Can RIM's Cloud Push Recapture BlackBerry Magic?

RIMs BlackBerry has been steadily losing share in the smart phone market, nevertheless RIM hopes it could use the cloud computing space to offer something new and exciting like it did when it came out with its at that time-revolutionary push e-mail service over a decade ago.

RIM says its announcement with Microsoft represents one example of many new cloud services it will offer its users. Now corporate posturing aside, what does RIM's push into the cloud mean for the small business user? That as a rule remains to be seen, yet I know what I would like to see.

Major peeve I have always had with my BlackBerry

A major peeve I have always had with my BlackBerry, as then as with any other kind of Android, iPhone, or smart phone device with regard to this matter, is how hard it is to share data with workstations, whether tethered directly to a PC or to a LAN. Sure, you can use BlackBerry's sync software to share data with PCs, nevertheless it is clunky, and to top it all. Being able to use a BlackBerry or RIM's upcoming Playbook to seamlessly share data and access applications over the cloud with different PCs and devices as easily as you can between PCs on a LAN could make RIM's devices exciting again.

I as well would love one day to be able to use a BlackBerry for all of my computing tasks over the cloud, whether for storage, office, or any other application. That way, I could work anywhere and everywhere with nothing nevertheless my mobile device.

But for a variety of reasons--not least of which are unresolved security concerns--the real role the cloud will play hereafter of computing has but to be determined and does not depend much on RIM.

RIM's Microsoft announcement is hardly earth-shattering, as the company will likely never capture the magic again like it did when it captivated the business world with its first BlackBerry devices. RIM will as well face stiff competition in the mobile space from Google, Android, and the search giant's cloud services. For the moment RIM's announcement that it will offer Microsoft's cloud-based office applications is a step in the right direction. RIM as well says there is a lot more to come, now only the future will tell how successful it will be.