Maker of BlackBerry, Research in Motion, and China Mobile Ltd., have joined hands in a deal to offer BlackBerry handsets to personal users and small businesses across China, as well as come out with a handset which will be specifically based on the Chinese developed 3G mobile phone technology.

As recorded by the end of October, China Mobile had as many as 513.5 million registered users.

Big businesses have been offered BalckBerry devices by China Mobile since 2006, and the country also has a large-scale "gray market" for popular smartphones like the iPhone and BlackBerrys, and this is what the company and the mobile operator want to work against by offering devices through a proper contract to everyone.

"We view China as a strategic market, the largest wireless market in the world. And China Mobile is by far the largest mobile carrier in the world", RIM Co-Chief Executive Jim Basillie said.

China Mobile has already been selling Apple's iPhone, and with a BalckBerry contract in place as well, the carrier is now looking to expand even more. "We will broaden BlackBerry's application from big companies, to small-and-medium sized enterprises, and to individuals. We will jointly offer BlackBerry Internet Service in the future, to cater to the needs of individual customers", said Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of China Mobile.