WATERLOO, Ontario, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- The Canadian maker of the BlackBerry Monday introduced a new e-mail phone that adapts features from its consumer Pearl model for business use.
The BlackBerry 8800 handheld device plays music and videos and has global-positioning-system technology in addition to sending and receiving e-mails and phone calls, Research In Motion of Waterloo, Ontario, said.
The 8800, the first of a series of RIM multimedia devices this year, will be available starting next week through AT&T Inc.'s wireless division for $300 after rebate, with a two-year service contract.
The quad-band device is substantially thinner than the BlackBerry 8700 and boasts a front trackball that replaces one of the key features of the older models -- the side wheel.
RIM lifted the trackball from the multimedia consumer BlackBerry Pearl it launched in September. Starting at $200, the Pearl was the most successful BlackBerry launch in RIM history, the company said, but did not provide sales figures.
RIM says it plans to launch the 8800 with overseas carriers next month and other North American carriers soon.
RIM "smart phones" account for nearly half the U.S. market, information-technology research group IDC said.
