Blackberry curve in India

Research In Motion (RIM) launched its latest smartphone — the ‘BlackBerry Curve’ in India on 22 july. Blackberry curve is termed as the smallest and lightest phone with full QWERTY keypad, the phone measures just 107mm x 60mm x 15.5mm and weighs 111g. The Curve comes with a 2MP camera, with 5x digital zoom and built-in flash. The phone supports an extendable microSD card that can be upped to accommodate up to 4GB. Other features include Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD) and Bluetooth 2.0 support for wireless headsets. The Curve features a new integrated spell checker with a user-customizable dictionary. It is also supported on Blackberry Internet Service, giving users access to up to 10 work or personal email accounts. As of now the phone can be acquired only through Hutch and Airtel and is scheduled to be available by late June

Sony Ericsson Indian Strategy

Mobile handset manufacturer Sony Ericsson on Wednesday announced setting up of mobile Research and Development (R&D) unit in India to strengthen its presence in the world’s fastest growing wireless market. The R&D centre would come up at Chennai, the company said in a statement. The company had earlier in January announced its plans of sourcing locally manufactured phones in Chennai with partners like Flextronics and Foxconn, with a production target of 10 million units by 2009. Sony Ericsson, however, did not disclose planned investments in the R&D centre.

Sony Ericsson said the R&D centre in India is a part of its global strategy to reach the top three positions in the global handset market. The new centre would become a part of Sony Ericsson’s global network of R&D units in countries including China, Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, the US and the UK. Sony Ericsson estimates the Indian mobile phone market to have doubled last year, as more than 62 million handsets were sold in the last 12 months.