BlackBerry launches the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone in NZ

4 June 2013

BlackBerry launches the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone in New Zealand

Re-designed, Re-engineered, and Re-invented BlackBerry smartphone available later this month

Auckland, New Zealand – BlackBerry® (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB) today launched the BlackBerry® Z10 smartphone in New Zealand. The smartphone features the re-designed, re-engineered and re-invented BlackBerry® 10 platform, and will come with the BlackBerry 10.1 software update. The BlackBerry Z10 smartphone supports 4G LTE networks and offers a faster, smarter and smoother experience that continuously adapts to you.

“New Zealanders will love the new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, running the re-designed BlackBerry 10 platform. The platform learns from your gestures, commands and words and is designed to keep you moving, whether at work or at play,” said Matthew Ball, Managing Director, BlackBerry Australia and New Zealand. “The availability of the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone and BlackBerry 10 platform introduces exciting new possibilities for our customers, channel partners and app developers in New Zealand. We’re looking forward to BlackBerry being the phone of choice for both consumers and business customers in New Zealand.”

Re-engineered: The BlackBerry Z10 Smartphone

The BlackBerry Z10 smartphone is elegant and distinctive, and the fastest, most advanced BlackBerry smartphone yet. It features 1.5 GHz dual core processor with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 32GB cards.

The latest enhancements in high density pixel and screen technology let the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone display clear, sharp, and incredibly vivid images. The smartphone features a micro HDMI out port for presentations, advanced sensors such as NFC (near field communications) to support mobile payments and the exchange of information with a simple tap. It also has a removable battery.

Highlights of BlackBerry 10

BlackBerry 10 is a robust and reliable platform that is smooth and responsive. It has a modern design and a gesture-based interface that is highly discoverable. It is designed to support, learn, and adapt to the way you work and share, with features including:

• The ever present BlackBerry® Hub, which is a single place to manage all your conversations whether personal or work email, BBM™ messages, social media updates or notifications, and the ability to “peek” into the BlackBerry Hub from anywhere, so you’re always only one swipe away from what matters to you. The BlackBerry Hub also now includes support for PIN to PIN messages for direct communication between BlackBerry smartphones, plus improved attachment support, making it easier to view emails which have been sent as attachments to other messages.
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• BlackBerry® Flow is where the BlackBerry 10 experience excels by enabling features and apps to flow seamlessly, helping you complete the task at hand effortlessly and efficiently. Simply tap on an attendee listed for a meeting to see their latest tweet or LinkedIn profile. Or tap the thumbnail of a picture you just took to launch the Picture editor and quickly apply a transformation or filter, then instantly share it with your contacts.
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• A keyboard that understands and adapts to you, that learns what words you use and how you use them, then offers them up to you so you can type faster and more accurately.
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• BBM (BlackBerry® Messenger), which allows you to share things with the people that matter to you in an instant. BBM in BlackBerry 10 includes voice calling and video chat, and introduces the ability to share your screen with another BlackBerry 10 contact.
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• BlackBerry® Balance™ technology, which elegantly separates and secures work applications and data from personal content on BlackBerry devices.
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• Time Shift, an astonishing camera feature that lets you create the perfect shot by moving parts of your picture backwards and forwards in time.
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• The BlackBerry 10 camera also now includes an HDR (High Dynamic Range) shooting mode that can take beautiful pictures in tricky lighting conditions. It takes 3 shots at various exposures that are combined into a single image, softening the stark contrast between areas of bright light and dark shadow.
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• Story Maker, which lets you bring a collection of photos and videos together, along with music and effects, to produce an HD movie for instantly sharing.
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• The new incredibly fast BlackBerry 10 browser sets the industry benchmark for HTML5 support on smartphones. Scrolling or zooming is fluid and responsive. The browser includes many advanced features, supports multiple tabs, lets you browse sites privately, includes a reader mode, and integrates with the platform for easily sharing content.
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• BlackBerry® Remember, which combines memos, tasks and much more into a single experience. It helps you organise and manage information around projects or ideas, letting you collect content such as websites, emails, photos, documents, and other files, and then lets you create tasks, assign due dates, and track your progress. If your BlackBerry 10 smartphone is set up with a work account, your Microsoft® Outlook® Tasks will automatically be wirelessly synced with BlackBerry Remember.
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• BlackBerry® Safeguard technology that helps protect what is important to you, and the business you work for.
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• Built-in support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync® so your BlackBerry Z10 smartphone can be simply connected and managed as other ActiveSync devices in a company, or enabled with BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10 to gain secure access to work email, “behind the firewall” applications and data, and benefit from other security and enterprise mobility management features.
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• The BlackBerry® World™ storefront, which now includes 120,000 BlackBerry 10 apps and one of the most robust music catalogs in mobile today.
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BlackBerry 10 in New Zealand

Customers will be able to purchase the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone with competitive pricing plans from carrier partners Telecom New Zealand and Vodafone New Zealand in June.

About BlackBerry

A global leader in wireless innovation, BlackBerry® revolutionised the mobile industry when it was introduced in 1999. Today, BlackBerry aims to inspire the success of our millions of customers around the world by continuously pushing the boundaries of mobile experiences. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, BlackBerry operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. BlackBerry is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: BBRY) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BB). For more information, visit www.BlackBerry.com.

Forward-looking statements in this news release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used herein, words such as "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "should", "intend", "believe", and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by Research In Motion Limited (BlackBerry) in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that BlackBerry believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause BlackBerry's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including those described in the "Risk Factors" section of BlackBerry's Annual Information Form, which is included in its Annual Report on Form 40-F (copies of which filings may be obtained at www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov). These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on BlackBerry's forward-looking statements. BlackBerry has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

BlackBerry and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. BlackBerry is not responsible for any third-party products or services.

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