BlackBerry Owners Encouraged to Switch off for Earth Hour

Blackberry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) has launched a Web site for users of the smartphones dedicated to the latest news about Earth Hour. Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007 and is an annual WWF event that encourages individuals and businesses to switch off their lights for an hour.

The Web site, which is only accessible using select BlackBerry handsets, gives users the ability to get the latest news and videos about Earth Hour as well connect to the event's profiles on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

"I hope that BlackBerry users take the opportunity to experience the Earth Hour site and demonstrate their support for Earth in the fight against global warming", said RIM's Antoinette Trovato.

Only owners of the BlackBerry Bold, BlackBerry Storm, BlackBerry Curve, BlackBerry Curve 8900, BlackBerry 8800 and BlackBerry Pearl smartphones will be able to access the Web site. Attempting to access the website with an older BlackBerry or a computer-based Web browser leads to an apology screen with a link to http://www.earthour.org.

Almost 1900 cities in 81 countries are participating in this year's event, with Earth Hour organisers claiming that more than 50 million people participated in 2008.