Press Release

March 17, 2003

Symbian OS Phones To Receive BlackBerry Connectivity

London, UK and Waterloo, Canada - Symbian Ltd and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced plans to provide a BlackBerry™ connectivity solution to carriers and Symbian OS licensees to enable wireless email and corporate data services on Symbian OS phones. Symbian OS is licensed to the world's leading handset manufacturers including Samsung, Siemens, Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson. In 2002, Symbian OS licensees accounted for more than 75% of mobile phones shipped worldwide. RIM has joined Symbian's Platinum Partner Program and the companies have initiated technical and business development efforts.

"Mobile device manufacturers, carriers, end users and IT departments are recognizing the productivity benefits that can be gained from wireless access to corporate data and email," said David Levin, CEO, Symbian Ltd. "Our agreement with RIM will enable Symbian OS licensees to exploit the rich functionality of Symbian OS and to add integrated, push-based access to email and enterprise information enabled by the BlackBerry solution."

"We are pleased to partner with Symbian to simplify the availability of the popular BlackBerry experience to Symbian OS licensees worldwide," said Jim Balsillie, Chairman and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. "BlackBerry is truly becoming the wireless platform of choice for enterprise data connectivity. Thousands of companies and government organizations worldwide have already installed BlackBerry Enterprise Server behind their firewall and support for Symbian OS phones will further enhance and extend the reach of the BlackBerry platform."

In a separate announcement today, RIM introduced its 'BlackBerry Connect™' licensing program that enables mobile device manufacturers to equip their handsets with the secure, push-based BlackBerry wireless data experience. With this licensing program and RIM's relationship with Symbian, Symbian OS licensees that participate in BlackBerry Connect will be able to easily integrate the BlackBerry experience on their devices.

Further details of the Symbian / RIM relationship were not disclosed at this time.

About Symbian

Symbian is a software licensing company, owned by Ericsson, Matsushita, Motorola, Nokia, Psion, Samsung, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. Symbian develops and licenses Symbian OS, the global open industry standard operating system for advanced, data-enabled mobile phones.

Symbian has licensed Symbian OS to the world's leading mobile phone manufacturers including Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. Publicly announced products based on Symbian OS include the Siemens SX-1, NTT DoCoMo FOMA F2051 built by Fujitsu, Sony Ericsson P800 Smartphone, Nokia 9210 Communicator range as well as the 7650, 3650 and N-Gage.

Symbian has its global headquarters in London, United Kingdom with development sites in Europe and Asia. For further information about Symbian, please see www.symbian.com.

About Research In Motion (RIM)

Research In Motion is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. RIM's portfolio of award-winning products, services and embedded technologies are used by thousands of organizations around the world and include the BlackBerry™ wireless platform, the RIM Wireless Handheld™ product line, software development tools, radio-modems and software/hardware licensing agreements. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. RIM is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

About BlackBerry

BlackBerry is a leading wireless enterprise platform that has been widely deployed to provide mobile access to information. The BlackBerry architecture aptly supports enterprise requirements including back-end integration, end-to-end security and push-based wireless applications. Thousands of organizations across North America and Europe already use BlackBerry with expansion beginning in Asia Pacific.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties of Research In Motion Limited. All other brands, products and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Forward-looking statements in this news release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks relating to possible product defects and product liability, risks related to international sales and potential foreign currency exchange fluctuations, continued acceptance of RIM's products, increased levels of competition, technological changes, dependence on intellectual property rights and other risks detailed from time to time in RIM's periodic reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities.