BlackBerry finally widely available in China – sort of

SHANGHAI – It’s taken eight years, but the BlackBerry is finally widely available in China – sort of.

You can buy the BlackBerry handset online at the Suning electronic retailer’s website, take a picture with it, make a phone call or send a text message, but you still can’t get your email unless you’re a corporate or government user.

Waterloo, Ont., based Research in Motion announced at the end of last week that its BlackBerry 8310 and 8910 models are now on sale to ordinary consumers in China, but both China Telecom and China Mobile confirmed Monday that the push-email function that has addicted so many North Americans is still reserved for corporate users.

Although one of the telecom service people helpfully offered tips on how you might get around the restriction, neither had any idea why the Berry’s most popular feature is blocked in China.

There has been speculation in the past that the Chinese government’s demand for censorship is one of the reasons RIM has been so slow out of the starting gate in the world’s largest mobile phone market. RIM has never commented on the rumours, however, but it did publicly announce its intention to crack the Chinese market way back in 2002.

By Chinese standards, the handsets RIM has put on sale are prohibitively expensive. The BlackBerry 8310 is retailing at about $570 and the 8910 for $760. That’s on top of a telecom contract that ranges from about $31 to $95 a month.

It’s also despite the fact that you can buy a "grey market" BlackBerry in electronic markets across China for around $125. They are smuggled into China from North America, Europe and Hong Kong, but they are real BlackBerrys, they work and they have been available for several years.

Shanzhai or fake BlackBerrys are also widely available, and are cheaper still, but most people who buy them only use them as a telephone – and an accessory, of course.

In an online poll about the new and legal Blackberries on the popular QQ portal, almost 96 per cent of the 14,269 people who responded said they would not buy a "real" BlackBerry in China because of the price.

On other web forums, the sentiment was repeated again and again.

"With 3500 RMB ($555) I can buy BlackBerry 9700, a real one packed in Hong Kong," a "netizen" called Huqinglong wrote.

Chenxi said: "I’d rather buy an iPhone at this price."

And, netizen Anranruoyi commented: "Whoever buys that are idiots. You can get the machine at a market for just over 700 RMB ($111). I’m laughing."

RIM’s managing director for China, Gregory Shea, was much more upbeat when he announced the first legal BlackBerrys were going on the Chinese market and he was clearly convinced the product would win over skeptics.

"We believe the powerful and easy-to-use BlackBerry Curve 8910 will help convince many more people in China to give up their traditional cellphone and upgrade to a BlackBerry smartphone," he said.

– with files from Jessie Zhou