Bold step for BlackBerry

The Bold, soon to be sold by Optus, Telstra and Vodafone, will compete directly with Apple's iPhone as BlackBerry-maker RIM seeks to expand its reach from executives and senior employees to pretty much anyone with a profession.

But Kavelman - who has referred to Apple's iPhone strategy as "we do music and we're going to add a phone into it" - isn't worried, saying he welcomed the introduction of any competing device that helped convince more consumers to adopt more advanced phone features such as mobile email, internet and video.

"I want to buy them [competitors] a drink," he said, adding he hoped people would walk into shops looking to buy a competing phone but walk out with a Bold.

The Bold is similar in size to the iPhone but is slightly shorter and wider. It includes both WiFi and GPS support, which are fast becoming mandatory features of high-end smartphones.

Instead of a touchscreen, it includes a full QWERTY keyboard (just like that on a computer) and RIM's trademark "pearl" trackball for navigation.

As the BlackBerry is foremost a mobile email tool, copying the iPhone's touch screen may have put its core users offside, although RIM is rumoured to be working on its own touchscreen iPhone clone, dubbed the BlackBerry Thunder.

Also unlike the iPhone, the Bold supports faster HSDPA speeds offered by the latest upgrade to 3G mobile networks.

RIM has already started down the path of making its handsets more appealing to general consumers with the Pearl, which Kavelman said was one of the company's best selling products. Its multimedia features allowed people to use the phone for both work and leisure.

"This whole business tool is still I think the platform of what BlackBerry is," said Kavelman.

"Our job in the last couple of years has been to somehow disguise this wonderful tool into something that's fashionable, that people would not be scared of and would like to use."

Despite the immense hype surrounding the iPhone, BlackBerry is still the top-selling smartphone in North America and has 16 million subscribers around the world. Kavelman would not reveal local figures.

The Bold has a built-in music and video player and includes a 2-megapixel camera with digital zoom and video recording features. Storage space can be expanded through the microSD memory card slot.

Nigel Milan, chief executive of the Royal Flying Doctors Service, is one of the first people in Australia to own the Bold after receiving it as a gift from Telstra.

Telstra boss Sol Trujillo told The Australian Financial Review he had been using it for two months to support his 200- to 300-a-day email habit.

Kavelman used the Bold launch, held at the glamorous Ivy in Sydney's CBD, to take a swipe at competitor products that don't offer the BlackBerry's business messaging features.

"It's great to do the glitz; anybody can build toys and just focus solely on the multimedia stuff - and lots of people want to buy toys - but I think what we're trying to do is say here's everything that makes a BlackBerry a BlackBerry, and we've packaged it in something that looks really fashionable ... and you don't have to give up all the multimedia stuff," he said.

Optus will sell the Bold in Australia from August 20 for A$10 a month over 24 months in conjunction with its BlackBerry A$79 cap plan. Vodafone has yet to confirm pricing or the exact timing of availability, while Telstra will sell the Bold on its Australian NextG network from September.