HTML rendering removed from BES 4.1 SP5; delayed until SP6…?
According to a post made a few days ago, it seems that Research In Motion has decided to temporarily pull the most anticipated feature of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1 SP5 - HTML and Rich Text email rendering.
While this seems rather skeptical at first glance, this information gains a lot of merit with the removal of this particularly important enhancement from atop the feature list on RIM’s official "What’s New" page for the upcoming SP5 release overview. The page had previously read:
Support for HTML and Rich Text email¹ allows BlackBerry smartphone users to receive email messages with their original formatting preserved
Users can read email more easily, view embedded images, hyperlinks, tables, bullets, numbering and indentation
As there has been no official statement from RIM on the removal of HTML email from SP5, we will have to wait until next Tuesday for the general availability release of the service pack. Given that RIM showcased HTML and Rich Text email support, amongst other features, during the February 21 webcast, it seems rather late in the process to remove such a ‘vital’ feature from the release… then again, this past Friday morning, the release date of SP5 slipped from February 29 to March 11, so this may very well be the explanation for the 11-day delay.
Perhaps some consolation is the quick release of SP6, which we learned during the February 21 webcast Q&A session would finally offer support for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. The availability of SP6, as mentioned in a forum post, will be June 2008. I have recently heard ramblings of an announcement and possible release of SP6 at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium, which is being held in Orlando on May 13-15, so these timeframes do hold some weight. Regardless, with Exchange support coming for the iPhone tomorrow, you have to wonder what the hell Research In Motion is doing over there in Canada.
On Mar 5, 2008 @ 9:49 am, Galvatron Said:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! SO CLOSE
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On Mar 5, 2008 @ 10:10 am, argonnj Said:
RIM is a company overwhelmed by their own success. This latest news along with their constant server outages tell me that they are having major growing pains. They need to address them pronto if they want to stay on top.
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On Mar 5, 2008 @ 10:16 am, Ben Pike Said:
Ok… SERIOUSLY!?! What is so hard about this RIM!?!? There are already companies selling this service for Blackberries!?! How hard can it be do release… especially since it’s already being done via third parties!
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On Mar 5, 2008 @ 10:18 am, SET Said:
“Regardless, with Exchange support coming for the iPhone tomorrow…”
Really? This seems like it would be the headline for all the tech sites. I can’t find
anything out there on this.
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On Mar 5, 2008 @ 11:00 am, Tex Said:
RIM is behind the 8 ball. Since switching over to a fantastic all-in-one WinMo device, I’ve packed the blackberries away for good. The King is dead.
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On Mar 5, 2008 @ 11:12 am, win_mo Said:
the wait continues……..
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On Mar 5, 2008 @ 11:29 am, Brandon Said:
This is so unbelievably frustrating.
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On Mar 5, 2008 @ 11:39 am, Broderick Said:
UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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On Mar 5, 2008 @ 11:43 am, dondgc Said:
I would take a decent to-do list and an alarm that can be set for more than a single alert WAYYY ahead of viewing HTML mail. And how about a “Today” page that actually displays useful information instead of the home page that exists now?
Everyone has different needs - for me, a delay in HTML email rendering is a non-event. Blackberry has far more urgent software update needs that apparently aren’t even in the pipeline for development.
I love my blackberry (I’ve tried win-mo, no thanks) - but I hope their development team hasn’t recently been hired away from Palm, which is how it is starting to look.
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On Mar 5, 2008 @ 12:39 pm, Matt Barcus Said:
http://www.computerworlduk.com/technology/applications/desktop/news/index.cfm?newsid=7799
Story about an analyst tipping that Apple may release Exchange support at this week’s iPhone SDK event.
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On Mar 5, 2008 @ 3:19 pm, Rick V Said:
Ugh - this is SO frustrating. The Curve could be such a great device. C’mon BB get with the program!
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On Mar 5, 2008 @ 6:49 pm, Jeff B. Said:
Wow, that’s a pretty bad move on RIM’s part.
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On Mar 6, 2008 @ 8:53 am, Stern Said:
well it’s official, for me at least, my contact in RIM has confirmed to me that it won’t be in SP5 but in a release later this year. It will also be in BIS 2.5 which will probably be later this year too.
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On Mar 6, 2008 @ 10:23 am, AnalyticalMind Said:
why does this bother people so much? there’s already other applications for the blackberry that allow you to view the emails this way
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On Mar 6, 2008 @ 1:02 pm, Palmop Said:
The third party addons rely on stripped email content, thus it never looks the same. I tried HTML emails on beta and it looked very nice. The full release have it removed, which sucks.
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