ATLANTA-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. announced it plans to be the first carrier in the world to sell Research In Motion Ltd.’s new EDGE-capable BlackBerry. The company’s new BlackBerry 8700c features wireless access to corporate e-mail and will sell for $300 with a service agreement.
Cingular said it has an exclusive agreement with RIM to sell the device. Cingular has previously announced similar exclusivity deals with other devices makers, including Motorola Inc. for its iTunes-capable Rokr and Razr devices.
RIM’s new BlackBerry features several interesting elements. First, the device is the first from the company to run on Intel Corp.’s chips. RIM recently announced an agreement with Intel to use the chipmaker’s products in its devices. RIM said it will use Intel chips for devices on high-speed networks like EDGE.
Second, the device features two separate Internet browsers-one that can render standard HTML Internet sites and one to render Cingular’s MEdia Net wireless Internet site.
The BlackBerry 8700c joins several other BlackBerry models on sale from Cingular. For the 8700c, Cingular said it will offer a data service plan-one available with a qualified voice plan-of $35 for 4 MB of data, $45 for unlimited domestic data service and $65 for unlimited domestic and international data.
