The BlackBerry, one of the world's most successful handheld devices, is ready to open up to a much larger audience. RIM has shipped the first batch of BlackBerrys over to China, with the aims of making the device for sale before the end of this year. The move is definitely not a bad one, and news of the move into China was very encouraging to investors.
For nearly a year and a half, RIM has been openly planning a Chinese deployment. This may have been delayed by other issues such as the settlement with NTP just a few months before the original announcement. However, tremendous profits this year have likely boosted the company's ability to expand.
As the article brings out, even a minor portion of the Chinese market would be a significant boost to the company.