BlackBerry e-mail devices will soon support the Google Talk instant-messaging and Google Local mapping programs, the handheld maker said on Thursday, extending the Internet titan's push to put its services on mobile devices.
Financial details for the deal between Canada-based BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd (RIM) and Google Inc were not disclosed.
Google Talk, due for launch before midyear, will not be the only instant-messaging service available on a BlackBerry. RIM itself offers BlackBerry Messenger for users of the device to chat and certain carriers also offer some rival services. T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, offers the AIM and ICQ services from the America Online unit of Time Warner Inc on BlackBerry devices, as well as Yahoo Messenger from Yahoo Inc.
The BlackBerry version of the popular Google Local service will let users view maps and satellite images, find local businesses and get driving directions on their handsets. The Google Talk service requires a Gmail e-mail account. Both applications will be free, subject to any data-service charges from the wireless service provider.
Last week, Motorola Inc said it will soon begin selling Web-enabled cell phones that feature easy access to Google's search engine by clicking on a button on the phone's keypad. Google is also the default search engine on Palm Inc's new Treo 700w smartphone.
Research in Motion also said on Thursday it will offer for the first time a Macintosh-based e-mail and calendar application for its BlackBerry handheld devices.
RIM has signed a licensing deal with Information Appliance Associates to offer free downloads of the PocketMac program for BlackBerries and to later integrate the software with the handhelds, officials with the companies said.
The move deepens RIM's rivalry against Palm Inc, which for years has provided synchronization software for users of Apple Computer Inc's Mac computers with its line of handhelds and Treo smartphones. The Mac OS X operating system even includes a free program called iSync that lets users synch their address and calendar information from their Macs to Palm handhelds.
By comparison, BlackBerry users with Macs had to resort to third-party providers. For instance, they would have to find PocketMac, a program for synching e-mail, contacts and calendar information from a desktop to handhelds, on their own and pay US$29.95 to get the program installed.
Now with the licensing agreement, Mac users will be able to get the PocketMac program directly from RIM -- for free, starting next month.
For Apple, the deal reflects its growing influence and could lead to more interest from corporate customers, which predominantly operate in Microsoft Corp's Windows-based environment. Business users constitute RIM's core market.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique