If you've always wanted to run the BlackBerry OS on your phone, but either didn't like BlackBerry hardware or wanted to run Windows Mobile as well, you're in luck: BlackBerry maker Research in Motion announced yesterday that they plan to release a BlackBerry application suite that will run on select Windows Mobile 6 devices later this year. The suite, which runs from an icon on the Windows Mobile desktop (no dual booting necessary), will give you access to all of BlackBerry's email, scheduling and instant messaging applications in the traditional BlackBerry GUI, along with the ability to run third-party applications written for the BlackBerry. In addition, you'll continue to be able to run Windows Mobile applications as normal and switch back and forth as necessary.

Clearly, this move is excellent news for anyone who needs to support multiple smartphone OSes, but I wonder what "select devices" really means. Although BlackBerry is not a stylus-based system, the application suite will work with stylus-drive Pocket PCs, so RIM hasn't limited their spread in this direction. I have a feeling that compatibility will be based on device specifications (I imagine it takes a lot of processing power to run BlackBerry on top of Windows Mobile) and carrier adoption; right now BlackBerry has a partnership with AT&T and the press release does not mention coverage with other carriers.

Via Playfuls