Blackberries at 10 paces as SME mobility war heats up

Vodafone this morning cut the costs of its Blackberry handsets and mobile connect cards, announced a conditional offer of free Blackberry software or licences and offered a free second-month to new customers who joined its small-business-targeted plans.

The move came after Optus yesterday launched a bundled service featuring a Blackberry "wireless e-mail solution" combined with an AU$99 capped payment plan including AU$500 worth of voice and text services and up to 50 MB of data. Other plans were, the telecommunications company said, available for customers with lower voice, text and data useage.

Vodafone said this morning it would slash the recommended retail price of the mobile connect card from AU$399 to AU$299 and the Blackberry 7230 from AU$799 to AU$599. New customers would also receive free Blackberry software or licences when they purchased five or more devices between 12 February and 31 March. In addition, Vodafone said it would offer a free second month to all customers who join the telecommunications company on the Business Cap voice bundle, the Unlimited AU$49.95 Data Bundle or the Blackberry MobileEmail 50 bundle.