Research In Motion has signed a cooperation agreement with Digital China which allows Digital China to sell RIM Blackberry smartphones in the Chinese market.

Jim Balsillie, joint CEO of RIM, said at the signing ceremony that RIM is very glad to reach an agreement with Digital China. Balsillie stated that China is an important market for RIM, so the cooperation with Digital China could help them further enhance and expand the opportunities for promoting RIM's Blackberry phones in China.

Guo Wei, CEO of Digital China, said that Digital China would be fully responsible for the sale of Blackberry phones in China. Guo stressed that their cooperation with RIM does not only involve terminal products, but will also expand to other fields and finally the two will become strategic partners for each other.

Currently there are 36 million Blackberry mobile phone users in the world. With Digital China becoming the general agent of Blackberry mobile phones in China, all other 3C markets in the country need to work with Digital China if they want to sell the phone. However, like the Apple iPhone, many vendors and markets in China sell grey market Blackberry phones that are imported from other countries. These phones often have better features than phones potentially sold through Digital China, and their prices and call plans are potentially much better too.