The BlackBerry is moving closer to breaking into China after eight years of opposition from Beijing as Research in Motion, the group behind the e-mail service, steps up talks with the country’s largest mobile operator.

A long-mooted deal with China Mobile stands to boost RIM’s user base, which is fast approaching 10 million, by 25 per cent, analysts suggest.

Meanwhile, China’s burgeoning professional class faces the mixed prospects of being exposed to the “CrackBerry” phenomenon, as its lawyers and bankers are stripped of their excuses for being off-duty out of office hours.

RIM’s long march into China began in 1999, when it registered the BlackBerry trademark there, shortly after launching the handheld device in North America.

In 2002, the group set its sights on the Middle Kingdom in earnest and in 2004 signed a letter of agreement with China Mobile with a view to making BlackBerry handsets available in China’s major financial centres.

China Mobile, in which Vodafone, the British mobile giant, holds a minority stake, is seen as the territory’s prize partner. It has nearly 300 customers, making it the largest mobile group in the world in terms of client numbers.

Despite intense lobbying from Canadian officials and politicians, the Toronto based company had failed until recently to win permission to sell handsets from the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry.

In its absence, a host of local rivals, offering the same “push e-mail” technology that underpins the BlackBerry, have blossomed. Last year, China Unicom, the state’s second-largest mobile operator, introduced a device dubbed the RedBerry.

Last week, however, James L Balsillie, the RIM chief executive, hinted that the impasse was on the verge of being broken, saying that there were plans to serve corporate customers in Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Reports in the Canadian press said that the regulatory roadblock has now been surpassed and that the Blackberry 8700g handset will go on sale in China at the end of August for about $700 (£350).

A Beijing-based executive for RIM told the Toronto-based Globe and Mail that the company had taken 5,000 advance orders.

An RIM spokesman declined to give further comment. China Mobile could not be reached last night.

Entry into China, a market with more than 500 million mobile users, would further boost RIM as it battles Apple's iPhone in the United States, potentially its most serious rival in the smartphone sector yet.

Last week, RIM, which already operates in Hong Kong, Japan, India and South Korea, unveiled a 73 per cent hike in first-quarter sales, which broke the $1 billion barrier for the first time.

The group posted profits of $223.2 million, up from $128.8 million in the same quarter last year.

American companies have already sent e-mail circulars warning their customers that they do not intend to offer iPhones as company devices, suggesting that BlackBerry's core corporate market could prove immune to the hype surrounding Apple's latest gadget.

Meanwhile, RIM has retaliated by stepping up its assault on the so-called "prosumer" market through the Curve, its latest handset, which is designed to appeal to consumers as well as professionals.

RIM shares were up 1.2 per cent in New York at $210 in afternoon deals. The stock has soared from about $130 in January.

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