BlackBerry Takes On Redberry in China

By Arik Hesseldahl
Business Week Online

RIM has been negotiating for the right to do business in China for several years and according to published reports is poised to announce a deal with China Mobile, a Hong-Kong based carrier with 284 million subscribers, compared with China Unicom's 121 million.

Hot on the heels of the settlement of a rancorous patent dispute, Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) may have a new fight on its hands. Canada's RIM this year plans to launch its iconic BlackBerry wireless e-mail device in China, where it will go toe-to-toe with China Unicom, the state-run telecommunications company.

RIM, which in February agreed to pay a US$612.5 million settlement with U.S. holding company NTP, has confirmed it's on track to introduce the BlackBerry in China by the middle of the year. Not to be outdone, China Unicom has launched its own BlackBerry-like wireless e-mail service.

Here's where it gets weird. China Unicom's service is not only patterned after the BlackBerry, but its name is inspired by the BlackBerry as well. "China Unicom's Redberry brand not only continues the already familiar 'BlackBerry' image and name, it also fully reflects the symbolic meaning of China Unicom's new red corporate logo," the Chinese company says in a statement.

Many Rivals
Having competitors with seemingly similar offerings is nothing new to RIM. With some four million BlackBerry devices in use around the world, RIM competes with Palm (Nasdaq: PALM) , Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) , Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Motorola (NYSE: MOT) on the device front. Meanwhile its software rivals include privately held Good Technologies, and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) , among others.

RIM has been negotiating for the right to do business in China for several years and according to published reports is poised to announce a deal with China Mobile, a Hong-Kong based carrier with 284 million subscribers, compared with China Unicom's 121 million.

The technology behind the Redberry service comes from a Beijing-based outfit called Facio Software, which sells a software product it calls Uni Pushmail. The company didn't immediately respond to requests for comment, but its chief executive is Tony Chan, a Microsoft alum whose career includes stints at Rhapsody Software, which was acquired by Brocade in 2003, and Vitalsigns, which was later acquired by Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) .

So could RIM pick a trademark fight with China Unicom? RIM isn't commenting on the matter, but a source familiar with the company's thinking says RIM doesn't consider the Redberry service much of a threat.
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