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RIM Offers BlackBerry Service Without the BlackBerry

Posted by Zonk on Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:05 AM
from the spreading-the-crack-around dept.
Communications Handhelds IT Hardware
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."
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RIM Offers BlackBerry Service Without the BlackBerry 25 Comments More /

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  • I mean, I'm not a crackberry head, so I haven't looked that hard, but I'm sure my rep told me it was coming "real soon now" for the Treo when I bought my 650 a couple of years ago.

    Did it not materialize?
    • I'm betting they were talking about Push Mail for windows mobile. I think that's just for getting automatic emails from an exchange server, not the blackberry service itself.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by biglig2 (89374)
        What's new is that BBConnect is a very limited subset of BB functions - basically it's just a way of making the current mail client in your PDA get mail dropped into it from the BES. For a lot of people this is of course enough, but I know that, for example, I'd miss the BBs OTA calendar syncing, for example. So a full BB emulation on the PDA may suit some people better. Of course, a lot depends on how much the other apps can access the BB features. For example, can you mail a photo you take with your Treo'

  • Hmmm (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289) * <whineymacfanboy@gmail.com> on Tuesday April 24 2007, @10:08AM (#18854571) Homepage Journal
    I suspect RIM is falling into the trap of believing that they can reduce winCE to a "poorly debugged set of device drivers" [ianmurdock.com]. However, others have tried that path and failed.

    For gods sake RIM, don't do a palm/netscape

    • Re:Hmmm (Score:5, Insightful)

      by afidel (530433) on Tuesday April 24 2007, @10:59AM (#18855291)
      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.
      • 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.

        Uh, I don't know about you guys, but we actually

  • Already Available (Score:3, Informative)

    by asphaltjesus (978804) on Tuesday April 24 2007, @10:11AM (#18854623)
    on my Nokia 9300. I don't use it, but the client is definitely installed.

    This phone doesn't appear to be very popular in the U.S., but it's the most useful phone I've ever owned.
  • What is "push email"? (Seriously.)

    • Re:What is "push email"? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Sonic McTails (700139) on Tuesday April 24 2007, @10:23AM (#18854759)
      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.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Intron (870560)
        Seems like that ought to also reduce the server load considerably. It means there is at most one conversation per email, instead of all clients connecting and checking for new mail every X minutes like in normal pop and imap.
      • It's similar to IMAP IDLE expect that the phone doesn't need to keep a connection open.

        The thing is, 'keeping a connection open' is just an abstraction. It's all really just a set of counters and data structures, there's no connection. A 'push e-mail' system talks to a socket listener, but that's just an abstraction too - the kernel sends the incoming packets in a different direction.

        That's not to say that cell phones have as efficient a way of handling an idle TCP connection as they do on their notificat

  • Hey! (Score:5, Funny)

    by FlyingSquidStudios (1031284) on Tuesday April 24 2007, @10:20AM (#18854703) Homepage
    Great! A service I would never pay for is now on two different platforms! Now people can be even more annoying during meetings!

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

      OK. I have to play devil's advocate... Why wouldn't you pay for the service? Have you ever considered that maybe the meetings are engaging enough to keep people from turning to their BlackBerry devices out of sheer boredom?
  • Blackberries without Blackberry service.

    Of course, that was a very limited time offer.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by FlyingOrca (747207)
      You jest, but that's what I have, and it's great. The Blackberry Pearl is a nicely implemented smartphone, available through various cellular providers with or without data plans but independent of RIM's Blackberry service either way. I like it for handy access to my calendar and seamless integration with my notebook. I love it for the keyboard - I use SMS incessantly for keeping in touch with my band and with my partner when one of us is out of town (especially overseas).

      I'm not really interested in email

  • Connecting the dots... (Score:5, Funny)

    by LilGuy (150110) on Tuesday April 24 2007, @10:24AM (#18854783)
    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.

  • iPhone Connection? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Spencerian (465343) on Tuesday April 24 2007, @10:34AM (#18854917) Homepage Journal
    Apple's offering to the phone world, the iPhone, as well as competing smartphones, may be convincing RIM to make itself more of a wireless communications service than a PDA provider. Palm is an excellent example of what can happen if you hold on too long to your own OS and not extend yourself when competition (Windows CE/Mobile) arrived.

    PDAs and phone functionality were blending fast before the iPhone was announced. Although it's still vaporware by definition, the iPhone's introduction is changing the competitive landscape. It's in RIM's interests if they can made any of their services with any phone, although the use of Berries would likely be preferable.

    • Re:iPhone Connection? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by JacksBrokenCode (921041) on Tuesday April 24 2007, @11:59AM (#18856225)

      PDAs and phone functionality were blending fast before the iPhone was announced. Although it's still vaporware by definition, the iPhone's introduction is changing the competitive landscape.

      I agree that the traditional definitions of PDAs and Phones are homogenizing for many consumers, but can you please explain how this process is being accelerated in any way by the iPhone? From the specs that have been announced so far, there is nothing incredibly novel or revolutionary about the iPhone from the perspective of people currently using smartphones having features that iPhone may (email) or may-not (3rd party apps) have.

      The 2 key features that aren't found on currently existing phones are the Visual Voicemail feature and the Multitouch screen. As somebody who hates clearing voicemails, I very much like the Visual Voicemail idea concept but it's not exactly revolutionary. In other words, it's certainly cool but its absence doesn't obsolesce other units. Same thing goes for the Multitouch which, until I personally experience otherwise, is just a gimmick.

      iPhone will let you play music (like Verizon's Chocolate), watch video (like Motorola's Q), use email/internet (like any BlackBerry/Treo), view pictures (everybody can already do this and nobody does), install custom apps (wait, iPhone can't). iPhone isn't even the first unit to wrap all those features in 1 package, I'm just listing separate models to illustrate the diversity in the marketplace. Bottom line: iPhone isn't changing any landscape, it's simply bringing Apple's style and flair to the current landscape that was established by Palm and RIM.

      RIM opening BES connectivity to other hardware is certainly a good thing, but comparing the currently promised iPhone to BlackBerries/Treos/any-other-true-smartphones is simply naive.

  • Microsoft to RIM (Score:3, Funny)

    by mkiwi (585287) on Tuesday April 24 2007, @11:31AM (#18855733)
    Microsoft: We're worried about this iPhone thing eventually getting into the business marketplace.
    RIM: We understand, but we don't think it's a big deal right...
    Microsoft: Do you want us to give you the chair?
    RIM: No sir.

  • Covering all the bases (Score:4, Funny)

    by suckmysav (763172) <suckmysav&gmail,com> on Tuesday April 24 2007, @11:54AM (#18856159) Journal
    Cool,

    First they offer us the Blackberry without the network, now they offer us the network without the Blackberry. What next? No network and no Blackberry?

    Hey, I've already got that upgrade!

  • IMAP IDLE (Score:3, Informative)

    by nanosquid (1074949) on Wednesday April 25 2007, @12:29AM (#18865931)
    I don't see why you need anything from Blackberry; many E-mail clients and servers support IMAP IDLE, which gives you the equivalent of push email.

    • Re:Only MS? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dave420 (699308) on Tuesday April 24 2007, @10:32AM (#18854895)
      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.

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