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lackBerry smartphone maker Research in Motion (RIM) launched on Monday its latest generation of operating system (OS) and handsets, with RIM claiming they would offer users a better experience.

The new OS, BlackBerry 7, introduces the latest browser claimed to be 40 percent faster than the BlackBerry 6 browser and 100 percent faster than BlackBerry 5’s. BlackBerry 7 also provides a liquid graphic feature, offering a responsive touch interface with soft graphics.

New handsets using the new OS, including the Bold 9900/9930, the Torch 9850/9860 and the Torch 9810, will be available for the Indonesian market by late September.

“The new generation of BlackBerry offers the best communications experience that will be loved by Indonesian customers,” Hastings Singh, vice president of RIM South Asia, said after the launch.

With the growing threat from a new generation of smartphones using Google’s Android OS, Singh was upbeat that RIM would keep its domination in the Indonesian market.

“The smartphone market is getting bigger and bigger, so Indonesia is moving more and more toward the smartphone. But the majority of smartphones, according to GFK [market research company] are BlackBerrys,” Singh said, refusing to elaborate on details.

Singh cited BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) as the strongest feature that the smartphone had, which had created the world’s largest private communications network.

“[BlackBerry’s domination in the country] is because of the thing we focus on, BBM, social communications, which are obviously something that Android doesn’t have. They don’t have that experience,” he said.

Although the popularity of WhatsApp Messenger, a cross-platform mobile messaging application for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Symbian, is growing, Singh did not seem to worry.

“BBM, compared to other messengers, is superior. It’s very quickly read and delivered. Third party applications can offer big delays. It’s like SMS, you’re not sure if it’s gone through. BBM is something that we are really proud of, in terms of how it performs and its benefit for our customers,” he said.

When asked whether or not RIM had considered building a manufacturing plant in Indonesia, senior PR manager for Southeast Asia Oliver Pilgerstorfer declined to comment.

“[To build a plant in neighboring Malaysia] was the most effective way for logistics reasons. We see that as something that will benefit the whole region,” he said.

RIM recently built a manufacturing plant in Penang, Malaysia, where production started on July 1. (swd)