Skip to main content

BlackBerry to Support Google Messaging - Yahoo! News


NEW YORK - BlackBerry e-mail devices will soon support the Google Talk instant-messaging and Google Local mapping programs, the handheld maker said Thursday, extending the Internet titan's push to put its services on mobile devices.


Financial details for the deal between BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. and search-engine leader Google Inc. were not disclosed.


Google Talk, due for launch before midyear, will not be the only instant-messaging service available on a BlackBerry. RIM itself offers BlackBerry Messenger for users of the device to chat, and certain carriers also offer some rival services. T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, offers the AIM and ICQ services from the America Online unit of Time Warner Inc. on BlackBerry devices, as well as Yahoo Messenger from Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news)


The BlackBerry version of the popular Google Local service will let users view maps and satellite images, find local businesses and get driving directions on their handsets. The Google Talk service requires a Gmail e-mail account. Both applications will be free, subject to any data-service charges from the wireless service provider.


Last week, Motorola Inc. said it will soon begin selling Web-enabled cell phones that feature easy access to Google's search engine by clicking on a button on the phone's keypad. Google is also the default search engine on Palm Inc.'s new Treo 700w smartphone.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

US says world safer, despite 11,000 attacks in '05

The U.S. war on terrorism has made the world safer, the State Department's counterterrorism chief said on Friday, despite more than 11,000 terrorist attacks worldwide last year that killed 14,600 people. The U.S. State Department said the numbers, listed in its annual Country Reports on Terrorism released on Friday, were based on a broader definition of terrorism and could not be compared to the 3,129 international attacks listed the previous year. But the new 2005 figures, which showed attacks in Iraq jumped and accounted for about a third of the world's total, may fuel criticism of the Bush administration's assertion that it is winning the fight against terrorism. Asked if the world was safer than the previous year, U.S. State Department Counterterrorism Coordinator Henry Crumpton told a news conference, "I think so. But I think that (if) you look at the ups and downs of this battle, it's going to take us a long time to win this. You can't measure this month ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Web users to 'patrol' US border

A US state is to enlist web users in its fight against illegal immigration by offering live surveillance footage of the Mexican border on the internet. The plan will allow web users worldwide to watch Texas' border with Mexico and phone the authorities if they spot any apparently illegal crossings. Texas Governor Rick Perry said the cameras would focus on "hot-spots and common routes" used to enter the US. US lawmakers have been debating a divisive new illegal immigration bill. The Senate has approved a law that grants millions of illegal immigrants US citizenship and calls for the creation of a guest-worker programme, while beefing up border security. But in order to come into effect, the plan must be reconciled with tougher anti-immigration measures backed by the House of Representatives, that insist all illegal immigration should be criminalised. The issue has polarised politics and US society. Right-wing groups have protested against illegal immigrants, while ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Al-Qaeda number two in new video

Al-Qaeda's number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has appeared in a video saying that Iraqi insurgents have "broken the back" of the US military. He praised "martyrdom operations" carried out by al-Qaeda in Iraq in the video, posted on an Islamist website. And he called on the people and army of Pakistan to fight against President Musharraf's administration. This is the third message from prominent al-Qaeda leaders to emerge within a week. A tape from Osama Bin Laden was broadcast on 23 April, followed two days later by a message from Iraqi insurgent Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Pakistan focus Zawahiri, who wore a black turban and a white robe in the video, described the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq as traitors, and urged Muslims to "confront them". He praised Iraqi militants, saying that the US, Britain and allies had "achieved nothing but losses, disasters and misfortunes" in Iraq. "Al-Qaeda in Iraq alone has carried out 800 ma...
Post a Comment
Read more