by CIO Staff

Microsoft To Offer New BlackBerry Alternative

News
Feb 13, 20062 mins
MobileSmall and Medium Business

On Monday, Microsoft plans to unveil a number of new products that are comparable to Research In Motion’s (RIM) popular BlackBerry handheld, as well as new cell-phone offers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The move is designed to steal away some of RIM’s dominant market share in the mobile e-mail market.

The devices will deliver “push” e-mail, or e-mail that is continuously delivered to the handset–something Microsoft had not been able to offer at a low price in the past.  Push e-mail messages show up on handhelds as soon as they are received.

The new devices are built on software upgrades that Microsoft first announced in June, according to The Journal.

Microsoft plans to ship four new devices, which will be made by cell phone and computer producers and will contain Hewlett-Packard’s new iPAQ hw6900 handheld computer, The Journal reports.

A number of wireless service providers are jumping right into the equation, offering services that utilize the push e-mail function, including Vodafone Group and Cingular Wireless.

Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM practically owns the mobile e-mail software market with some 4.3 million subscribers, according to The Journal.

For more on RIM and its ongoing patent dispute with NTP, check out BlackBerry on the Edge.

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