BlackBerry Hooks Up With Cell Phone Makers

Despite a market share that pales in comparison with that of Palm OS and Pocket PC handheld devices, Research in Motion's BlackBerry handheld is still attracting major cell phone vendors as well as enterprise-level infrastructure providers.

In November, Nextel Communications will offer a slightly redesigned BlackBerry that will include Nextel's Direct Connect functionality, according to James Mooney, chief operating officer at Nextel in Reston, Virginia.

The redesign will make the device look more like a handset, says Mooney.

Direct Connect, a feature that only Nextel among the wireless carriers offers, is similar in concept to a walkie-talkie, allowing customers to use voice communications over a radio frequency without incurring any fees. The Direct Connect technology is licensed by Nextel from Motorola and will launch as a nationwide service in June 2003.

The Nextel/BlackBerry unit also will have full phone features.

Search, Print, and More

Meanwhile, next month OnSet Technology, based in Santa Cruz, California, will launch version 4 of its METAmessage for Wireless server and client software for BlackBerry units.

The upgraded software will give users the ability to search the Web without using a browser and to print files to any network printer. It will include an upgraded version of its formatting capabilities for Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint files, and Word files.

Through the client software, a user will be able to type any search item into the BlackBerry unit, which will send the item to the METAmessage server. The server in turn will execute a Google search and send the results back to the handheld device. Version 4 will also allow users to drill down through layers of embedded links.

The printing capability will enable remote users to find a printer on the network to print a file.

Some of the advanced formatting capabilities for Microsoft Office documents will let users freeze panes, change cell sizes, copy cells, and use both the 'Find' and 'Go to Cell' commands in Excel spreadsheets.

METAmessage 4 will be priced at $3000 for a 20-user license.

Boosting Youth Interest

In related news, Boost Mobile, a reseller of Nextel's wireless service based in Plantation, Florida, has announced it will target the youth market with a "pay as you go" service plan. The business model appears similar to Virgin Mobile's youth-market partnership with Sprint PCS; that partnership launched in August.

Phones offered through the arrangement also will include the Direct Connect capability offered by Nextel and licensed from Motorola. Nextel will announce a similar deal with Boost Mobile in June, according to James Mooney at Nextel.