#1 and 3: you are correct in there being 3rd party solutions out there, but as #2 notes, the key is making this feature a native part of all BlackBerry’s.

Many people don’t bother to search for and find 3rd party apps, and in many cases, corporations will not allow users to place such additional software on their BBs.

The easiest solution is simply for RIM to have this functionality preinstalled on all BB’s.

When the Apple iPhone hits, one feature that everyone will be talking about will be visual voicemail. In fact, it will be the most utilitarian feature of the entire phone; the rest of its enhanced features are pretty much for fun. If RIM or some other competitor doesn’t get on board with this feature, then I guarantee you that Apple will become the company known as the one that exclusively brought this feature to the mass market. It would then become a given in most people’s minds that the way to get this feature is to go to Apple.

The irony is that as noted, in 2005 RIM seemed to be moving in this direction. If they had executed on their plan, they would have had another huge feather in their cap. I wonder why? Perhaps carrier pressures? After all, carriers have stuck with the old voicemail system for one reason: it forces users to eat more minutes of airtime.

#1 and 3: you are correct in there being 3rd party solutions out there, but as #2 notes, the key is making this feature a native part of all BlackBerry’s.

Many people don’t bother to search for and find 3rd party apps, and in many cases, corporations will not allow users to place such additional software on their BBs.

The easiest solution is simply for RIM to have this functionality preinstalled on all BB’s.

When the Apple iPhone hits, one feature that everyone will be talking about will be visual voicemail. In fact, it will be the most utilitarian feature of the entire phone; the rest of its enhanced features are pretty much for fun. If RIM or some other competitor doesn’t get on board with this feature, then I guarantee you that Apple will become the company known as the one that exclusively brought this feature to the mass market. It would then become a given in most people’s minds that the way to get this feature is to go to Apple.

The irony is that as noted, in 2005 RIM seemed to be moving in this direction. If they had executed on their plan, they would have had another huge feather in their cap. I wonder why? Perhaps carrier pressures? After all, carriers have stuck with the old voicemail system for one reason: it forces users to eat more minutes of airtime.

#1 and 3: you are correct in there being 3rd party solutions out there, but as #2 notes, the key is making this feature a native part of all BlackBerry’s.

Many people don’t bother to search for and find 3rd party apps, and in many cases, corporations will not allow users to place such additional software on their BBs.

The easiest solution is simply for RIM to have this functionality preinstalled on all BB’s.

When the Apple iPhone hits, one feature that everyone will be talking about will be visual voicemail. In fact, it will be the most utilitarian feature of the entire phone; the rest of its enhanced features are pretty much for fun. If RIM or some other competitor doesn’t get on board with this feature, then I guarantee you that Apple will become the company known as the one that exclusively brought this feature to the mass market. It would then become a given in most people’s minds that the way to get this feature is to go to Apple.

The irony is that as noted, in 2005 RIM seemed to be moving in this direction. If they had executed on their plan, they would have had another huge feather in their cap. I wonder why? Perhaps carrier pressures? After all, carriers have stuck with the old voicemail system for one reason: it forces users to eat more minutes of airtime.

I’m running Simulsays on both a Pearl and an 8800 and it’s fantastic. Not only do I have random access to my voicemail on my display, I also have it working with a service called Simulscribe that automatically converts my voice messages to text so I can pick and choose my messages and read them without ever having to listen to them. I checked out the Simulsays website and it seems it only works on late model BlackBerrys.

I’m running Simulsays on both a Pearl and an 8800 and it’s fantastic. Not only do I have random access to my voicemail on my display, I also have it working with a service called Simulscribe that automatically converts my voice messages to text so I can pick and choose my messages and read them without ever having to listen to them. I checked out the Simulsays website and it seems it only works on late model BlackBerrys.