This past weekend the Blackberry Desktop application on my home office PC informed me that Blackberry Desktop 6.0 was available, and I should let it do an automatic update. Like an idiot…I did.
The truth of the matter is that I don’t really use much of the Blackberry Desktop software. It’s functions are many, but tend to revolve around sync’ing the handset with Outlook. Simply put, my calendar and contacts are not that dynamic, so I rarely sync the phone with my PC.
However, I absolutely rely on an application called the Blackberry Desktop Redirector to forward email messages from Outlook on my desktop to the phone. Since my employer does not run a Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) the email redirector is the next best way to have tight integration of my business email and the handset.
One problem arises….Blackberry Desktop 6.0 does not include the email redirector…and worse, it automatically uninstalls an existing redirector with no notice to the user. Even the user notes on Blackberry Desktop 6.0, while careful to expound upon its many new features, does not clearly indicate that desktop email redirection is no longer supported.
Users like myself are simply left hung out to dry.
Finding myself no longer able to read email on my phone I had a quick look a T-Mobile online support pages. The carrier was still offering Blackberry Desktop 5.0.1, not having yet caught up to RIMs new release. I downloaded this version and installed it along side v6.0. That did not restore the email redirector.
So I decided to give T-Mobile a call and discuss the situation. Their first tier support staff were quick and courteous, reminding why I like T-Mobile as a carrier. They took only a few minutes to make some notes, then passed me to their Blackberry specialist group.
The Blackberry specialist heard my tale and searched the various resources at her disposal. She found only the same series of recent support forum threads indicating that others were feeling the loss of the email redirector. She could not offer a solution, but promised to forward the matter to management, and suggested that I take it up with RIM directly.
By this time I’d spent a considerable while hunting on RIMs web site. It’s extremely navigable, very easy to the latest release of anything that they offer. But I found it impossible to locate older releases. There is no archive. Their search tool pointed to numerous documents that referenced the software in question, but no links to download the older release code. Also, no statement explaining its absence in the v6.0 release.
I had killed about five hours in total. RIM was unreachable except by email or forum, referring all support to the carrier. Of course, the carrier had nothing to offer.
An associate who also carries a Blackberry noted that he accesses the corporate email using a web-mail gateway. Ok, that’s possible, but it gives up on push completely. Not an acceptable solution.
To me the lesson in this is very simple. RIM is not being very careful about its software release process. They don’t understand how many people don’t fit nicely into the “enterprise” customer base that they feel they own. On the other hand, they’re making a great effort to compete with Apple’s iPhone & iPad. In their myopia they’ve convinced me that SMB customers may be better served by the Android platform.
My loyalty to the Blackberry has been tested to its limit. My faith in T-Mobile renewed. I suspect that a T-Mobile G2 is in my future.