BlackBerry Milan and Colt canceled

RIM may be trying to get us all excited about BlackBerry OS 10, but when reports appear that the company is canceling smartphones set to run it, it doesn’t exactly fill us with confidence regarding an expedited arrival.

According to BGR.com, “not only has the Colt been canned, but the Milan has too”.

The Colt was all set to be the first phone to use the next generation of BlackBerry software, OS 10, and actually initially appeared when that software was still expected to be named after the QNX platform found on the PlayBook. With a single-core 1Ghz processor rumored, and presumably yet another Curve/Bold lookalike design, it never sounded the most inspirational phone on which to launch a new platform.

The Milan, on the other hand, has been revealed as a BlackBerry OS 7 phone rather than one waiting for BlackBerry OS 10. Apparently, it was too close in design to the existing BlackBerry Torch.

The cull leaves the London as the only phone we currently have any knowledge of that’s set to run BlackBerry OS 10. Revealed in November, the London shares some design similarities with the Porsche Design BlackBerry P’9981, but shuns the QWERTY in favor of a full touchscreen. Rumored specs include a dual-core 1Ghz processor, an 8-megapixel camera and a screen measuring 4-inches.

BlackBerry OS 10 is set to make an appearance at Mobile World Congress at the end of February.

BBM Canada sues RIM for BBM trademark

Research In Motion, the BlackBerry maker has received more bad news - this time on the legal front. RIM may have to spend more money trying to ward off yet another trademark dispute.

Indeed, even as RIM is reeling from the forced name change of its next-generation operating system from BBX to BlackBerry 10, a Canadian company has taken issue with the name of its long-popular instant-messaging platform.

BlackBerry Messenger has been a RIM favorite, allowing BlackBerry users to send each other text messages and pictures through the RIM network and get delivery and read confirmation. Many users just call the service BBM for short, but BBM Canada is looking to Canadian federal court for a remedy.

BBM Canada Willing to Deal:
BBM Canada, a company somewhat like Nielsen in that it measures radio and television audiences, plans to argue its case against RIM in February. Jim MacLeod, BBM's CEO, said he wants RIM to stop advertising the BBM name. But MacLeod also suggested he would be willing to change BBM Canada name - for a price.

"We have to be practical, they operate worldwide, we don't. But we're not prepared to just walk from our name," said MacLeod. "I'm sure to a really big company this looks like relatively small numbers, but to us it's a big deal. It's a trademark they don't even own, it's ours."

The timing is noteworthy. BlackBerry has been offering BBM for many years, but recently made a big splash in the RIM world when it rolled out BBM Music. BBM Music is a cloud-based music service for BlackBerry users.

US court bars RIM from using BBX trademark

Software company Basis International Ltd said a U.S. federal court in Albuquerque has granted a temporary restraining order against Research in Motion, barring the BlackBerry maker from using Basis' BBX trademark.

The court decision bars RIM from using the BBX trademark at its Asian DevCon conference on December 7-8 in Singapore.

However, RIM appeared to backtrack on using the trademark.

"RIM doesn't typically comment on pending litigation, however RIM has already unveiled a new brand name for its next generation mobile platform. As announced at DevCon Asia, RIM plans to use the 'BlackBerry 10' brand name for its next generation mobile platform," RIM said in a statement.

BBX, the operating system that Research In Motion is counting on to revive its BlackBerry franchise, has run into trouble even before the company could install the system in its smartphone line.

Albuquerque-based Basis International claims the "BBX" name is protected by trademarks it holds and had earlier threatened to take legal action against RIM unless it stopped using the moniker.

Basis said RIM had refused requests to stop using the moniker at the DevCon conference, which resulted in the company filing for the temporary restraining order.

RIM devalues Playbook Inventory by $485 Million

Research In Motion said that it will record a $485 million charge on the inventory valuation of the company's BlackBerry PlayBook tablets when it reports results for its third business quarter later this month. "A number of factors have led to the need for an inventory provision in the third quarter," said RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.

However, RIM has no intention of emulating HP, which quickly sold off its remaining TouchPad tablet inventory and abandoned the market last August. The BlackBerry maker's goal is to dramatically increase the number of PlayBooks in the hands of more customers by cutting prices.

The PlayBook inventory write-down is merely the first page in RIM's new playbook for more effectively competing with lower-priced tablet models such as Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire and the new $249 Nook Tablet from Barnes & Noble. RIM is also aware that delays in the release of the new PlayBook OS 2.0 software featuring more advanced capabilities has hindered the BlackBerry tablet's immediate sales prospects at the old price.

Lazaridis said RIM remained committed to the PlayBook platform and believed the tablet market was still in its infancy.

"We believe the PlayBook, which will be further enhanced with the upcoming PlayBook OS 2.0 software, is a compelling tablet for consumers that also offers unique security and manageability features for the enterprise," Lazaridis said.

By reducing the PlayBook's retail price, RIM hopes to drive the development of a vibrant application ecosystem in advance of the launch of its upgraded BlackBerry smartphones. However, the PlayBook's sales prospects - even at sharply reduced prices - are limited because of the relatively few applications and multimedia entertainment options available for the current PlayBook platform.

Even with the special promotions, RIM said that it only sold 150,000 PlayBook units to retailers and distributors during the business quarter which ended on Nov. 26. On the other hand, RIM said its own internal numbers indicate that the actual sell-through to consumers was even higher as distributors presumably moved to clear their store shelves.

Still, it remains unclear whether RIM's new PlayBook strategy will put into play enough units to encourage software developers to create more apps for the company's PlayBook OS 2.0 platform, which is expected to launch in February.

RIM downgraded as $200 PlayBook vanishes

Last week, Research in Motion cut the price on its low-end PlayBook tablet to just $200 for a limited time in an effort to woo Thanksgiving holiday shoppers to the device just as competitors like the Barnes & Noble Nook tablet and Kindle Fire went on sale. However, just as quickly as the $200 PlayBook appeared, it seems to be vanishing: retailers appear to be in the process of removing the $200 PlayBook devices from their online catalogs, and some Best Buy customers have reported their orders for the $200 tablets have been cancelled.

Complaints in Best Buy customer forums were first reported by Electronista. Quick checks of other retailers that had previously been offering the $200 tablets (Staples, Office Depot, Walmart, and RadioShack) finds the only $200 tablets listed as available are refurbished models.

The move could indicate that RIM’s idea of “a limited time only” was indeed just a period of a few days surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday, or that the $200 promotional price proved popular with consumers, even as the Kindle Fire hit the streets. Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu notes the company is facing serious competition from the likes of Samsung, Apple, Amazon, and HTC, and that significant service outages in October have damaged RIM with its bread-and-butter enterprise and government customers.

RIM offers free apps to BlackBerry customers

Canada's Research In Motion Ltd will offer free premium apps worth more than $100 to appease BlackBerry customers frustrated by service disruption last week which ran for days and affected millions.

Research In Motion said the complete selection of premium apps would become available to download at BlackBerry App World for four weeks beginning October 19.

Enterprise customers will also be offered one month of free technical support as an apology for the outage.

The offering, to compensate for a system failure that left tens of millions of Blackberry users on five continents without email, instant messaging and browsing, could be expensive for RIM and it remains to be seen how many customers will see the offer as an acceptable response.

Analysts have said the company faces a wider problem from the damage to its reputation and loss of corporate customers who no longer think they can rely on the device.

"We've worked hard to earn their (customers') trust over the past 12 years and we're committed to providing the high standard of reliability they expect," said RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.

"We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again."

RIM co-CEOs Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie apologized last week to millions of Blackberry customers for the four-day outage which tarnished the company's reputation and set back its drive to catch up with the likes of Apple Inc and its iPhone.

Some mobile operators such as Spanish group Telefonica SA have already said they will compensate customers, although analysts believe they will also be looking at whether they can pass on some of those costs to RIM.

The apps include games such as Bejeweled, a translation service and the music discovery tool Shazam.

Francisco Jeronimo at IDC said the decision was a clever move by RIM because it would help customers to discover the app service. He said the company was likely to have struck a deal with app developers to keep the cost down.

"More important than the offer itself, is that RIM is showing goodwill and being humble. They recognized the problem, apologized and now they are compensating their users."

Wealth managers prefer Apple over RIM

Wealth managers prefer using Apple products for business rather than Research in Motion's BlackBerry devices, a survey by Aite Group showed.

Of 402 financial advisers polled, 45 percent said they would choose an Apple iPhone or iPad, while 14 percent would pick a BlackBerry.

The research firm, which focuses on financial services, conducted the survey in March, well before the recent RIM outage which left large pockets of BlackBerry users around the world without access to email and other functions.

The study found that using mobile devices was increasingly important to advisers, many of whom service clients with hand-held devices who have access to online brokerage services.

Nearly half the advisers surveyed said having access to business applications was an "important" or "very important" part of their technology strategy for 2011.

RIM committed to PlayBook

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) dismissed a report that it was pulling the plug on its PlayBook tablet computer.

Major US retailers, meanwhile, slashed the price of the PlayBook by up to $200. The move comes a day after Amazon unveiled a tablet rival with a $199 price tag.

RIM stressed its commitment to the PlayBook after Collins Stewart analyst John Vihn said the Canadian company has stopped production of the device.

"Any suggestion that the BlackBerry PlayBook is being discontinued is pure fiction," RIM said. "RIM remains highly committed to the tablet market."

Sales of the PlayBook have been sluggish since the device went on sale in mid-April with a $499 price tag for the 16-gigabyte model, $599 for the 32GB version and $699 for the 64GB model.

Best Buy, Staples and Office Max were offering the PlayBook for $299, $399 and $499 on Thursday. Office Depot was selling the device for $100 off.

The PlayBook was still being offered for its original price at RIM's online store and through US carrier Sprint.

Amazon unveiled a tablet computer, the Kindle Fire, on Wednesday which costs $199, less than half the price of the market-leading iPad from Apple.

The cheapest iPad costs $499.

RIM unveils BBM Music service

Of late, there’s been a bit of chatter about it, and now Research In Motion (RIM) has confirmed details of what it’s calling its “music sharing and discovery service.”

Called BBM Music (BlackBerry Messenger Music), the cloud-based music service will cost users $4.99 a month and enable subscribers to share songs through the BlackBerry instant messaging service.

Details of BBM Music were released yesterday in a statement issued by the Ontario-based company. Users can choose from millions of songs from leading record companies such as Universal, Sony Music, Warner and EMI.

The statement explains that should you sign up, you’ll be able to build a personal music profile with 50 of your top tracks. When your BBM friends sign up, they can join your BBM Music Community. Up to 50 tracks from your personal profile are then shared with members of your community. The more friends in your community, the bigger your music collection becomes, as their favorites are available for you to listen to at any time.

Users can easily discover music that their BBM Music friends are listening to and can also comment on their friends’ songs and playlists.

“Enjoy a truly social community-based music experience,” the statement implores.

A closed beta trial of the BBM Music service begins Thursday in Canada, the US and the UK.

RIM is planning for the new service to be commercially available to BlackBerry users later this year for a monthly subscription of US$4.99, in the following countries: Australia, Canada, Columbia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, the UK and the US.

RIM brings New BlackBerry Curve - 9350, 9360, 9370

RIM has announced the availability of the new, refreshed BlackBerry Curve, which sports a thin, 0.43 inch frame and BlackBerry 7 functionality under the hood.

It has a 2.44 inch, 480x360 pixel screen, an 800 MHz CPU, 512 MB of RAM, and a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and VGA video recording functionality. It also sports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and the fabled NFC which is slowly turning into a standard for new smartphones.

The device comes in three version numbers - 9350, 9360 and 9370 - with the difference being connectivity: the 9350 is CDMA-only, 9360 supports GSM and UMTS while 9370 supports both GSM and CDMA.

The new BlackBerry Curve will be available from carriers in Canada this month and from other carriers around the world starting September.

RIM launches new BlackBerry Torch smart phones

Research In Motion has unveiled two new and powerful versions of its touchscreen BlackBerry Torch, including an all-touch model, as it seeks to regain ground lost to Apple and Google.

The new phones, along with an upgrade to its Bold model shown earlier, are part of what the Canadian company called the biggest global launch in its history as it seeks to claw back North American market share from Apple's iPhone and a slew of devices running on Google's Android software.

The refreshed lineup is designed to buy RIM time until it introduces a radically new software package for its smartphones next year.

RIM is slashing 2,000 jobs from its global workforce to reduce costs and streamline operations after posting a fall in profit and a dismal earnings outlook in its last quarterly report.

The three touchscreen phones, running on the new BlackBerry OS 7, boast improved screen displays and pack a 1.2 GHz processor from Qualcomm, the most powerful ever for a BlackBerry phone. They also have a dedicated graphics processor that should make video and gaming sharper and more responsive.

The browser is 40 percent faster than the original Torch, RIM's last major phone launch, which hit shelves almost a year ago.

All three devices will be launched by carriers around the world by the end of August, RIM said. The slider Torch will be exclusive to AT&T in the United States, the carrier said.

The all-touch Torch is RIM's first attempt at the popular style since two versions of its Storm model failed to excite.

RIM reveals 3 new BlackBerry touch phones

BlackBerry maker, RIM has revealed more about its BlackBerry 7 OS and given us a good look at the first three phones that will run on the new operating system: the BlackBerry Bold 9900, the BlackBerry Torch 9810, and the BlackBerry Torch 9850. The phones are using a new interface modeled after RIM’s BlackBerry Tablet OS, which RIM hopes will help it better compete with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android phones.

BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930:
The Bold 9900 was unveiled back in May. Following the traditional design of the Bold line, the 9900 has a 2.8-inch 640×480 (VGA) screen with a full QWERTY keyboard in tow. The device has a 1.2GHz processor, 8GB of onboard storage and a MicroSD card slot if you want more. The rear camera is 5MP (no front camera) and it can record 720p video. We also know from the unveiling that the phone will include a NFC chip, which means it could be used as a wireless credit card, assuming RIM has a plan to utilize this technology on a broad scale. The phone will support 3G on Sprint and AT&T.

BlackBerry Torch 9810:
Following the Torch, which came with BB OS6 last year, the Torch 9810 has a 3.2-inch “high resolution” touchscreen, a 5MP rear camera with autofocus and “HD” video recording, and a vertical slide-out QWERTY keyboard. RIM has improved the processing speed of the new Torch, up from 600MHz to 1.2GHz, likely responding to complaints that the last one was rather sluggish.

BlackBerry Torch 9850/9860
The Torch 9850 is the first decent looking fully-touch phone from RIM. The phone has a 3.7-inch screen, which is the largest of any BlackBerry smartphone, but relatively small compared to the 4.3-inch Android phones that dominate the market. The phone comes with Liquid Graphics technology, which supposedly means that the screen will be more responsive, a 1.2GHz processor, and 4GB of internal storage with a MicroSD slot if you need it. Like the other models, it will have a 5MP rear camera with autofocus, but doesn’t appear to have a front-facing camera.
BlackBerry 7 OS:
RIM claims that BlackBerry 7 will redefine the platform, offering much better web browsing and 40 percent better performance than BlackBerry 6 smartphones. However, it doesn’t, however, mention if the phone will utilize gestures in the fluid and intuitive way that the BlackBerry PlayBook does.

BlackBerry unveils Thinnest Smartphones

Research in Motion has unveiled two new BlackBerry Bold smartphones and BlackBerry 7 OS, in addition to announcing new Facebook and video chat apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones look like the most competitive offerings RIM has had in years. RIM has upgraded the aging processor on existing Torch and Bold phones to 1.2 Ghz, added 8 GB of onboard memory, support for 720p HD video recording and support for 4G HSPA+ networks.

The 9900 and 9930 phones are also the thinnest BlackBerry smartphones yet - each measuring just 10.5mm thick. RIM has also added bells and whistles like dual-band Wi-Fi, NFC support, and the classic BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard in addition to a touch LCD screen.

This is the most competitive offering that RIM has produced since 2008. The design, while still classic BlackBerry, is thinner than in the past and the processor and onboard memory requirements are no longer embarrassingly passe.

As for the new BlackBerry 7 OS, RIM says that it features a better browser (with better HTML5 support), the ability to keep personal and corporate content separate and built-in productivity apps.
Sight unseen, we're still not convinced RIM can compete against the latest crop of Android and Windows Phone devices -- not to mention the next iPhone. Still, the newest BlackBerry Bold at least looks like a step in the right direction.

According to RIM, BlackBerry 9900 and 9930 will be available later this summer.

RIM brings Angry Birds to PlayBook

The widely popular mobile game Angry Birds will be available soon on Research In Motion's PlayBook tablet, the company said.

The game, which features birds destroying the pigs which stole their eggs with the help of a slingshot, is developed by Rovio, which plans to list on the Nasdaq within five years.

RIM PlayBook hits market with an app deficit

Research In Motion’s PlayBook is starting off with a definite apps deficit as it hits the market Tuesday. It will only have 3,000 apps vs. the hundreds of thousands available for the iPad from Apple. Omar El Akkad reports in The Globe and Mail: “Apple’s iPad can make use of the hundreds of thousands of apps built for the smaller iPhone. But PlayBook owners won’t be able to use even the much smaller number of BlackBerry apps until RIM has a fix ready this summer.” He said RIM will enable PlayBook users to run apps designed for competing tablets from Google’s Android operating system this summer. “The move means an infusion of tens of thousands of apps for the PlayBook,” he said. Farhad Manjoo points out other issues in Slate: “Reviewers who have gotten early access to the PlayBook have been almost universally puzzled by how half-baked it is. In its current form, the PlayBook doesn't include any apps to access your email, calendar and address book. To get those things, you've got to have a BlackBerry phone, too.” He describes this approach as nothing less than insane and a sign of a company “circling the drain.” He said RIM’s co-CEOs have been “comically incoherent about their plans for the future” as its share of the smartphone market has been gobbled. RIM, based in Waterloo, Canada, seems to have taken on a bunker mentality. They’re not feeling the love. Mike Lazaridis, “the brain behind the BlackBerry,” is taking a leaf from the boys over at South Park who sang in the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut: “Blame Canada.” El Akkad said: “Lazaridis is proud of his role in turning this – RIM, the city of Waterloo, the university, the institutes – into a hotbed of innovation. But he is bothered, too, because he believes people don’t understand how much all of this is really worth. “Maybe we’re just not good at promoting ourselves. Maybe that’s the Canadian way.” He said that he and fellow CEO, Jim Balsillie, perhaps should have moved the company to Silicon Valley instead of remaining “loyal patriots” to the Great White North. PlayBook will show whether RIM has a second act in its playbook following its success with BlackBerry in the corporate and government markets, and whether it can penetrate a consumer market created by and dominated by Apple. El Akkad said, “It’s an audacious strategy. If it succeeds, RIM just might regain the ground it has lost in the smartphone market, while finding new sources of revenue. But if the strategy fails, then arguably so does RIM. At the very least, it would relegate it to No. 3 status for a long time to come, a poor cousin to Apple and Google – two companies that five years ago were not even in RIM’s business of wireless communications.”

RIM PlayBook gets 7digital music store

Blackberry-maker Research In Motion will release its long-awaited PlayBook tablet computer with Britain's 7digital music store.

The music store of 7digital, half-owned by HMV, which has some 13 million tracks, will be pre-installed on the tablet at its launch in the United States and Canada, with further international roll out in 2011.

The PlayBook, set for launch in March, was first announced in September last year, and will now join a booming market dominated by Apple's iPad and compete for attention with tablets from the likes of Samsung, Motorola Mobility and Hewlett-Packard.

RIM to find new marketing chief

The head of marketing for Research In Motion will leave the company in six months, raising questions about BlackBerry branding as the smartphone maker gets set to launch its long-awaited PlayBook tablet.

Keith Pardy, who joined the Canadian technology company in December 2009, decided to leave for personal reasons. He will stay with the company for the next six months to help with transition.

His surprise resignation comes weeks before the expected launch of RIM's PlayBook - almost a year after the introduction of Apple's iPad tablet. The RIM offering will also have to compete against devices powered by Google's Android platform.

The appeal of the BlackBerry brand - once equal with Apple's - has withered under Pardy's stewardship, according to a January ranking from Brand Keys consultancy.

"The brand's been losing resonance over the past few years. It does not have the brand cachet to engage consumers the way an iPhone does," Brand Keys president Robert Passikoff said.

RIM has sought to keep PlayBook in the minds of consumers and business customers with a drip feed of announcements and trade show appearances since first lifting the covers on the tablet in September. The company has yet to announce when it will ship or give details of its pricing.

In contrast, Apple founder Steve Jobs received a standing ovation when he announced the iPad 2. The product will ship later this month, possibly ahead of the PlayBook.

But Pardy's imminent departure may not have much impact on the immediate success of the PlayBook when it finally launches, said Rhoda Alexander, an analyst at market research firm IHS iSuppli.

"Hopefully, when you're weeks away from product release, you've laid most of the groundwork for the marketing efforts," she said. "Others can execute the groundwork that's been laid out."

Keith Pardy has long experience in consumer marketing. Prior to joining RIM, he worked for 17 years in marketing at Coca-Cola before joining Nokia in 2004.

RIM unveils the BlackBerry PlayBook

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is taking on iPad in the table computer game with a "PlayBook" aimed to capitalize on its strength.

RIM is calling its 7-inch, camera-packing tablet the BlackBerry PlayBook. CEO, Mike Lazaridis showed off the long-rumored device during the keynote of RIM’s BlackBerry developer conference in San Francisco.

RIM says its new tablet will arrive in the U.S. in early 2011, and in overseas markets in the second quarter of next year.

Expectations are a 0.9-pound tablet that’s 9.7 mm (or 0.4 inch) thick, complete with a pair of cameras: a 5-megapixel camera in the back, and a 3MP lens in front, both capable of recording HD video.

The 7 inch display - the same size as that on the just-announced Samsung Galaxy Tab - will boast a resolution of 1024 by 600, and it’s a capacitive multitouch display, good for such multi-finger gestures as punching and zooming.

The "no-compromises" PlayBook will run on a new tablet OS designed by QNX Software Systems which RIM acquired back in April, and it’ll be powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor, complete with a whopping 1GB of onboard RAM. The PlayBook will also support multitasking and Flash as well as multimedia-friendly HTML5 Web standards.

The PlayBook will arrive with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, with both 3G and 4G versions coming "in the future”. The PlayBook will also connect to a nearby BlackBerry via Bluetooth for viewing e-mail, calendar, to-do items or contacts - meaning that you’ll be able to tap out messages on the PlayBook and fire them off from your handheld BlackBerry.

We can also expect "nonproprietary" microUSB and micro-HDMI ports, with the PlayBook capable of outputting full-on 1080p video via HDMI, RIM says.

A slick promo video for the PlayBook shows features such as tabbed browsing, an app task bar, threaded messaging, on-the-Web YouTube video, and tablet-sized e-mail and event interfaces - all very iPad-like, with the added twist of the PlayBook acting as a BlackBerry companion in addition to a stand-alone slate.

But we’ll have to wait for more details on the BlackBerry PlayBook until the tablet’s launch date which is un-announced yet.

RIM Tablet to be announced next week

Sources familiar to RIM's plans, claim the BlackBerry maker could show the world its tablet as early as next week, at a developers' conference in San Francisco.

The internal name for the tablet is BlackPad; it will have a 7-inch touch screen, one or two cameras, Bluetooth and broadband connections, and it's scheduled for a launch in the fourth quarter of the year. Interestingly enough, WSJ's sources claim the device will only be able to connect to mobile networks through a BlackBerry.

As far as the OS goes - and this is the most interesting bit - the same sources claim RIM will use a new platform built by QNX, an OS maker RIM bought earlier this year, instead of BlackBerry OS. Furthermore, BlackBerry is supposed to eventually move the BlackBerry to this new platform, too.

That's quite a bit of info from the Wall Street Journal, and although RIM did not confirm or deny any of it, it paints an interesting picture for the BlackBerry maker. RIM has slowly been losing ground to iPhone and Android phones in the last year, and - if real - these moves show a determination to turn things around. If RIM's tablet really brings a taste of the new platform that all BlackBerries will share, it won't be just a competitor to iPad, it will be a major test of RIM's ability to keep up with the current trends on the market.

Microsoft Nokia alliance to rival RIM

Microsoft Corp and Nokia announced an alliance to bring business software to smartphones and counter the dominance of Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry.

The alliance between the world's largest software company and cell phone maker means the latest versions of Microsoft's Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and messaging, will be available on a range of Nokia cell phones, which make up 45 percent of the global smartphone market.

The two companies, at one time fierce rivals in the mobile telecommunications business, expect to offer Nokia phones running Office sometime next year.

"This is giving some of our competitors - let's spell it out, RIM - a run for their money," said Nokia Executive Vice President Robert Andersson, in a telephone interview. "I don't think BlackBerry has seen the kind of competition we can provide them now."

Research in Motion's BlackBerry created the market for mobile e-mail, and its dominant position in the corporate sector, especially in North America, has protected it from Nokia's attempts to crack the market in recent years.

"RIM should be reasonably safe in the near-term because Nokia's presence in the U.S. is relatively small. Partnering more closely with Microsoft will help to raise Nokia's profile in the U.S." said Neil Mawston from research firm Strategy Analytics.

The alliance also aims to counter Google Inc's recent move into free online software, targeted at Microsoft's business customers, and the growing popularity of Apple Inc's iPhone device.

"It's clear that Nokia and Microsoft are both facing competitive challenges, most notably from Google. It makes sense for these two companies to work together to see if they can pool their competitive strengths to try and counter some of this pressure", said John Jackson, an analyst at wireless research firm CCS Insight.

The alliance means Microsoft's new Office suite of applications could be available to a much wider audience than the users of Windows Mobile phones, which make up 9 percent of the smartphone market.

"We see this as a great opportunity to deliver Office Mobile to 200 million Nokia smartphone customers," said Takeshi Numoto, an executive at Microsoft's Office business.

Analysts said Microsoft is clearly looking at the largest possible audience with the Nokia deal.