BlackBerry phones to hit B'lore in Oct

BANGALORE: Here's some good news for gadget freaks in Bangalore this festive season. The city based IT retailer Creative Infotech would be introducing BlackBerries in October.

Developed by the Canadian company Research in Motion (RIM), the BlackBerry phone, is one of the most sought after handheld devices that blends mobile capabilities with PDA features.

Creative Infotech partner, Mohit Hegde said that Airtel had an exclusive agreement with Creative, making them the sole partner for BlackBerries in Karnataka. The product would have a price tag ranging between Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000.

"We will be servicing corporate by helping them integrate the BlackBerries into the corporate environment, ensuring secure transactions through GPRS among other services," Hegde said. Creative is the support provider for Airtel's GPRS services in Karnataka for the last three-four months. "We configure around five to six connections a day," he added.

Creative, which runs two retail outlets in the city-Acer mall and the Toshiba mall, also plans to open a bigger mall at the centrally located Manipal Center, to showcase latest gadgets including PDAs and hi-end cell phones. "This will be a convergence store where everything related to connectivity and mobility such as the latest phones, IP cameras, Wi-Fi cameras, smart phones, notebooks, video conferencing facilities, international PDA brands from Australia like 02, Qtek and XDA/i-mate and others would be featured," informed Hegde.

The company would be investing around Rs 30 lakh in the new store.

Spread over a 1800 sq. meter area, the mall would be open to the public during Diwali in November.

Hegde informed that visitors and customers could check out demos of PDA phones with "universal remote" capability that can control devices at home such as TVs, air-conditioners and any device that can be controlled through infrared. The multi-brand store would also have a separate section for Toshiba products.