I don’t necessarily want to be connected 24/7. Indeed, I necessarily do not want to be. That said, this news about RIM/Blackberry and the Treo 650 is good news.
Weeks after announcing plans to ship the BlackBerry software with a forthcoming phone from Nokia (Profile, Products, Articles), Research In Motion (RIM) is expected to announce Monday that Palm will install the push e-mail software on the Treo 650 starting early next year.
RIM has had a licensing program called BlackBerry Connect in place for two years, but most of the customers for that program have come in Europe and Asia-Pacific, said Mark Guibert, vice president of corporate marketing with RIM. The company is now hitching its wagon to Palm’s Treo 650, which is one of the hottest selling smart phones or wireless personal digital assistants in the U.S.
Palm will implement the BlackBerry software alongside its Versamail e-mail client in order to keep a familiar look-and-feel in place for Palm OS users, said Joe Fabris, director of wireless marketing for Palm. Treo 650s with the BlackBerry software will be able to access e-mail delivered by Microsoft’s Exchange or IBM’s Lotus Domino e-mail servers.
While I can access my company mail via my Treo, it is slow and laborious. Having the capability, when offline and when I need it, to have better access to company e-mail, would be a Good Thing. Especially since the company already has a RIM infrastrcture in place hooked to our Exchange boxes.