Moscow, Russia and Waterloo, ON. - The VimpelCom Group (NYSE: VIP) (Beeline brand) and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the launch of the BlackBerry® 8800 smartphone for corporate Beeline subscribers in Russia.
“The BlackBerry 8800, featuring a stylish design and full QWERTY keyboard with English-Russian support, is a highly anticipated smartphone for our enterprise customers. Beeline is pleased to expand the range of BlackBerry smartphones in response to the needs of Russian business users,” said Kent McNoley, Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer of VimpelCom.
The sleek and elegant BlackBerry 8800 smartphone is a powerful communications tool that includes premium phone features and advanced email and messaging capabilities. It also includes a full-featured Internet browser, organizer and media player with support for audio and video playback in a variety of formats, as well as support for a wide variety of other mobile applications.
The highly tactile QWERTY keyboard supports both English and Russian and the handset’s intuitive trackball helps users easily navigate applications. The high resolution LCD display features light sensing technology that automatically adjusts backlighting and presents information and graphics in vivid color. The BlackBerry 8800 smartphone also features built-in GPS and an expandable memory slot.
Don Morrison, Chief Operating Officer at RIM added, “The BlackBerry
solution has become popular with corporate customers around the world
based on its unique ability to help organizations and individuals
enhance communications, flexibility and productivity. We are delighted
to work with Beeline and the VimpelCom group to help customers achieve
these benefits and to introduce the BlackBerry 8800 in Russia.”
About VimpelCom Group
The VimpelCom Group includes companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan,
Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia. The VimpelCom
Group's GSM and 3G license portfolio covers a territory with a
population of about 250 million. This includes the entire territories
of Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and
Armenia. VimpelCom was the first Russian company to list its shares on
the Now York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"). VimpelCom's ADSs are listed on
the NYSE under the symbol "VIP".
www.beeline.ru
