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Today, Research in Motion (RIM) and Microsoft announced an agreement to provide Windows Live Messenger and enhanced support for Windows Live Hotmail on RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones:
Microsoft Corp. and Research In Motion (RIM) today announced an agreement to provide Microsoft Windows Live services on BlackBerry smartphones. As a result of this collaboration, BlackBerry smartphone customers will enjoy easy mobile access to Windows Live Messenger and an enhanced level of integration between Windows Live Hotmail and the BlackBerry platform.
The integration of Windows Live services into the BlackBerry platform will allow customers who use Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger on their BlackBerry smartphone to benefit from the BlackBerry platform architecture with the ability to communicate in real time using push technology, and an exceptional mobile communications experience. Customers will also be able to seamlessly access their Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger account from their BlackBerry smartphone by simply entering their Windows Live e-mail address and password once.
There are more details on the features by following the link. Microsoft did a similar (but larger) deal with Nokia back in August, 2007. One wonders whether any money is changing hands in these deals or at least how the porting and support expenses are allocated, but no information has been provided.
In recent months Microsoft has persuaded mobile phone maker Nokia to try Windows Live Search and support PlayReady DRM on some of their phones, but today they took a big step further with the announcement of the trial availability of a suite of Windows Live services in Europe and the Middle East on some Nokia mobiles:
In May, Microsoft launched the Windows Live version of Hotmail, their venerable webmail program, but yesterday they revealed a slew of new usability enhancements including 5GB (up from 2GB) mailboxes for the free accounts. At this point Google’s Gmail is offering 2.8 GB while Yahoo Mail has no storage limit, so by that metric Microsoft jumped to second place. The net is likely that for most users, mailbox size is no longer much of a consideration although in some corollary to Parkinson’s Law, the average user’s mailbox will eventually expand to fill the space available to it.
As anticipated, Microsoft today launched Windows Live Hotmail worldwide with a spiffy new AJAX interface and the intent of retiring its venerable MSN Hotmail which has over 280 million users. Some key aspects:
There are more new features and aside from the nomenclature madness, this all seems worthwhile, but now begins the long transition of existing users which Major anticipates will be complete by November. I can’t help but observe that the transition would be faster if they had the Outlook Connector and the new Live Mail client ready now.
Update: Ina Fried has an interesting Hotmail background story that reveals that the new AJAX interface was deemed too slow, particularly on dial-up lines, and that was the reason that an updated “classic” interface was reintroduced to the final product at some delay.
We haven’t heard about the Windows Live version of Microsoft’s old standby Hotmail since Microsoft decided to keep the Hotmail name in February. Now Elizabeth Montalbano is reporting for the IDG News Services that Windows Live Hotmail is about to go live:
Microsoft Corporation on Monday will finally bring its completely revamped version of its popular online e-mail service out of beta and into full release.
According to sources familiar with the company’s plans, Microsoft has been quietly rolling out version 1 of Windows Live Hotmail in smaller international markets such as Belgium and the Netherlands to test the new system. Monday’s rollout give U.S. users and the other estimated 250 million Hotmail subscribers around the world access to the application, sources said.
Microsoft Thursday declined to comment through its public relations agency.
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