BlackBerry hits pay-as-you-go

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 29 Jan 2009 at 15:52

Orange has launched the first pay-as-you-go deal for BlackBerry handsets.

The BlackBerry Pearl 8120 will cost £145 up front, and can be used on any of Orange's pay-as-you-go tariffs.

Customers will be able to access their email and internet by paying an extra £5 per month for the BlackBerry Internet Service, on a rolling subscription basis.

The shift to pay-as-you-go, which is highly popular with younger phone owners, is yet another attempt by RIM to extend the BlackBerry brand beyond its traditional business audience.

Indeed, Orange is keen to play up features such as the MP3 player, 2-megapixel camera and easy access to services such as Facebook and Gmail, in preference to the traditional business-oriented features.

As our review from early last year notes, however, the BlackBerry Pearl 8120 lacks 3G connectivity, making it far from the ideal handset for demanding web activity.