palmOne Will Not Offer RIM Software

Posted By: Ryan on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 9:59:44 AM

palmOne will not offer users access to Research In Motion BlackBerry wireless e-mail service for the foreseeable future, according to CEO Todd Bradley in a recent interview.

According to the article, RIM will not be integrated or included with a palmOne branded device anytime soon. PalmSource has recently announced a relationship with RIM to make the BlackBerry Connect solution available to Palm OS licensees.

RIM has traditionally offered its e-mail service through their own devices, but has recently made similar licensing deals with Nokia and Symbian. palmOne partners with RIM's competitors Visto and Good Technology for enterprise email solutions.

The main factor behind the Bradley's decision is a patent lawsuit brought on by NTP Inc. Nokia recently decided not to begin offer RIM software on a Nokia handset because of a patent lawsuit brought against the company in the US. NTP holds a number of US patents on wireless email systems and claims RIM is infringing on a number of them. The case was first brought up in late 2001 and is expected to go to trial before the end of the year.

More Stories Like This...

Palm Announces New Corporate Environment Philosophy
Treo Pro Available for Pre-Order in the UK
Treo Pro Manufactured by HTC
Initial Treo Pro Hands on Reports
Palm Announces the Treo Pro
The NYT on the Treo Pro and Palm's Revival
More articles about Palm

Permalink | + Bookmark & Share

Article Comments
10 total comments

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PIC is not responsible for them in any way.
login or register for free in order to post comments.

Any idea if PalmSource or RIM will got it alone?

dulinor @ 3/16/2004 2:28:15 PM #

I use Visto all the time, but my company can't be alone in having server-side support only for RIM stuff. They take a not-unreasonable view that they can't support every single device. So, if I want to avoid the issues with the client reflector solutions (machine crashed, no email for rest of business trip, etc.) I have to use a blackberry. I'd use any software stack that could interface with our corporate RIM install.

So no BB client for Treo 600 soon...

gfunkmagic @ 3/16/2004 7:19:56 PM #

That's too bad. A PalmOS BB client on a Treo 600 would have been a dynomite combo imo. I guess we'll have to wait a while longer to see that happen...

I support http://Tapland.com/

--------------------
GNM

RE: So no BB client for Treo 600 soon...

sempai @ 3/17/2004 12:08:48 AM #

Who cares?

RIM is slipping behind the times and more and more people are using Good software on their Blackberry devices. Good also supports the Treo 600, so is it really a big loss that RIM's own client doesn't work on one?

I mean, come on!

http://www.good.com/ <-- Good Technology
http://web-g.kontiki.com/zodiac/servlet/zodiac/template/pub,install,GetIt.vm/moid/0bfd7711-8591-62b0-27dd-4022a3b2367c/m/57c2b2e7-8642-5119-d4a2-2b9156160332/kget/urn:kid:good:moid:0bfd7711-8591-62b0-27dd-4022a3b2367c

Goodlink and the Treo 600 movies.

slacker!

RE: So no BB client for Treo 600 soon...

louisw @ 3/17/2004 10:32:29 AM #

The issue is that many large companies only support BlackBerry for corporate email. So if I cannot get my corporate email on my Treo 600 but if I got a Blackberry I could.

RE: So no BB client for Treo 600 soon...

sempai @ 3/17/2004 12:12:13 PM #

Good is fully compatible with Blackberry.

You can attach a Good device to your BES with little to no difficulty. Don't tell me some song and dance about how you MUST use Blackberry software.

You don't have to do that. There are many of us using Good on Blackberry and Treo 600's and talking to our corporate email server.

slacker!

RE: So no BB client for Treo 600 soon...

sub_tex @ 3/17/2004 1:52:22 PM #

how do you get Good to hook into BB?

RE: So no BB client for Treo 600 soon...

louisw @ 3/17/2004 2:31:53 PM #

Good doesn't support Lotus Notes

RE: So no BB client for Treo 600 soon...

dulinor @ 3/17/2004 7:39:34 PM #

"Good is fully compatible with the blackberry" - that's news to me. Reference anywhere? All I can find on their site is a form that offers to email your IT department. Great, that's very helpful, thanks.

I'm willing to believe it's feature complete with the RIM solution, but if it needs the IT department to do more than tell me, under torture, the dns name of the blackberry server it's not going to happen.

RE: So no BB client for Treo 600 soon...

scstraus2 @ 3/18/2004 11:14:30 AM #

I think this bites. Especially the lame reasons given by palm. My company uses blackberry and that's what I want. I don't feel like fighting with MIS to try good. It is one of the main reasons I got a treo 600, because I heard this was having. Currently I feel like I'm constantly fighting with VPN and GPRS. For instance my VPN client just stopped working after I got a new SIM card. Now it says there's a firewall. So my email doesn't work. I need blackberry.

As for the good thing. The way I understood this is that Blackberry handhelds work with the Goodlink server (via a compatibility layer), not vice versa. If anyone has a concrete confirmation that the Good client for Treo works with a Blackberry enterprise server, please let us know. This is something many of us are desparately waiting for.

RE: So no BB client for Treo 600 soon...

HFranks @ 3/19/2004 9:55:08 AM #

I currently carry a blackberry phone (one of the newer blueberries) and a Palm T3. I was hoping to purchase the first Colbalt Treo with Blackberry software so I could consolidate into one device. Hopefully PalmOne will reconsider or PalmSource will make it a software only program that can be purchased and loaded on a compatible machine. I'm like the rest of the people here. My firm uses Blackberry server as the ONLY mobile e-mail platform. I can't move mountains. It is easier to move to a Pocket PC device if they offer the combination.

Palm Software on sale