- Canada-based RIM (Research in Motion) announced on May 28 that the company will expand its investment exclusively for the development of mobile phone services and applications in China through the Blackberry Partners Fund China, the China Daily News reported on May 29, adding that the investment will be valued at US$100 million. With a capitalization of US$141 million, the Blackberry Partners Fund China, a joint venture between the Blackberry Partners Fund, which is funded by RIM, Thomson Reuters Corporation and Royal Bank of Canada, and China Broadband Capital Partners is anticipated to kick off 20 to 25 investment plans over the next four years in China, according to Reuters.

 

As regards RIM's partnerships with Chinese telecom operators, RIM has begun selling its touchscreen BlackBerry Storm to government and enterprise users in China through with China Telecom in May, 2010. Since 2006, RIM has collaborated with China Mobile to jointly launch several older BlackBerry models to enterprise users, according again to the China News Daily. Furthermore, RIM stated that the company is currently in talks with China Mobile regarding the collaboration in the development of TD-LTE (Time Division-Long Term Evolution) network and the launch of a Smartphone supporting China Mobile's TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) network, which is likely to hit the market around December 2010.