iPhone and BlackBerry: a match made in heaven?

Okay, so BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has so far been bullish about the threat posed by Apple's iPhone. Here's what co-chief exec Mike Lazaridis had to say, when questioned on that point:

"People ask me this, and I say: what penetration does Apple have in business? The answer is vanishingly small. They say: ‘The iPhone’s going to have mobile e-mail.’ I say: Well, what platform are they going to use to send business e-mail? Yahoo!?"

Yet the very fact that iPhone and BlackBerry devices AREN'T competing directly surely gives scope for Apple and RIM to work together in some capacity...http://www.bbhub.com/2007/01/19/heres-an-iphone-blackberry-theme/

So far, the only crossover between iPhone and BlackBerry is this BlackBerry theme, which makes your device at least act a bit like an iPhone. But think about the potential for a second.

Could BlackBerry's core push-email technology be licensed to Apple, as it has been to other mobile manufacturers? It might not convince thousands of blue-chip companies to kit their workers out with iPhones, but it would provide a more business-focused alternative to what Yahoo is offering to iPhone users.

That said, it's still debatable how valuable email will be with a touch-screen – people who've played with an iPhone report concerns over how fun it'll be even writing text messages using the screen, let alone longer emails. But it's the push that'd be the thing – the ability to read your mails using Apple's tactile UI would be a treat. Or, indeed, receive alerts from the iTunes Store...

Meanwhile, how about the other way around? BlackBerry devices have been gradually getting more multimedia features, including music. What would Apple have to lose by signing some kind of deal to integrate iTunes with RIM's handsets, given that they're mainly corporate devices, which won't be competing head-to-head with the iPhone?

This is all just speculation, of course. But us Brits have to find something to do with our time while waiting for the iPhone to touch down...

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