Globe Brings the BlackBerry Storm to Customers in the Philippines

This is a Press Release from Globe.

Globe Telecom today announced availability of the highly anticipated BlackBerry® Storm™ smartphone for its customers in the Philippines. The BlackBerry Storm features the world’s first “clickable” touch-screen and is packed with powerful communications and multimedia features.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone boasts exceptional performance, and it comes with a stunning display and wealth of features including fast network access, a first class phone, desktop-style browsing, advanced multimedia, a 3.2MP camera, built-in GPS and the industry's leading email and messaging capabilities – all designed to give users an exceptional mobile experience.

Globe will offer the BlackBerry Storm smartphone to business customers at flexible corporate postpaid plans through Globe Business. Globe Business provides wireless and wireline data and voice solutions relevant to the needs of enterprises from diverse industries, including top corporations in the Philippines.

“We are pleased to announce that the BlackBerry Storm is now available on Globe’s corporate plans offered by Globe Business. We equip our customers with the best and latest mobility solutions that will help them be more productive and competitive at work, regardless of where they are or at anytime of the day,” said Jesus C. Romero, Head of Globe Business.

He added, “Powered by Globe’s 3G network, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone will allow our business customers to accomplish more by keeping them connected to colleagues and clients and enabling them to instantly access information they require, thus extending their workplace.”

The BlackBerry Storm will also be available for retail customers with various postpaid plans that fit their needs and lifestyle. With the launch of the BlackBerry Storm, Globe is introducing its new Personal BlackBerry Plans.

“The BlackBerry Storm will allow consumers to keep their connections close at hand through instant messaging and access to social networking sites. This, coupled with the handset’s rich multimedia features, makes it an excellent choice for both work and personal use,” said Ferdinand M. Dela Cruz, Consumer Wireless Business Head at Globe.

“Globe Telecom is very pleased to offer the BlackBerry Storm smartphone to both business and retails customers. People can purchase from Globe Business Centers nationwide and select one of the newly launched Personal BlackBerry Plans. These are unique plans that combine phone calls, text messaging and mobile Internet access so that customers can fully enjoy the exceptional BlackBerry smartphone experience,” he added.

“We are very excited to launch the first touch-screen based BlackBerry smartphone in the Philippines with Globe,” said Gregory Wade, Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific at Research In Motion. “The BlackBerry Storm provides the unique combination of a full-featured smartphone with a large vibrant display and a truly tactile touch interface, making it a perfect choice for both personal and business use.”

Globe’s consumer and business customers will both be able to maximize their use of the BlackBerry Storm smartphone through Globe’s HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) network, which allows users to experience wireless broadband connectivity.

Features of the BlackBerry Storm smartphone from Globe include:

- Sleek, stylish design with chromed frame, contoured corners and stainless steel back

- Large (3.25-inch), "clickable" touch-screen with 480 x 360 resolution at 184 ppi, delivering sharp and bright colours

- A powerful media player that can play movies smoothly in full-screen mode, display pictures and slideshows quickly and manage an entire music collection (including the ability to create playlists directly on the handset)

- Support for high-speed network connectivity

- Full HTML browser that works in either portrait or landscape orientation and support for mobile video streaming on sites such as YouTube (mobile.youtube.com) and other mobile entertainment portals*

- Purpose-built applications for easy access to popular IM and social networking services such as Facebook®, Windows Live™ Messenger, Yahoo!® Messenger, Google Talk™ and Flickr™

- 3.2 megapixel camera, with variable zoom, auto focus and a powerful flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video

- Ability to synchronise with iTunes® and Windows Media Player to enjoy music on the move** or through a home stereo using Bluetooth® and the BlackBerry® Music Gateway

- A 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, support for the Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP) and dedicated volume controls

- An ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the backlighting and an accelerometer that allows the BlackBerry Storm to be used in either a portrait or landscape orientation

- Built-in GPS that supports location-based applications and services, as well as geotagging photos

- 1 GB of onboard memory storage and a microSD/SDHC memory card slot that supports up to 16 GB of additional storage per card. An 8GB microSDHC card comes preinstalled

- Preloaded DataViz® Documents to Go® allows users to edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the smartphone

- Support for a wide range of lifestyle and business applications

- Removable and rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery that provides approximately 6 hours of talk time on 3G networks and 15 days of standby time

- Support on BlackBerry® Internet Service and BlackBerry® Enterprise Server

The BlackBerry Storm will be available from Globe in May. For more information, visit http://www.blackberry.com/ap/blackberrystorm. To learn more about Globe’s latest offerings, go to www.globe.com.ph.

* Please check with Globe.

** Using BlackBerry® Media Sync. Certain music files may not be supported, including files that contain digital rights management technologies.