New BlackBerry smartphone details leaked

TORONTO, CANADA: On a day that Research In Motion (RIM)  jumped as much as 4 per cent to near an eight-month high after it reached a deal with India that appeared to protect its secure corporate email service, a technology website leaked details of three unreleased BlackBerry smartphones.

According to tech website Boy Genius Report, which published the details on Thursday, the new smartphones come with a new technology that allows consumers to pay for purchases by waving the phone against a special terminal.

RIM declined to comment directly on the Boy Genius report, but said it plans to incorporate so-called near-field communications, or NFC, technologies in future products and will give more details later.

In India, where RIM is fending off government demands it allow monitoring of communications sent via BlackBerry smartphones, the Canadian company said it had allowed access to its Messenger service. But it repeated that it was unable to make changes to allow monitoring of secure corporate emails.

"The India uncertainty has been a question mark for RIM given the country's rapid growth. The agreement alleviates the uncertainty," said Kevin Restivo, an analyst with IDC.

The shares retreated from a morning bounce to close 0.8 per cent higher at $64.01 on Nasdaq and 1 per cent higher at C$63.29 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

RIM's share price has jumped around 50 per cent since late August, buoyed by optimism over its PlayBook tablet, which is powered by a Texas Instruments dual-core processor and is expected to launch in March.

The devices showed by Boy Genius included an updated version of the Torch — a touchscreen and slide-out keyboard phone launched in August. The model offers double its predecessor's processing power, the report said.

The two other phones shown were a touch-and-type smartphone code-named BlackBerry Dakota and a new version of the mid-range Curve codenamed "Apollo." The Dakota maintains the style of the company's high-end BlackBerry Bold, and features a 2.8-inch touchscreen and RIM's physical qwerty keyboard,

Indonesia latest headache

The Canadian company generates a growing share of its revenue outside North America and Western Europe and faces pressure in established markets from Apple's iPhone and devices running Google's Android operating system.

Governments in some of these markets, including India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have demanded access to encrypted BlackBerry data, concerned about the effect confidential communications has on security and social mores.

The latest country to raise the issue is Indonesia, a booming market with between 2 million and 3 million BlackBerry users.

RIM on Monday agreed to filter pornography on Internet browsers on its phones in Indonesia after being threatened with a shutdown of its service.

That threat was made by the country's communications and information minister, Tiffatul Sembiring, who is considered an Islamic conservative. He later claimed RIM does not pay any tax in Indonesia.

RIM denied that on Thursday and said it pays all applicable taxes as an importing manufacturer in the region.

RIM opened a new office in Jakarta in November and is hosting its pan-Asian developers conference on the Indonesia island of Bali.