Back in July we reported that Nokia was keeping RIM’s lagging BlackBerry Connect service off future Nokia devices. Word had now come from Nokia’s Tom Furlong, head of Nokia Messaging, that RIM is taking matters into its own hands.
However, Furlong also left us with this little statement, ‘We are in the interim period of time when we have dropped support ourselves, and Blackberry is readying support for their service on Nokia devices‘, meaning that enterprise S60 lovers will (hopefully) soon be able to enjoy BlackBerry services on their Eseries (and hopefully others) once again.
While we don’t have any way yet of confirming this, it’s safe to assume that what Furlong is talking about RIM’s forthcoming BlackBerry Application Suite, which will surely drive the last nail in BB Connect’s coffin.
Wow, our boy Ronen is just killing it with all this BlackBerry Application Suite info right now. First screenshots, then video, and now a cheat sheet/features list.
Basic BlackBerry Application Suite Information
* Its a application that runs on Windows Mobile 6 devices
* It can startup when the device boots
* Features almost exactly the same as RIMs native OS including email & maps support
* Supports IT policies inside the application along with BlackBerry MDS
* It is based on OS 4.2.1 but that will change soon
* Navigation is through a Touchscreen, Dpad, or keyboard
* WM can connect to a separate APN, simultaneous APN connections are supported (You can connect to a carrier APN via WinMo and Blackberry APN via BAS) This is a HUGE improvement over BlackBerry connect.
There’s a bunch more information after the jump too! Make sure to check out the BlackBerry Application Suite’s Feature and Limitations list.
For those of you that thought yesterdays photos of a virtual BlackBerry OS running on a Windows Mobile HTC Touch Pro were fake, the video above should put you at ease. As someone that has been using the BlackBerry Storm for awhile, the concept of navigating the BlackBerry OS with a stylus doesn’t seem too weird. Of course, the whole WinMo thing makes me feel dizzier than Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo. Keep up the good work, Ronen!
Now isn’t this something interesting. Our boy Ronen over at BerryReview has snagged screenshots of a Windows Mobile HTC Touch Pro running a virtual BlackBerry OS. Apparently, RIM is calling this OS virtualization application the BlackBerry Application Suite, which contains BlackBerry OS 4.2 functionality with a OS 4.6 styling.
The BlackBerry Application suite is an obvious replacement to the oft-forgotten BlackBerry Connect service, but here’s the important question: how much more readily would you buy a non-BlackBerry device if it could run the BlackBerry OS?
