RIM working on Next G BlackBerry

A Research In Motion executive has confirmed the company is working on a BlackBerry device for Telstra's Next G network.

Chris Ting, technical account manager for Asia Pacific told ZDNet Australia that the handset manufacturer has a BlackBerry mobile e-mail device "in development" for Telstra's high speed 3G network.

The mobile e-mail device is expected to debut early next year.

"They want it to have all the bells and whistles: GPS, Wi-Fi -- but it's still in development and that could all change," Ting said.

Although the Next G network has a theoretical maximum download speed of 14.4Mbps, the Telstra-flavoured BlackBerry is expected to offer speeds of around 3.6Mbps.

RIM has traditionally not produced devices to take advantage of emerging higher speed networks. Speaking at the Australian launch of the BlackBerry Curve, a mobile e-mail device targeted at the "prosumer" market, Norm Lo, RIM's VP of Asia Pacific, said speed is not necessarily a high priority for users.

"It depends on the applications you are using -- you don't really need high speed, you need low latency."

Telstra could not be immediately reached for comment.