Company reduces size of smart phone and includes camera, video, and music player.

September 7, 2006

Research In Motion introduced its BlackBerry Pearl smart phone Thursday, reducing the size of the device to make it more like the size of today’s cell phones and adding multimedia features like a camera, as well as a music and video player, to the BlackBerry’s wireless email functionality.

The phone, which T-Mobile USA will begin selling September 12, comes after three years of top-secret development by RIM. The phone will cost $199 with a two-year service agreement.

At a launch event in New York City Wednesday night, RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis explained how RIM employees camouflaged the phone while testing it in public by wrapping it in a “sock,” an ugly-looking wraparound case, to keep outsiders from inquiring enviously about the phone.

The Waterloo, Canada-based device maker aimed for a more consumer-friendly phone when it developed the Pearl and created a device that weighs just 3.1 ounces.

“We couldn’t make a phone any smaller,” said Mr. Lazaridis. “You wouldn’t want a phone that’s any smaller.”

However, RIM had to cut down on the number of keys on the keyboard, so the Pearl doesn’t offer the full QWERTY keyboard on other BlackBerrys, which may be a problem for experienced thumb typers. To make up for the lack of keys, RIM improved the type-ahead capabilities of the device.

Appealing to Consumer Market

The phone comes with the types of features that many consumers now expect in a phone, including a 1.3-megapixel camera with three zoom levels and a built-in flash, a music player that can play MP3 and AAC music files, a video player that can play MPEG4 and H.263 videos, and instant-messaging interoperability with AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, and ICQ.

The phone can display photos and it includes light-sensing technology that automatically adjusts the display for indoor, outdoor, and dark environments.

The phone also comes with a location application that helps users find directions while they’re in transit and a mapping application called BlackBerry Maps.

RIM also didn’t overlook the email functionality for which most BlackBerry users buy the device. The Pearl allows access to up to 10 personal and corporate email accounts. It supports Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, Novell GroupWise, as well as web-based email systems such as Yahoo Mail and Google Gmail.

Michael McAndrews, VP of product marketing at RIM, said the Pearl can work as a universal in-box and it will even allow users to access their voice mails from many corporate email systems.

RIM will be facing competition from other smart phones, however, such as Palm’s Treo line. However, Palm warned Wednesday of lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue because of a decline in shipments of its Treo devices.

That led to a decline Thursday in share prices for both Palm and RIM, despite the Pearl announcement. Palm shares fell $0.85 to $14.68 in recent trading, while RIM shares fell $1.41 to $78.38