Posted on September 4, 2008, at 7:31 AM .
A quiet BlackBerry Internet Service upgrade has been rolled out that according to many is resulting in much quicker e-mail delivery over IMAP. Traditionally, only those on BlackBerry Enterprise Server would get their e-mail pushed to their handset instantly, and BIS users had to wait 10-15 minutes for delivery. Now anyone getting their BIS e-mail via servers that support IMAP IDLE will receive messages in real-time as the standard was designed to provide. It’s great to see the upgrade, especially for BIS users who have had less-than-stellar delivery times, but you have to wonder why it took so long for IMAP IDLE to be supported.
(via BlackBerry News)
Posted on July 11, 2008, at 8:19 AM .
While Live Messenger was only available on certain carriers earlier when the BlackBerry Instant Messaging Clients review was underway, it just recently opened up and is available for free download. All the usual goodies are there, like smileys and status messages, but it looks like this launch is also being accompanied by a Live Hotmail app as well, offering free push e-mail from your Hotmail inbox.
(via Pinstack)
Posted on May 12, 2008, at 2:37 PM .
As if RIM wasn’t getting cuddly enough with Apple via iTunes support in the Bold, they’re also making nice with Microsoft by giving Hotmail push capabilities and supporting Live Messenger. The only other company to get the red carpet rolled out like that so far has been Google, and to a lesser extent Yahoo!, but clearly RIM’s willing to work with just about any of the big players. Expect this to go live come summertime. Thanks, BBSync!
Posted on November 30, 2007, at 8:53 AM .
Neil has been on an editorial rampage lately, taking shots at how short-lived push technology will be. As BlackBerry enthusiasts, we’re prone to automatically take push as a good thing, mainly since it’s one of the few bragging rights we can keep over other devices. Neil’s biggest reasons for wailing on push is that, while it’s good now, it’s too much upkeep on the server end of things, becoming a bigger and bigger strain on RIM’s infrastructure. The blackouts this year just go to show the downside of all that traffic. As millions more users come to hammer the hardware for their e-mail and device battery life improves, it will become more viable to query mail servers from handsets, rather than the other way around.
Let’s be fair – BIS users without e-mail forwarding are basically getting pull e-mail, so the BlackBerry isn’t a complete stranger to the horrific idea of having to wait 15 minutes to see if you’ve got anything new in your inbox. It’s just that the instantaneous delivery is what makes your typical twitchy-thumbed BlackBerry user, since they know that if they have mail at any given microsecond, it will be there on their handheld. After spending so long with push, it’s hard to raise a hand against it, but Neil brings up some good points, so this week we’re asking: is push technology a viable long-term approach for BlackBerry? I know, it seems ridiculous to ask, since the two are nearly synonymous, but it’s worth weighting the options. The top three comments which explore why BlackBerrys use push, and best explain the reasons they should or shouldn’t will each get a copy of Ascendo DataVault.
Last week’s winner behind the jump…
Posted on June 26, 2007, at 9:04 AM .
So long as we’re talking about BlackBerry alternatives, Motorola’s recently-acquired Good Technology Group has included security and management functions with the latest version of their mobile e-mail app, Good Mobile messaging 5. This includes implementing IT policies (such as restricting and allowing software on mobiles), locking devices, and encrypted e-mail support. The software is only working on Palm and Windows Mobile right now since BlackBerry already has push e-mail, but a stand-alone IT security suite on BlackBerry could sell, if Motorola were so inclined.
Full IT features behind the jump.
