in a sleek and elegant black design, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone brings together messaging services including email, SMS and MMS in a single in-box and alerts from social networks. It also offers superb sound quality and a 3.2 MP camera with video capabilities that exploit the screen's stunning clarity to deliver advanced multi-media performance coupled with Vodafone's fast and reliable mobile broadband network. 

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone, comes with an enhanced high performance browser which delivers users a high speed web browsing experience, with desktop-style depiction in either portrait or landscape view. The new user interface combines the familiar dedicated 'menu' and 'escape' keys common to BlackBerry smartphones and adds support for multi-touches, taps and slides allowing the user to easily highlight, scroll, pan and zoom, making navigation fast, easy and intuitive.

The uniquely tactile 3.25' screen gives users a variety of different sense experiences. Despite its flat surface, users feel the sensation of actually pressing down on virtual keys which also light up when touched. This makes it quick and easy to type texts and emails as well as navigate through the phone's functions. Customers will also have the choice of using a full QWERTY, SureType® or multi-tap keyboard. 

By excluding the traditional physical keyboard, more space has been dedicated to the high resolution colour screen, allowing customers to display multi-media content and comfortably view attachments as well as read and edit documents.

The ground-breaking screen with its 480 x 360 pixel resolution display switches from portrait mode to landscape mode as the handset is rotated, while automatically changing the format of the keyboard from multi-tap or RIM's SureType® to full QWERTY*. A wide range of songs and full length videos can be downloaded and enjoyed with the stunning clarity of the smartphone's screen and its incredible, high quality audio. 

`The BlackBerry Storm retains the full functionality and security features of the BlackBerry platform but is also ideal for avid Facebook, MySpace and YouTube users, while Flickr fans will love the ease and speed of directly uploading their pictures seconds after taking them. 

Customers can access all Vodafone's entertainment and information services including Vodafone Music, Google Maps and Find&Go navigation, and the Vodafone live! portal, whilst also benefiting from a removable battery with excellent talk and standby time, and up to 16GB of exchangeable memory.  

The BlackBerry Storm will be available from next month through Vodafone stores as well as independent outlets and online. Full pricing details will be available in the coming weeks.

-ends-

* Virtual keyboards are also available in AZERTY, QWERTZ and other configurations to support different language groups. 

For further information:

Vodafone Group

Media Relations  Tel: [phone]

Investor Relations Tel: [phone]

About Vodafone

Vodafone is the world's leading international mobile communications group with approximately 269 million proportionate customers as of 30 June 2008. Vodafone currently has equity interests in 27 countries across five continents and over 40 partner networks worldwide. For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com 

© Vodafone Group 2008. VODAFONE, the Vodafone logos, are trade marks of the Vodafone Group. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trade marks of their respective owners.  

The BlackBerry, SureType and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.

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