BlackBerrys slow to crack lucrative Chinese market

BlackBerrys slow to crack lucrative Chinese market:

"BlackBerrys slow to crack lucrative Chinese market Aileen McCabe, CanWest News Service Published:

Monday, September 24, 2007 Given half a chance, the BlackBerry could have become the 'crackberry' here, virtually overnight.

But, after more than seven years of negotiations leading to a long-awaited 'launch in China,' there is still no sign it will happen any time soon. Indeed, despite word this spring that the BlackBerry 8700g would be available for sale in China for $700 at the end of August, it still isn't. A call to China Mobile, which is Waterloo, Ont.,-based Research in Motion's partner for its addictive e-mail device-cum-phone, puts paid to that idea. The customer-hotline receptionist delivers the bad news: 'We are not selling BlackBerry cellphones.'"