II. Preapproach Information
A. Company and Product Background
1. Blackberry was introduced by Research in Motion Limited (RIM), a leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of wireless solutions which offers services worldwide (www.rim.com, 2005). RIM provides platforms and solutions for flawless access to time-sensitive information such as email, phone, short message service (SMS), internet, and intranet applications (Ibid, 2005). RIM's award-winning products, services, and technologies include the Blackberry wireless platform, the RIM Wireless Handheld product line, software development tools, radio-modems, and software/hardware licensing agreements (Ibid, 2005).
T-Mobile is a national provider of wireless voice, data services, and messaging which employs more than 26.000 employees has an estimated 20 million subscribers (www.tmobile.com, 2005). They operate on an all-digital, national, wireless network based on the globally dominant GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology (Ibid, 2005). T-Mobile also operates a Wi-Fi wireless broadband network which gives high-speed internet access at speeds of about 40-50 times faster than standard dial-up (Ibid, 2005). Among their many products, they sell a wide variety of Blackberry handheld devices including the Blackberry 7100t to both the general public and to businesses.
RIM was founded in 1984 by Mike Lazaridis, who currently serves as its co-CEO along with Jim Balsillie, and it based in Waterloo, Ontario (www.rim.com, 2005). They operate firms in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific (Ibid, 2005). Prior to the manufacture of the Blackberry, RIM worked with Ericsson to turn its Mobitex wireless data network into a two-way paging and wireless email network (www.wikipedia.com, 200 ...