Pegged for January launch.
RIM’s Blackberry cloud service for Office 365 will be available as an open beta this month but won’t be officially launched until January 2012, according to a report on IT site ZDNet.
Microsoft watcher Mary Jane Foley said that BlackBerry Business Cloud Services would provide mobile access to email, calendaring and organiser data with Exchange Online, the email platform in Office 365.
RIM’s hosted version will replace the Microsoft BlackBerry Enterprise Service for Office 365 Standard users, although Microsoft will continue to provide the service for its Dedicated users only.
Foley reported interim advice from a Microsoft spokesperson was for BlackBerry users to “use the BlackBerry Internet Service connection to obtain email over the air, and do a wired sync for calendar and contacts. Customers with on-premises Exchange and BES can use coexistence with Office 365 to enable BlackBerry device users on-premises.”