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Huge mob swarms phone launch – but it's a BLACKBERRY

Punters fainted - and not at the price

The global launch of a new smartphone brought a huge mob of thousands of desperate punters to the doors of a shopping centre on Thursday night - ahead of Friday's grand unveiling. By the time staff unlocked the doors there was a 3,000-strong crowd, a huge crush surged forward and several people fainted.

The Indonesian crowd were queuing for the arrival of the latest – wait for it – BlackBerry. Okay, there was a 50 per cent discount on the $540 phone for the first 1,000 buyers, but still, few phones inspire this level of devotion, so we're sure the riot reports will be giving makers RIM warm fuzzy feelings up in the biz's HQ in Waterloo, Canada.

The BlackBerry brand has huge cachet in Indonesia, according to AP, and Jakarta was the first place RIM chose to launch the BlackBerry Bold 9790.

We expect the 9790 launches in Europe and the US to be rather more muted. ®

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