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BlackBerry ready to burst into new pastures
Jim Balsille: "We're in a prime, prime position"

By Reuters

Published: Wednesday 16 July 2008

BlackBerry maker RIM is charging ahead with international expansion plans and investments in new handsets and software to stay competitive, its co-chief executive said.

RIM wants to expand the BlackBerry service, now available in more than 140 countries, in China, Latin America, Russia and Southeast Asia.

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Jim Balsillie told shareholders at RIM's annual meeting on Tuesday: "We're not short of opportunity. We're in a prime, prime position that I think we've navigated ourselves to and earned."

After 12 years of rampant expansion, some analysts and investors have grown concerned that RIM will not be able to sustain it, particularly as the US economic picture darkens.

Those fears were highlighted last month, when RIM posted a profit outlook that fell short of analyst expectations, even as it reported quarterly earnings that more than doubled.

The results marked a departure from the company's recent quarters, when it comfortably beat analysts' forecasts. Since the profits report, its shares are down roughly 25 per cent.

RIM has also seen more competition from Apple's iPhone but has repeatedly dismissed the iPhone as a threat.

The company's growth strategy will also focus on introducing new phones and applications, and an increase in research and development spending, Balsillie said at the meeting.

RIM has peppered its smart phones, already popular with executives, with video cameras and music players to lure more retail customers, and now about 40 per cent of its 16 million users are either small and medium businesses or consumers.