RIM brings SAP into BlackBerry fold

RIM might be best known for mobile email, but that’s not stopping it having a crack on popularising other enterprise applications on the BlackBerry. The latest contender is SAP’s CRM products, which the company is now integrating with the BlackBerry platform.

The pair said their first joint offering will be a “native BlackBerry smartphone client that will merge the power of the SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application with core BlackBerry smartphone applications” like email and address book. Rather smartly, the twosome are promising that if you’re using SAP CRM and BlackBerry email, it won’t cost you too much time or effort to get this new system up and running.

Some SAP products have been available on the BlackBerry for a while, but this partnership will open up more applications to device users, and better data synchronisation. This is the sort of thing is playing to the BlackBerry’s crowd. While taking aim at the consumer market with social networking et al might help take the BlackBerry into pastures new, it’s these sort of good solid enterprise moves that will keep its natural user base from getting distracted by the likes of the iPhone or Windows Mobile.