Get Smart and Bold

Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications Inc. will start to offer by end of this month the latest BlackBerry Bold 9000 smartphone to both new and existing Smart postpaid subscribers.

Packed with features that every consummate mobile worker looks for in a real smartphone, the new BlackBerry Bold 9000, made by Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM), falls under Smart’s offerings for the high-end segment of the corporate market.

Taking advantage of Smart’s extensive broadband network coverage, the BlackBerry Bold 9000 is positioned to be the ultimate mobility solution for business users.

“PLDT’s goal is ‘broadbanding’ the country while Smart aims to deliver Internet for all. This service of pairing the BlackBerry Bold 9000 with our broadband network makes for an excellent customer experience. We are excited to be the first to unveil it. It is originally aimed at business users but we are also seeing it becoming attractive to personal users,” says Ramon Isberto, head of Smart’s public affairs group.

Smart and PLDT have embraced the BlackBerry platform since 2003 and have rolled out locally the various BlackBerry models that came along.

Eric Alberto, senior vice president and head of the Customer Sales and Marketing Group of the PLDT Group, swears by the popularity of the BlackBerry based on the phenomenon that was the “CrackBerries,” people who consider the BlackBerry as a must-have gadget and use it excessively.

“Five years, eight models and 10 million subscribers later, the BlackBerry phenomenon is still sweeping the world especially because e-mail availability has become a must for many, especially the ‘CrackBerries,’” Alberto says.

“From large companies to small- and medium-sized enterprises, having push e-mail gave them an upperhand in business, not to mention voice and text messaging,” he adds.

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 will be initially bundled free starting at Smart’s Corporate Plan 2500. For individual accounts, it will be offered free under Smart Gold Plan 3500 and Smart Infinity Plan 5000. All postpaid plans will be covered by a 24-month contract period.

Features

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 supports 3G/HSPA network technologies. It is equipped with a 624MHz Intel processor, which triples its performance speed, compared to earlier models that used 312MHz processors only.

The Bold also uses a 128MB of flash memory and 1GB of onboard memory. It’s easy on the pocket, weight-wise. At 136 grams this smartphone already has a two-megapixel camera for still images and video, a built-in media player, and built-in GPS that can take advantage of downloadable map services like Google Map, although it also comes with the BlackBerry Maps.

Bigger and wider than its predecessor, the BlackBerry Bold offers the capabilities of wireless e-mail, corporate data access, organizer, and Internet browser in one device. It also has Microsoft Word and PowerPoint applications installed. Its TFT LCD screen supports 65,000 colors (480 x 320 color display) in half VGA resolution. Its battery can last for five hours of constant usage.

Alberto sees the latest BlackBerry as something that could take the place of a notebook computer for many executives.

“The higher you go up the management ladder the more the BlackBerry becomes the device for you. It allows you to multi-task using both voice and data services in one handset,” he adds.

Smart currently has 7,000 BlackBerry subscribers, majority of them from the corporate world.