South African University Opens BlackBerry Apps Lab

PRETORIA, South Africa – University of Pretoria is the latest addition to the Research in Motion’s (RIM) Blackberry Academic Programme.

The Canadian company has now officially formed alliance with one of the biggest South African universities. RIM has opened up an state-of-the-art Apps Lab for the Pretoria students, faculty and other interested entrepreneurs.

The objective of the Apps Lab is to provide necessary education and resources to the locals for the development of BlackBerry applications. This Lab will also be associated with Department of Communications’ e-Skills Institute.

Bob Bose, RIM Africa MD, said in the launching event that anticipating a rise in African economies, which is likely due to adoption of mobile technologies, the company planned to support local students and businesses so they can benefit from the opportunities effectively.

Faculty members at the University of Pretoria are very optimistic about the collaboration, and see it as one of the great steps for the development of South African economy.

RIM is currently working with 640 institutions (including 39 African universities) in 113 countries for the mobile applications development.