n g o b o k @ b l o g m a s

The Star Online (Monday August 20, 2007)

Maxis Communications Bhd (Maxis) hopes to tap the individual user market segment with its newly-launched BlackBerry Curve smartphone.

Chief operating officer Jon Eddy Abdullah said that he expected healthy growth in the individual segment with the new smartphone because it was specifically targeted at entry-level users and also featured new services.

Currently, Maxis has about 10,000 BlackBerry customers, of which 70% are business users and 30% are individuals.

“As BlackBerry usage in Malaysia continues to climb, we are making the powerful device accessible and affordable to people with an entry-level package for the BlackBerry Internet Solution at RM20 per month,” he said at the launch of the smartphone Monday.

For as low as RM20 per month during the three-month promotional period, users will be able to send and receive e-mail, chat online and surf the Internet. Users will be charged RM20 per MB after the promotional period which ends Nov 20.

“We believe the consumer potential for e-mail services is largely untapped and this package is designed specifically for the consumer looking for wireless e-mail connectivity,“ he added.

Priced at RM1,999, the BlackBerry Curve is equipped with a 2.0-megapixel camera, fast web-browsing and powerful multimedia capabilities. It also comes with value-added applications like Namimail, which allows users to read and write e-mail messages in Japanese, and MobileStockLive, a mobile stock trading solution that addresses the needs of business professionals.

In the near future, customers will also be able to enjoy the convenience of on-the-go personal banking and financial services using their BlackBerry smartphone.

Maxis hopes to sell at least 2,000 units of the BlackBerry Curve by year-end, said Eddy.