RIM, the company that invented and markets the blackberry will start selling blackberry devices in China. This gives RIM a big headstart in the mobile messaging market. The only remaining question is whether the use of the device will be in some way filtered or controlled by the chinese government.

According to the E-Commerce Times, China Mobile already offers the Blackberry email service to customers but only on third-party handsets. The use of RIM's own handsets will be a big step forward in the rising economy of China.

China may not provide a rocket boost to sales, however, with hurdles remaining to effectively selling into the country, Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney told the E-Commerce Times.

For starters, china mobile, is mainly a consumer-focused company — not one that traditionally works with enterprises — and RIM gets most of its sales in established markets.(E-Commerce Times)

I recently wrote about what impact the iPhone would have on it's competitors, as it is suggested that Palm will take the biggest hit from the iPhone's release.