BlackBerry Client for Microsoft SharePoint First Look: Screen Shots, Details

Thanks to leaked Research In Motion (RIM) documentation on the upcoming version of its BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), v5.0.3, we know a Microsoft SharePoint add-on for BlackBerry has been in the works for quite some time.

But until today, we hadn’t seen what that BlackBerry client for Microsoft SharePoint might look like on a RIM smartphone. The two images included in this post offer a first look at SharePoint for BlackBerry document libraries, lists, websites and calendar management options.

SharePoint is Microsoft’s enterprise collaboration offering, and in the past, organizations that wanted custom BlackBerry/SharePoint integration had to look to third-party application vendors for such apps.

RIM’s official BlackBerry Client for Microsoft SharePoint will let users “securely manage documents and share SharePoint calendar events while on the go,” via BlackBerry, according to RIM. Specifically, users will be able to download, upload, edit, save and send links to shared documents and mark them as favorites. And BES 5.0.3 will have a number of SharePoint-specific IT policies to manage the add-on.

SharePoint calendar events will be easy to read, due to a view optimized for BlackBerry, RIM says. The client will integrate with BlackBerry apps, including e-mail, calendar, browser and the Documents to Go office suite, among others.

Compatibility requirements include SharePoint 2007/2010. And the add-on will also be compatible with BES 5.0.1 and BES 5.0.2—it’s unclear at this point whether or not SharePoint for BlackBerry will be available to users of RIM’s slimmed down, free BES Express software.

BES 5.0.3 is expected to become available any day now–RIM told me the update would be released “very soon” back in early January. And the SharePoint add-on will likely become available around the same time.

Read more about BES 5.0.3 here, along with information on another cool new feature for enterprises in the next version of BES, BlackBerry Balance.

AS

Al Sacco covers Mobile and Wireless for CIO.com. Follow Al on Twitter @ASacco. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline and on Facebook. Email Al at asacco@cio.com