BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) 2.4 – Catching up with the Enterprise?
As pointed out by forum-goer rsnadel on BlackBerry Forums, it would appear that Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Internet Service, their consumer offering, will soon be upgraded to version 2.4, citing a Knowledge Base article with the details.
What are the enhancements over BIS 2.3 and earlier versions? Although the KB article states it now supports MP3 attachments, this was supposedly added in version 2.3. They have now added support for WAV file attachments, making way for non-BES corporate users to utilize Cisco and Avaya (and other) modular messaging systems that distribute voicemail through the ever-popular WAV format.
Other enhancements include support for wireless meeting request, read and delivery receipts, vCard attachments, and message status reconciliation for BIS, Yahoo and some third-party email accounts.
No dates are given on the deployments across the carrier platforms, but our guess would be sooner than later.
Will the support MS Exchange 2007, anyone?
nothing great there. not sure what they could do but nothing was too impressive.
I have an open ticket for a bug in the current BIS with gmail. And about 3 weeks ago I got an email update from support. Here is a section that email.
“This fix will be implemented in the next release of the BlackBerry Internet Service, which is schedule to launch in North America mid-September.”
So your guess that sooner rather than later would be correct. Mid-September….
but its up to the carriers when to roll it out.
Was that ticket created because when you send a message through GMAIL you recieve two messages on the handheld; one that was sent and one that was recieved of exactly the same one you sent?
When will they finally support syncing with web based calendaring apps (gmail, yahoo, etc, etc)
I believe the meeting requests is a step in the right direction but complete synch would be amazing!
Will this eventually lead to synchronizing Outlook calendar and contacts?
I’m doing BIS with Exchange 2007 via IMAP for a few clients already… No problems so far.
Will this BIS 2.4 support OTA Calendar sync for non BES customers?
Nope, BIS will never be able to sync with Outlook wirelessly, it will just kill their BES business.
Yeah it would be BES Suicide for them to offer wireless PIM sync with BIS. I imagine the only way that would even be possible is with Exchange though, so not really with “Outlook”. Your contacts aren’t going to magically transfer from Outlook to your BB.
I really don’t see anything on this 2.4 list that is actually NEW. My wireless meeting requests worked with 2.3 and so did vCards and the other things that were listed. I’m on BES now so I really don’t care anymore.
Total disappointment. Bought the BB Curve 8300 hoping I could get corporate e-mails, but IT tells me we are running MS-Exchange 2007 and it’s not happening. I just can’t believe RIM will leave such a large portion of the (potential) customer base not using BES hanging out dry because BIS is not compatible with MS-Outlook 2007. Looking to get rid of the BB and going to a PocketPC instead.
I heard that BIS is not compatible with exchange 2007. I am currently forwarding all mail from the exchange 2007 to a att account. Any insight?
how do you set up the forward rule? i have exchange 2007 and need to send the mail to my blackberry. thanks.
BIS is compatible with Exchange 2007 (OWA) now.
please post instructions on how to do this!
help, am so NOT internet-savvy. bberry is telling me they are upgrading to version 2.4 by end of May ‘08, means i will NOT be able to go online to check my email, that i can ONLY access my email on my handheld. for lots of reasons this is hugely inconvenient for me — anything i can do?
I work on this stuff full time. I couldn’t agree more. Great post! Good stuff!