Vodafone Malta Limited and Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) recently announced the launch of the BlackBerry® solution in Malta. The BlackBerry solution brings together industry leading smartphones, software and services to allow easy wireless access to email, phone, calendar, web, multimedia and other business and lifestyle applications. Vodafone customers in Malta will now be able to enjoy the freedom and productivity benefits of using BlackBerry® smartphones to stay connected on the go.

“By working with RIM to introduce the BlackBerry solution in Malta, Vodafone is once again leading innovation in the Maltese market,” said Inaki Berroeta, CEO of Vodafone Malta. “We are confident that the BlackBerry solution will provide our customers with the necessary tools to stay in touch with colleagues, friends and family from wherever they are.”

Don Morrison, COO at RIM added, “BlackBerry smartphones are the right choice for people who want to stay connected to the most important people and information in their business and personal lives. We are very pleased to be working with Vodafone and we know that customers in Malta will greatly benefit from the enhanced communications, productivity and convenience enabled by BlackBerry smartphones.”

Vodafone Malta will be offering the BlackBerry® Curve 8310 and the BlackBerry® Pearl 8110 smartphones.

The BlackBerry Curve 8310 is a powerful and intuitive smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard. It includes rich multimedia capabilities, as well as built-in GPS that supports location-based applications and services such as mapping and navigation. Combining these features with a premium phone, email, digital camera, media player, Internet browser, organiser and a world of add-on applications, it is an exceptional smartphone for both business and personal use. The BlackBerry Pearl 8110 smartphone is a great choice for users who want the full power of the BlackBerry platform in a small, stylish handset. The BlackBerry Pearl 8110, one of the smallest and lightest smartphones on the market, packs exceptional functionality and performance in a sleek and elegant design. It includes powerful communications features and rich multimedia capabilities including a 2.0 megapixel camera, music and video player and an expandable memory slot for additional storage, as well as the benefit of built-in GPS.

Vodafone Malta will offer the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server software for corporate customers, BlackBerry® Professional Software for growing businesses and BlackBerry® Internet Service for smaller businesses and individual users.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server is targeted specifically for organisations that manage their own email servers. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server software tightly integrates with IBM® Lotus® Domino®, Microsoft® Exchange and Novell® GroupWise® and uses advanced encryption and IT policy controls to enable secure, push-based wireless access to email and other corporate data. BlackBerry Professional Software is for businesses that manage their own email server and have up to 30 mobile employees. It is easy to set up and control and is ideal for growing businesses that want a mobile solution that can offer advanced features, reliability and security together with simplified installation and management, as well as lower cost.

BlackBerry Internet Service is designed for smaller businesses and individuals. It allows customers to access up to 10 supported corporate and personal email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts such as, Yahoo! Mail and Google Mail) from a single device.