RIM Remembers to Announce SharePoint Client for Enterprise Users

 

We told you on August 17th that RIM was selling their SharePoint client for BlackBerry that ties into BES for enterprise users. Now a few weeks later RIM remembers that they launched the client and has finally gotten around to announcing it officially. They hope to tap the 100 million licensed SharePoint users around the world with the product though I really wish it was a free client and did not require a company to tie it into their BES.

Here is how RIM describes it:

Designed to deliver fast, efficient information sharing and secure enterprise collaboration, the BlackBerry Client for Microsoft SharePoint puts essential business resources and document management tools into the hands of mobile professionals in a secure, manageable way. Optimized for BlackBerry smartphones and featuring streamlined navigation for fast document access, the client integrates tightly with core BlackBerry features and functionality for greater productivity.

Designed to deliver fast, efficient information sharing and secure enterprise collaboration, the BlackBerry Client for Microsoft SharePoint puts essential business resources and document management tools into the hands of mobile professionals in a secure, manageable way. Optimized for BlackBerry smartphones and featuring streamlined navigation for fast document access, the client integrates tightly with core BlackBerry features and functionality for greater productivity.

Features include:

Still now that it is official you can read more about it on their blog or on their SharePoint for BlackBerry landing page.

RIM Mobilizes Microsoft SharePoint on BlackBerry

WATERLOO, ONTARIO, Oct 03, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX News Network) —

Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM)(TSX: RIM) announced today the BlackBerry(R) Client for Microsoft SharePoint, delivering the most advanced mobile SharePoint solution on the market. The BlackBerry Client app provides a deeply integrated and intuitive mobile experience for users together with the market-leading manageability and security of BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Server, providing a secure and cost-effective solution for businesses and government organizations.

"Our enterprise and government customers asked us to bring a highly refined mobile experience to SharePoint and we are delivering that today with the BlackBerry Client for Microsoft SharePoint," said Alan Panezic, Vice President, Enterprise Product Management and Marketing at Research In Motion.

Connectivity between BlackBerry(R) smartphones and SharePoint servers is made possible with the market-leading BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Server software. The complete solution features:

In addition to user benefits, the complete solution also comes with many benefits for organizations and their IT departments. Application management and over-the-air provisioning of the Client app is made easy for IT departments with BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Server. The DataSmart(TM) efficiency of the BlackBerry solution transmits more data with less monthly data plan usage, allowing organizations to consider smaller or more budget-friendly plans. And CIOs will welcome the fact that confidential company information is being transmitted securely over the wireless network between BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry smartphones.

"In a world of continuous connectivity, businesses and governments require products, services and information faster and more reliably than ever before," said Victor Garcia, Chief Technology Officer at HP Canada. "The BlackBerry Client for Microsoft SharePoint helps to address the needs of today’s mobile workforce with new tools and mobile applications to enable collaboration and productivity."

A number of Fortune 500 companies and government agencies plan to roll out the BlackBerry Client for Microsoft SharePoint in the coming weeks.

The BlackBerry Client for Microsoft SharePoint is available today in over six languages and more than 25 countries. For more information, visit www.blackberry.com/sharepoint.

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Sprint Confirms BlackBerry Bold 9930 & Torch 9850 For Fall Release

We already heard from RIM that Sprint would be getting the BlackBerry Bold 9930 and BlackBerry Torch 9850 but now we are hearing directly from Sprint. They have confirmed both devices for release this fall which is a little later than the August release we had rumored since fall is technically September-November. Here is what Sprint had to say about the launch:

“Sprint’s incredibly loyal BlackBerry customers will appreciate the benefits of the BlackBerry 7 user experience on these two new smartphones – BlackBerry Bold 9930 and BlackBerry Torch 9850,” said Fared Adib, vice president – Product Development, Sprint. “BlackBerry 7 is an evolution that extends the ability to support our customers domestically and internationally as they juggle their busy personal and professional lives with one easy-to-use device. We are excited to continue our strong relationship with RIM through these new powerful devices.”

Press release below:

America’s First BlackBerry 7 Smartphones Coming to Sprint This Fall

BlackBerry Bold 9930 boasts thinnest design and widest QWERTY on a BlackBerry smartphone; BlackBerry Torch 9850 will be the first all-touch BlackBerry smartphone for Sprint customers

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), August 03, 2011 – Sprint (NYSE: S) announced an expansion of its robust portfolio of BlackBerry® smartphones with the fall availability of America’s first two BlackBerry® 7 smartphones – BlackBerry® Bold™ 9930 and BlackBerry® Torch™ 9850 from Research In Motion (RIM). Specific pricing and availability will be provided closer to availability.

Both new smartphones are powered by the next-generation BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 7, a performance-driven operating system designed to deliver the ultimate in communications, multimedia and productivity. Both smartphones also feature Liquid Graphics™ technology, a key new feature powered by BlackBerry 7 to deliver incredibly fast, smooth performance and a highly responsive touchscreen experience. They are also both powered by a 1.2GHz processor, offer 5MP cameras and are World Phone capable.

“Sprint’s incredibly loyal BlackBerry customers will appreciate the benefits of the BlackBerry 7 user experience on these two new smartphones – BlackBerry Bold 9930 and BlackBerry Torch 9850,” said Fared Adib, vice president – Product Development, Sprint. “BlackBerry 7 is an evolution that extends the ability to support our customers domestically and internationally as they juggle their busy personal and professional lives with one easy-to-use device. We are excited to continue our strong relationship with RIM through these new powerful devices.”

Two options – Super Thin or Full Touchscreen

At just 10.5mm thick, the BlackBerry Bold 9930 smartphone is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone ever. It features a 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen display, the widest QWERTY keyboard available on a BlackBerry smartphone and a trackpad for easy navigation.

Key features of BlackBerry Bold 9930 include:

BlackBerry® service with access to up to 10 supported business and personal email accounts, plus BlackBerry® Enterprise Server support for corporate email installations
DataViz Docs To Go® Premium suite preloaded, for editing Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files from anywhere
BlackBerry App World™, the official app store for BlackBerry smartphones offering customization, fun and productivity
BlackBerry® Playbook™ support with BlackBerry Bridge™ (Bridge is available as a free download on BlackBerry App World)
Near Field Communications (NFC) support for a secure exchange of information between NFC-enabled devices over a very short distance
Augmented Reality using the built-in compass (magnetometer) to support augmented reality applications

The sleek BlackBerry Torch 9850 smartphone will be the first full-touch BlackBerry smartphone from Sprint. It features a spectacular, new 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen display, the largest ever on a BlackBerry smartphone, and trackpad for easy navigation.

Key features of BlackBerry Torch 9850 include:

BlackBerry® service with access to up to 10 supported business and personal email accounts, plus BlackBerry® Enterprise Server support for corporate email installations
DataViz Docs To Go® Premium suite preloaded, for editing Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files from anywhere
BlackBerry App World, the official app store for BlackBerry smartphones offering customization, fun and productivity
BlackBerry® Playbook™ support with BlackBerry Bridge™ (Bridge is available as a free download on BlackBerry App World)
Augmented Reality using the built-in compass (magnetometer) to support augmented reality applications

Enhancing the Experience with BlackBerry 7

BlackBerry 7 introduces a next-generation BlackBerry browser with a significantly faster, more fluid web browsing experience that is up to 40 percent faster than BlackBerry® 6 based smartphones and up to 100 percent faster than BlackBerry® 5 based smartphones1.

The new BlackBerry Bold 9930 and BlackBerry Torch 9850 smartphones also feature Liquid Graphics technology, with each smartphone combining a dedicated high-performance graphics processor with a blazingly fast CPU and stunning high-resolution display to deliver an incredibly fast, smooth and responsive visual experience.

Building upon the Universal Search feature introduced in BlackBerry 6, BlackBerry 7 expands the capability to include voice-activated search. This new capability makes it easier and more convenient to search for content on the smartphone or web.

BlackBerry 7 also integrates BlackBerry® Balance™, which separates personal content from corporate content, giving users the freedom and flexibility to use the smartphone for personal email, Facebook®, Twitter®, multimedia, games and other apps, while satisfying the need for corporate data to be highly secure and manageable. BlackBerry Balance works in conjunction with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 5.0.3, which provides a number of unique IT policy controls, such as wiping only corporate data or blocking work-related content and apps from being copied or forwarded to personal contacts.

BlackBerry Bold 9930 and BlackBerry Torch 9850 use the Sprint 3G Network domestically and offer World Phone capability for international travel to nearly anywhere in the world. Sprint customers have the power to make or receive phone calls in more than 185 countries and access to BlackBerry® data services, including email, apps and web browsing in nearly 150 countries. Customers also have the option of using a third-party SIM for international voice and data services.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 52 million customers at the end of 2Q 2011 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 6 in its 2010 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

1 Requires BlackBerry 7 OS. Testing was performed by RIM in July 2011 and measured average page load speeds using pre-release BlackBerry 7 software.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.

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RIM Announces Management Reorg & 2,000 Layoffs

RIM told us to expect more details on their Cost Optimization Program and now they have made it clear. They plan on streamlining operations by consolidating and changing the responsibilities of quite a few senior management roles along with reducing the global RIM team by 2,000 from the previous 19,000 employees to 17,000 employees around the world. This is a pretty big move for RIM along with announcing that Don Morrison is leaving RIM after 10 years of service since he has been on medical leave. My condolences to the TeamBlackBerry members who were let go but hopefully this will lead to a lean mean team at RIM that just pumps out quality hardware and software like clockwork.

Full details below:

Research In Motion Provides Management Update and Details On Cost Optimization Program
WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – July 25, 2011) – Research In Motion Limited (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today provided an update on changes in responsibilities amongst the company’s senior management team, as well as additional details about the cost optimization program announced on June 16th. The changes described below are intended to create greater alignment of the organization and to streamline RIM’s operations in order to better position the company for future growth and profitability.

Senior Management Update

Thorsten Heins is taking on the expanded role of COO, Product and Sales. All product engineering functions, including both hardware and software teams, are being consolidated under Thorsten’s direction. This consolidation of product engineering functions is expected to both produce greater efficiencies and help to accelerate new product introductions in the future.

After more than ten years of success overseeing sales and country operations for RIM in various regions including North America, Asia Pacific and EMEA most recently, Patrick Spence is taking on the role of Managing Director, Global Sales and Regional Marketing. Patrick will report to Thorsten Heins and will work with Thorsten to tightly couple the execution of product development and regional business operations around the world, enable faster local execution tailored to local market needs and support the needs of RIM’s valued operator and distribution partners.

Robin Bienfait is maintaining her responsibilities as CIO, including BlackBerry Operations, Customer Service and Corporate IT functions, and also taking on responsibility for the Enterprise Business Unit focused on delivering outstanding customer service and extending RIM’s leadership in the enterprise sector.

David Yach, in his role as CTO, Software, will focus on current and future software platforms, as well as the surrounding developer and application ecosystem.

Jim Rowan is taking on the expanded role of COO, Operations and will continue to be responsible for manufacturing, global supply chain and repair services. As part of the streamlining effort and drive towards greater operational efficiencies, he will also now oversee the Organizational Development and Facilities Management functions.

Brian Bidulka, RIM’s CFO, is working together with Jim Rowan in overseeing the Cost Optimization Program which is currently underway.

Cost Optimization Program

In addition to the management changes outlined above, RIM today provided further details on its cost optimization program, which is focused on eliminating redundancies and reallocating resources to focus on areas that offer the highest growth opportunities and alignment with RIM’s strategic objectives. The workforce reduction is believed to be a prudent and necessary step for the long term success of the company and it follows an extended period of rapid growth within the company whereby the workforce had nearly quadrupled in the last five years alone.

As part of this broad effort, RIM is reducing its global workforce across all functions by approximately 2,000 employees. RIM intends to notify impacted employees in North America and certain other countries this week. The remainder of the global workforce reductions will occur at a later date subject to local laws and regulations. All impacted employees will receive severance packages and outplacement support.

The size of this workforce reduction is in line with the preliminary estimate that was factored into RIM’s full year financial guidance on June 16, 2011. Following the completion of the workforce reduction, RIM’s global workforce is expected to be approximately 17,000 people. Additional information about the financial impact of this workforce reduction and other operating expense reductions will be communicated when the company reports Q2 results on September 15, 2011. As explained on June 16, 2011, any one-time charges associated with the cost optimization program are not included in RIM’s Q2 and full year outlook, but will be identified and disclosed on September 15, 2011.

Research In Motion Announces Retirement of Don Morrison
WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – July 25, 2011) – Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) (RIM) announced today that Don Morrison, currently on temporary medical leave, is planning to retire from his position as Chief Operating Officer, BlackBerry following more than ten years of service with RIM.

"We thank Don for his outstanding service to RIM. We understand and respect his decision to retire after successfully dealing with a serious medical challenge and we wish him a quick recovery," stated Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, Co-CEOs at RIM. "Don’s presence at RIM will be missed, but our senior management and sales teams had already stepped up to manage Don’s responsibilities since the commencement of his medical leave and we’re confident in the ability of those teams to continue Don’s tradition of success going forward."

Don Morrison has led a distinguished career. He joined RIM in 2000 with a mandate to strengthen RIM’s international operations and help build a world-class service organization. Since that time, RIM has expanded to more than 175 countries around the world and RIM’s fiscal year revenues have grown from approximately $200 million to nearly $20 billion. Before joining RIM, Don held a number of senior leadership positions in Canada, Europe and the United States with AT&T and Bell Canada. His creative and disciplined approach to a customer driven business model also led to significant operational improvements in those companies.

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