Deliver Your News to the World

Sprint Bolsters Industry-Leading BlackBerry Portfolio with Addition of the BlackBerry Curve 8330


WEBWIRE

Operating on the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network, the BlackBerry Curve 8330 is the smallest BlackBerry smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard and supports exclusive multimedia content via Sprint Music Store and Sprint TV

Las Vegas, NV - Sprint (NYSE:S) and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM) announced today that Sprint has further energized its BlackBerry portfolio with the addition of the new BlackBerry® Curve™ 8330 smartphone.

The BlackBerry Curve 8330 is the smallest BlackBerry smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard and strikes an attractive balance between functionality, design and usability, giving users access to phone, personal and corporate email, contacts, calendar, tasks, camera, multimedia content, GPS navigation, enhanced Web browsing and other capabilities. Whether customers are interested in advanced capabilities for personal or professional use, the BlackBerry Curve 8330 smartphone delivers innovative features including a two megapixel camera with video recording*, advanced media player for music, videos and photos, 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth with support for stereo headsets and car kits, microSD/SDHC card slot for expandable memory (8 GB memory cards are available today), voice-activated dialing, voice notes recorder and the ability to be used as a modem with a laptop. Customers can also take advantage of exclusive Sprint services like**:

• Sprint Music Store – Download stereo-quality tracks instantly over the air. Choose songs from thousands of artists in virtually every genre.

• Sprint TV® – Watch live TV or video-on-demand with full-motion video and vivid sound or catch the latest news, sports, weather, entertainment and movie trailers on the go. Choose from more than 50 live television channels.

• Sprint Navigation – As the first carrier to have offered a GPS-enabled BlackBerry smartphone, Sprint continues this innovation with the addition of Sprint Navigation, which delivers voice-guided and on-screen turn-by-turn GPS-enabled driving directions, 3-D moving maps similar to an in-car navigation system or personal navigation device, as well as more than 10 million local listings and real-time intelligent traffic alerts with one-click rerouting, anywhere on the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network.

“Powerful core organizational capabilities, sleek and attractive form factors, exclusive multimedia content, flexible international service options and industry-leading push-to-talk service are combined factors that give Sprint one of the most attractive BlackBerry smartphone portfolios in the industry,” said Danny Bowman, vice president of customer equipment for Sprint. “The addition of the BlackBerry Curve 8330 to our lineup gives our customers access to information now, with no compromises.”

“The BlackBerry Curve 8330 smartphone offers a unique blend of functionality, design and usability that hits a real sweet spot for both personal and professional use,” said Mark Guibert, Vice President, Corporate Marketing at Research In Motion. “It’s as adept at keeping people productive at work as it is with helping them stay connected to friends or entertained and informed with Sprint’s music, video and navigation services.”

The Sprint Difference
Sprint provides true value for its BlackBerry customers with several industry differentiating areas:

• BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130 smartphone – includes support for the largest range of exclusive Sprint content including Sprint TV, Sprint Music Store and Sprint Navigation.

• BlackBerry® 8830 World Edition smartphone – equipped with international voice and data roaming capabilities offered by Sprint as well as an unlocked SIM card slot for voice and data services. Customers can sign up for competitive international roaming service plans directly from Sprint or take advantage of service from local providers in other countries.

• BlackBerry® 7100i smartphone – equipped with Nextel Direct Connect®, the industry’s largest and fastest push-to-talk service, allowing instant, efficient and economical means to communicate across the nation and in and between six international locations: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico and Peru.

For a full line-up of BlackBerry smartphones from Sprint, including pricing, visit www.sprint.com.

Network Strength:
Customers who use BlackBerry smartphones from Sprint and subscribe to national calling plans, can make voice calls (with no additional roaming charges) in more places. Sprint provides the largest voice calling area, reaching more than 299 million people in the U.S., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. These same customers receive unbeatable value for data services as well. The Sprint Mobile Broadband Network (inclusive of data roaming) reaches more than 234 million people, 13,453 cities and 1,321 airports.

Sprint offers BlackBerry users the convenience of instant push-to-talk communication on the world’s largest push-to-talk network and largest community of users. With Nextel, BlackBerry smartphone users can connect coast-to-coast and country-to-country in under a second with anyone from the world’s largest community of push-to-talk users. The Nextel National Network continues to operate at best-ever status with internal metrics showing double-digit percent improvement year-over-year.

Simply Everything Pricing:
Regardless of whether Sprint customers are using their BlackBerry smartphones with a BlackBerry® Enterprise Server or with BlackBerry® Internet Service, they can receive great value with Sprint’s new Simply Everything pricing plan. For a flat rate of $99.99 per month the Simply Everything plan offers BlackBerry Internet Service customers unlimited voice and data. Pricing complexity and concerns about overage charges are virtually eliminated letting customers think more about how they can use their wireless device for work and play and less about their bill. BlackBerry Enterprise Server users can subscribe to the same plan and receive access to their corporate email, calendar, contacts and firewall protection for an additional $20 per month.

BlackBerry Curve Pricing and Availability
The BlackBerry Curve 8330 smartphone will be available later this month online at www.sprint.com, through Sprint Telesales, Sprint business sales channels and retail locations for as low as $179.99 with a two-year service agreement, a $170 instant savings credit and $100 mail-in-rebate.



WebWireID62612





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.