RIM Offers BlackBerry Service Without the BlackBerry

TheCybernator writes "RIM has announced that they're essentially planning to offer BlackBerry service ... without the BlackBerry. The company plans an app suite that will turn its push e-mail technology into a platform for Windows Mobile 6 devices. Less than a week after a network outage crippled BlackBerry users across North America, Research In Motion announced an application pack for Windows Mobile 6 devices that Canadian software developers said will intensify the competition for push e-mail. The firm has said that the BlackBerry Application suite will appear as an icon on the screen of the Mobile Windows device and load BlackBerry applications such as e-mail, phone, calendar, address book, tasks, memos, browser, and instant messaging. RIM said users will easily be able toggle between the two platforms, one of which would have a BlackBerry-style interface."

Comments

Yes it does...

[Ron Harwood]

http://www.palm.com/us/software/blackberryconnect/

Blackberry Connect...

Hey!

[FlyingSquidStudios]

Great! A service I would never pay for is now on two different platforms! Now people can be even more annoying during meetings!

This is in response to their previous offer.

[AltGrendel]

Blackberries without Blackberry service.

Of course, that was a very limited time offer.

Re:What is "push email"?

[Sonic McTails]

Pull email is also traditional email. A client polls the server and checks to see if any email is available. If it is, its downloaded. New messages are checked every few minutes but you don't instantly get the message unless your holding an open connection. Push email has the server tell the device that the email is now available, and sends it to the phone (or part of it; I use Microsoft's version with my MDA which only sends the first kilobyte until I request the rest). This saves battery life because the phone doesn't constantly have to poll, and the email is delivered within seconds of it arriving in the server. It's similar to IMAP IDLE expect that the phone doesn't need to keep a connection open.

Connecting the dots...

[LilGuy]

Imagine: The service worked virtually flawlessly for years, and just a week before the announcement that they will be integrating Windows devices, it all goes crashing down.

RIP RIM.

Re:Only MS?

[dave420]

Because the Microsoft "junk" is hardly limiting them, considering how popular it is. Trying for any other platform other than MS would be limiting them.

Re:Hmmm

[afidel]

More like they think that they can get enterprise customers to pay them for simplifying push email to one application rather than having to setup Exchange or Notes or whatever setup to support Windows Mobile devices, and they are right. There are plenty of IT departments out there that are tasked with supporting whatever technology the business decides to use and if they can reduce their own workload for the fairly minimal cost of a BES license they WILL pay.