BlackBerry

Thursday, March 29th 2007 - 15:27 CEST - Comments: 0

B lackBerry is a wireless communications solution designed for mobile professionals and enterprises who want to quickly and easily manage their business and personal communications while on the move. BlackBerry is developed and manufactured by Research In Motion (RIM), and was launched in North America in January 1999. BlackBerry was first introduced to EMEA in September 2001. There are currently 8 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide. BlackBerry is number one in the global PDA space, with 19.8% of the market share according to Gartner analysts (February 2007). Research In Motion was recently included in a list, compiled by Business Week, of the 25 Most Innovative Companies in the world.

> Lowest retail prices for BlackBerry

 

BlackBerry - Wireless services

BlackBerry is an end-to-end wireless platform that, combined with a network operator's wireless data network, comprises advanced, lightweight devices, software and services to provide users with a wireless extension of all their communications needs. Wireless services include email, voice, SMS and browsing. For enterprise users, these extend to calendar, Internet and intranet browsing plus the ability to access other corporate data stored behind the company firewall. In addition BlackBerry smartphones support wireless access to a user's personal organiser information. With its "always on, always connected" functionality, the BlackBerry smartphone remains connected at all times.  Email is pushed directly to the device when it arrives at the inbox.

 

BlackBerry smartphones - Enterprise solution

Corporate customers can set up BlackBerry smartphones to integrate with their enterprise email using BlackBerry Enterprise Server software that is installed behind the corporate firewall and supports seamless mailbox integration for users.   This platform can support many users. BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express exists for five to 15 users. BlackBerry Enterprise Server software integrates with Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino and Novell Groupwise email environments. It provides enterprise users and IT departments with a wide range of unique features and benefits, including secure ‘push'-based access to corporate email and wider corporate data (through the Mobile Data Service feature of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and the browser on the device), wireless synchronisation, end-to-end Triple DES or AES security, and centralised IT management and control. Over 70% of RIM's current BlackBerry Enterprise Server customers have implemented solutions beyond email.

 

BlackBerry Enterprise server version 4.1 - Features

• BlackBerry Manager provides a single common interface for managing multiple BlackBerry Enterprise Servers
• Group-based administration enables groups of users to easily receive properties and tasks such as IT policies, email filters, MDS access controls, application pushes, synchronisation settings, auto signatures and software configurations.
• Support for multiple administrator roles enables IT departments to control access rights to certain functions based on tiered administration roles from "help desk" to "full administrator"
• Enterprise Instant Messaging supports presence, group chat, "buddy list" synchronisation, message auditing and enterprise access controls with Microsoft and IBM messaging servers
• PIN to PIN and SMS message audit logs provides an optional setting that enables compliance with corporate or government regulations
• Support for BlackBerry MDS application development and deployment environment
• RSA integration with MDS for authentication
• The ability to easily create BlackBerry client applications that integrate with Web Services using the new BlackBerry MDS Studio visual development tool
• BlackBerry Java Development Environment v4.1

BlackBerry - Enterprise solution express

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express is designed for small and medium-sized businesses and companies new to BlackBerry.  It provides the same enterprise-level security, reliability, features and functionality of BlackBerry Enterprise Server v4.1 and is available as a free download from RIM to any customer who purchases a BlackBerry smartphone. BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express provides support for up to 15 users.

 

BlackBerry - Internet services

With BlackBerry for individual use, users can integrate their BlackBerry device through the BlackBerry Internet Service with up to ten business or personal email accounts, using POP3/IMAP and/or mail forwarding. Messages sent from the device can use the user's existing personal email address. Copies of messages sent to the user's existing personal email account(s) are pushed to the BlackBerry smartphone. With the BlackBerry Internet Service, a new email address is provided with the BlackBerry smartphone, so users can start sending and receiving email within minutes. The new email account is a personal and private Internet/web-based email address that stores all email messages.

 

BlackBerry - Availability in EMEA

The Java-enabled version of BlackBerry for GPRS/GSM networks is available in Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.  Further EMEA growth is planned. EMEA carrier partners for BlackBerry include Mobily, Telefonica, Vodafone, Amena, O2, T-Mobile, BT Mobile, KPN, Mobilink Austria, TMO, Polkomtel Poland, Cosmote, TIM, Wind, SFR France, Bouygues Telecom France, Siminn Iceland, Tango Luxembourg, TMN Portugal, Turkcell Turkey, Etisalat UAE, CellCom Israel, Fastlink and Batelco Bahrain.

 

BlackBerry smartphones

The BlackBerry 8800 smartphone - The most recent addition to the BlackBerry family is the ultimate in professional smartphones. It is the first BlackBerry device to feature built-in GPS and mapping applications, along with providing trackball navigation, multimedia capabilities and expandable MicroSD card memory. This elite smartphone is a quad-band GSM/GPRS and EDGE-enabled world-class mobile phone, with advanced and easy-to-use phone features including noise cancellation for enhanced audio performance, Speaker Independent Voice Recognition for Voice Activated Dialling (VAD), intuitive call management functions such as smart dialling, conference calling, speed dialling and call forwarding, as well as dedicated "send", "end" and "mute" keys.

 

BlackBerry Pearl smartphone

The BlackBerry Pearl smartphone - This smartphone comes complete with digital camera, multimedia capabilities and an expandable memory slot, while continuing to provide the industry leading BlackBerry experience that users have come to love. Beneath its sleek and stylish exterior, which measures just 4.2" x 1.97" x .57" and weighs only 89 grams, the BlackBerry Pearl is a quad-band GSM/GPRS and EDGE-enabled mobile application powerhouse delivering the fast performance of the latest generation BlackBerry handset platform. The built-in 64MB flash memory is expandable with a MicroSD card, giving users plenty more storage for music, pictures, videos, and data files. 

 

The BlackBerry 7130 series

The BlackBerry 7130 series - BlackBerry 7130 smartphones provide a balance of performance, design and function for users that prefer small phone-style designs. It provides complete phone features and unrivalled email and browsing performance in a slim, sleek handset design. The device features 64 MB flash memory and 16 MB SRAM, a high-resolution QVGA colour LCD screen and an ergonomic SureType keyboard. The BlackBerry 7130 was launched in the UK by O2 on 1 June 2006.

 

The BlackBerry 8700 series

The BlackBerry 8700 series - BlackBerry 8700 smartphones run on EDGE networks and offer enhanced performance for email, phone, browsing and corporate data applications in a lightweight, all-in-one smartphone.  The BlackBerry 8700 features a bright, high-resolution, landscape QVGA (320x240) LCD.  The display supports over 65,000 colours and uses active matrix transmissive technology to deliver vivid graphics. The display also incorporates intelligent light sensing technology that automatically adjusts both the LCD and keyboard lighting to provide an optimised view in outdoor, indoor and dark environments. Blackberry 8700 series handsets available in EMEA include: 

• BlackBerry 8700f
• BlackBerry 8700v
• BlackBerry 8700g

BlackBerry connect licensing

The BlackBerry licensing program enables mobile device manufacturers to integrate BlackBerry connectivity for both enterprises and individual users into their handsets. BlackBerry Connect enables manufacturers to integrate BlackBerry communications software and technology into their handsets but to retain their own overlying applications.  Agreements have so far been announced with Nokia, Symbian, HTC, PalmSource, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Microsoft, Motorola and Siemens. RIM supports Microsoft Windows Mobile, Symbian, PalmOne, PalmSource and Java devices. 

 

BlackBerry Connect - Availability

T-Mobile Austria, Vodafone Austria, Orange Belgium, T-Mobile Czech Republic, Orange France, O2 Germany, T-Mobile Germany, Vodafone Ireland, Telfort Netherlands, Vodafone South Africa, Telefónica Móviles España, Vodafone Sweden, BT UK, O2 UK and Orange UK. RIM has over 650 Independent Software Vendor alliance partners focused on the development of BlackBerry applications. RIM's application partners include SAP, Siebel, Oracle and Salesforce. RIM has agreements with Microsoft, IBM and Novell to bring enterprise instant messaging (IM) and presence to BlackBerry subscribers through connectivity with Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005, IBM Lotus Instant Messaging and Web Conferencing and GroupWise Messenger.

 

BlackBerry - Mobile data system

The BlackBerry Mobile Data System (MDS) features a wireless application development framework that supports Web Services. Among the advanced features is a visual development tool that taps into the XML-based Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), enabling system integrators, independent software vendors and in-house corporate developers to rapidly create wireless applications. RIM has a relationship with Yahoo!, enabling BlackBerry users around the world to access services including Yahoo! Go for Mobile, Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger.

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