Introduces BlackBerry Connect and BlackBerry Built-In
T-Mobile International and Research In Motion today announced plans to support a wider choice of devices with push-based BlackBerry email services. Through the introduction of BlackBerry Connect and BlackBerry Built-In, T-Mobile is extending the range of devices on which BlackBerry services are supported and available to business professionals in Europe.
Support for BlackBerry services will be initially introduced with T-Mobile’s popular organizer, the MDA II; and the rollout with other devices is expected to continue in early 2005 with T-Mobile’s MDA III, Sony Ericsson P910i, Siemens SK65 and Nokia 6820.
RIM’s BlackBerry Connect licensing programme enables mobile device manufacturers to equip their handsets with the integrated ability to connect to BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Internet Service.
With the BlackBerry Built-In licensing programme, mobile device manufacturers can incorporate various BlackBerry applications into their own devices including BlackBerry Email, BlackBerry Calendar and BlackBerry Browser applications. The first device to support BlackBerry Built-In is the Siemens SK65.
T-Mobile International will now be able to offer a much wider choice of devices to suit the preferences and user needs of different staff within the enterprise, all managed on the same robust BlackBerry mobile data infrastructure.
“A widening range of mobile professionals are recognising the productivity benefits of BlackBerry,” said Mark Guibert, Vice President, Corporate Marketing at RIM. “We are very pleased that T-Mobile International is broadening its BlackBerry offering with the introduction of BlackBerry Connect and BlackBerry Built In.”
André Stark, Head of Business Marketing, T-Mobile International comments: “The extension of the BlackBerry service to a much wider range of new and stylish mobile phone handsets allows T-Mobile to address the needs of a broader target group of mobile workers which can now have a much larger variety of handsets to choose from.”
Stark continued: “Both user groups, those with preference for a small and handy voice phone as well as mobile workers with need for a feature rich wireless device will have the freedom to choose the device of their preference from a larger choice of BlackBerry enabled handsets from T-Mobile.”
BlackBerry platforms for both corporate and personal email use are supported. For corporate customers, BlackBerry Enterprise Server software tightly integrates with Microsoft Exchange or IBM Lotus Domino to enable secure, push-based, wireless access to email and calendar. For individuals and smaller businesses, BlackBerry Internet Service allows users to access multiple personal and/or corporate email accounts (including many popular ISP email accounts as well as Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Domino accounts) from a single device.