Palm — maker of Treo smartphones — and rival Research In Motion (of Blackberry fame) are “expected to announce on Monday a licensing agreement that could alter competition in the market for phones that offer e-mail and other functions, one of the fastest-growing segments of the cellphone industry”. The Blackberry is under pressure from the increasing presence of high-end phones with e-mail capabilities, but those phones need to be able to communicate with other e-mail systems. However, the main impetus for the deal appears to come from customers:
“R.I.M. has been under pressure from cellular carriers and its corporate customers to strike a deal with Palm so that they can offer a variety of devices with the BlackBerry software…”Quite frankly, we’ve had a very strong demand for BlackBerry on Treos,” said James L. Balsillie, chief executive of R.I.M. “Our biggest interest is going in and fulfilling that pent-up demand.”
Initially, BlackBerry Connect will be available only on the Treo 650.
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