[bertiebassett]

Is it time for RIM to 'call time' on Blackberry connect (even if they haven't already, albeit not publically)

Lets' be frank, BBC has always been the 'behind the time's child' compared to the BB device solution - restricted set of policies, no MDS, no internet access withouth changing APN, no wireless backup and from the enterpise level just adding more 'pain' to the support process

Then add to the real pain in the butt of actually getting the thing working - cos even if you do get a working solution then you mistakenly update your phone you'll probably break BBconnect.

At WES this year the BBconnect booths in the solutions showcase looked like the 'problem child' booth rather than a place with buzz like the boxtone, paperIQ, Chalk, Steelcloud and many other booths.

Now you see Nokia have launched their E71 device without BBconnect support and are pushing their Mail For Exchange or Intellisync solutions. OK so that leaves Sony Ericsson who are having sales issues, Samsung who I've not seen a BBC suite working on and windows mobile. Whilst the application is quite sweet on a Win Mobile device it always seems strange to me that MSFT are happy for Win Mobile to be running a competitors email client over the top of their os.

So the device manufacturers are fedup with RIM taking their sales, and RIM have enough challenges on their home front with getting the Bold out, then thunder, kickstart etc...

Cmon' RIM draw a line under it and put the booth out if it's misery...

[bakerfall]

There was supposed to be a replacement called Virtual Blackberry which was announced last year, however nothing has come of it and I haven't heard anything for quite some time. I wish it would come out (and work) as it would solve the problem of users that won't let go of Windows Mobile.

[KeyLoveMobile]

I think something like BB Connect is a great idea, but like so much from RIM, they just appear to have their focus elsewhere or just don't have the resources to make it timely.

The ability to put software on other mobile devices that can apply some of the BES' class-leading security/policy controls is brilliant for an enterprise that doesn't have the ability to enforce Blackberry-only mobile access to corporate resources.

While RIM lets BB Connect languish, Microsoft is filling the gap with WM6.1 and it's server-based controls. Foolish RIM, they should've given BB Connect away for free with BIS accounts, so WM folks could get addicted to push email also.

[NJBlackBerry]

It was going to be in my review of WES as "most empty booth". I have no idea why RIM keeps it alive. It was a non starter.

[Sith_Apprentice]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry 9000 4.6.0.67)

I doubt it will be gone until Virtual BB is up and running. It offers an additional solution to get the BB architecture into areas where users don't want to change devices out. Virtual BB would be nice, but there was not even a whisper of anything about it in over a year. I expect a BBC client on the iPhone sometime end of this year beginning of next.

[bertiebassett]

ok so there some talk about BBC for i-phone. Wonder if el-jobs will ever let that go in the I-tunes store however.

Looks like nokia have given up Nokia to keep BlackBerry Connect off new handsets | BlackBerry Cool

[jibi]

VBB has long since been the heir apparent to BBC, and supposedly it has started picking up some steam in the first half of this year. The Nokia announcement about non-support was not coincidental, as we should likely see VBB for Symbian OS out of the gates first (in Europe). The popularity and lifespan of either product would be decided outside of American soil, where there is little to no market for the product, and is why Europe is the big market for both BBC and the upcoming VBB.

In all honesty, RIM made a wise choice where they will be the ultimate decision maker on device support, etc. Hopefully it will be a free application (my understand is that is the direction) that will support a base OS platform (WM 6.x and Sym 9.x) and be distributed through and supported by RIM and not directly through the carriers or device manufacturers. However, with subscription rates for carriers reportedly dropping, RIM may not have the business model to warrant that sort of distribution and support model and not be a financial burden (however, I believe licensing and restrictive device support was the failure of BBC).

[dietcoke]

I have set it up on my htc diamond. It works great and allows me to access all my email and connect to the bes server. I have been in the blackberry scene for many years, but bbc is extremely useful. And it is being updated.. long live bbc

[jimbob5]

I've just got myself an HTC Touch Diamond and would love to install BBC on it but cannot find this software anywhere. Can anyone advise where I can download the software from?

[radimus]

Wirelessly posted (7100g)

I spent about six months with BBC on an AT&T Tilt and ended up switching back to my old 8700. I just couldn't take all of BBC's awful quirks anymore.

The big problem with BBC on WM is the contention for the radio. BBC wants to stay connected to the blackberry.net APN and every other app available for the device wants to use MediaNet. So if the app doesn't access the radio just right it doesn't get it because BBC has it tied up. Or if you have another apps running that won't relear the radio the you get no email because BBC can't get online. Yes, you can set up Messaging to directly access POP3 account's, but while BBC is running it prevents Messaging from polling the account at regular intervals. You have to force a connection manually. Then there features in Messaging that BBC won't let you use, such as WM's built in spell checker.

In short, BBC is very invasive and jacks with all sorts of normal WM features. If RIM let's it die I certainly won't miss it.

[mitchrl]

This is a reply to radimus's comment. It is true that there is contention with the blackberry apn on the AT&T tilt but only because this was a deliberate decision of AT&T to limit the number of simultaneous active apn's. I can only guess why AT&T did this but it was probably to limit the amount of ota data i/o.

Since this is a registry setting, there are a couple of ways around this. What makes it a little tricky is this particular registry setting is reset every time the device soft resets.

Anyway, the real point I want to make is that the issue is not truly a blackberry connect one but an issue caused by AT&T.

[radimus]

Thanks. Hearing that AT&T crippled the Tilt doesn't surprise me.

What is the reg hack that enables multiple APN connections? Are there any HTC roms that allow this? The last time I tried to find out if multiple APN connections were possible I could not find anything.

[mitchrl]

Check out the message by absahnen in this thread:

forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=330910&page=4

Unfortunately I'm not able to post a proper link. BTW, the MCC/MNN for AT&T is 310410 (I think).

[radimus]

Thanks. I found the reg hack and it seems to stick after a soft reset. I confirmed it works, so I will switch back over to the Tilt and see how things go.

[moorken]

my advise to users if they want to use the BB network is: use a blackberry! we did several tests in our company with HTC or nokia smartphones, everybody who did the test brought it back after a few days and asked if we could give him back a blackberry...

[newtech2008]

Then add to the real pain in the butt of actually getting the thing working - cos even if you do get a working solution then you mistakenly update your phone you'll probably break BBconnect. At WES this year the BBconnect booths in the solutions showcase looked like the 'problem child' booth rather than a place with buzz like the boxtone, paperIQ, Chalk, Steelcloud and many other booths.

[WonkotheSane]

Originally Posted by newtech2008

Then add to the real pain in the butt of actually getting the thing working - cos even if you do get a working solution then you mistakenly update your phone you'll probably break BBconnect. At WES this year the BBconnect booths in the solutions showcase looked like the 'problem child' booth rather than a place with buzz like the boxtone, paperIQ, Chalk, Steelcloud and many other booths.

It is a bigger pain than it needs to be, but you can get a tilt running smoothly using BBConnect. If you upgrade to WM6.1, upgrade the BBConnect as well. The other key is registry hack to allow for multiple connections (discussed earlier in this thread). It makes a HUGE difference. Now I can run any app I want and BBConnect just keeps working.

[radimus]

You're right, Wonko. It is a bigger pain than it needs to be, and I've given up on it for the second and probably final time. The reg hack to make the multiple APN connections work has been fine, but the Tilt began falling over itself again with delays of intermittent length all over the place. Sometimes as long as several seconds. I tried to keep the stuff I installed to a minimum, but no change so I'm done with it. I'm tired of messing with it. If HTC and AT&T couldn't even be bothered to put an honest effort into making BBC work on it, then I'm not going to bother either. They couldn't even be bothered to make sure the "Get Blackberry Connect" link points to the right version. I cleared storage, put the SIM back into my old 8700c, and did a BES activation. The 8700 may be limited in functionality, but at least all the basics work and it runs smoothly. I'll just carry on with it until the Bold comes out.