RIM makes push into Windows Mobile

Research in Motion is making the move into software, announcing a new effort to push its BlackBerry operating system, or OS, into devices other than theirs. RIM, however, doesn't want to take over the entire OS of another vendor's phone, the way the Microsoft Windows OS or the Symbian OS would power devices made by Motorola or Nokia. Instead it's creating a BlackBerry virtual machine that functions on Windows Mobile 6.0-powered devices like any other third-party application. Once launched, the application simulates the entire BlackBerry experience, from e-mail navigation window to contact list.

Although the initiative smacks of what analysts have been prodding RIM to do for years — shifting to a software-based model as opposed to a hardware driven one — Alan Panezic, vice president of software product management for RIM, said the effort is anything but a major shift in business strategy. The BlackBerry device business is alive, Panezic said, RIM is merely addressing a customer demand.

“What we've heard from our customers is they want a choice of device, but they still want the BlackBerry experience,” Panezic said. “What the IT departments want is a choice of sourcing, but they want a unified platform. What we've done is taken the entire BlackBerry package and put it on top of Windows Mobile 6.0.”

The program is different from its BlackBerry Connect initiative, which essentially licensed its core server connection and over-the-air push e-mail solution to other vendors. With Connect, vendors such as Samsung or Nokia could use their own client software but still ensure their devices would synch with the BlackBerry enterprise servers so many companies have adopted. The new software bundle, however, brings more than Connect to other devices: a core user interface and client software plus a virtual operating environment that can run a third-party BlackBerry application. Essentially, it emulates the BlackBerry on another OS.

Few people question the BlackBerry client's allure; however, RIM may have entered the software market a little too late, said Paul O'Keefe, partner in consultancy for Business Edge Solutions. Loading the BlackBerry software onto a Windows-powered phone sounds easier than it may actually be. Customers may want to run virtual BlackBerrys on Windows smartphones, but there are two major obstacles along the way: Vendors will be reluctant to include it in their phone's basic software stack, and carriers may be reluctant to support it. A few years ago, when they had no alternative, they may have been more receptive to the idea, O'Keefe said, but competition with RIM's hardware has forced them to create their own alternatives. Now that those alternatives, such as Microsoft's ActiveSync, are in place, they're unlikely to back to welcome RIM with open arms, O'Keefe said.

“Microsoft has been signing everyone up it can for ActiveSync — they're practically giving it away,” O'Keefe said. “RIM is starting to feel that challenge, so they had to come up with an alternative. I don't think you should count RIM out. They're still very successful. I just don't know how they're going to sell this particular product.”