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The Siemens' SK65 mail phone will be the first mobile device released as part of the Research In Motion's new BlackBerry Built-In program (see RIM Bolsters Bottom Line by Licensing).

With the SK65, Siemens went for the BlackBerry Trifecta by licensing BlackBerry Email, BlackBerry Calendar and BlackBerry Browser. As a result, the SK65 will be able to connect to these BlackBerry services via both BlackBerry Enterprise Server for large organizations and BlackBerry Web Client for individuals and small businesses.

Thorsten Heins, Siemens Mobile President of Mobile Phones said, "RIM is a recognized leader of wireless email and wireless enterprise technologies and the BlackBerry wireless platform is ideal for providing push-based email and wireless data services."

The SK65 also supports the Mobile Data Service feature of BlackBerry Enterprise Server, allowing access to corporate data applications on the intranet beyond email. For example, Siemens and RIM are working with SAP to extend SAP Solutions for Mobile Business applications, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), to the SK65.

Siemens' SK65 is part of a trend towards offering intuitive e-mail access on mobile phones, which we define as mail phones. These devices offer the cellular-capabilities of a traditional mobile handset and deliver e-mail, but aren't smartphones. In that they aren't based on one of the traditional smartphone platforms: Symbian, Palm, and Windows Mobile.

For Siemens', the SK65 is one of four such devices that it plans to release during the second half of the year. The other mail phones include the S65, compact business handset, the SL65, the follow-up to the SL55 sliderphone, and another yet-to-be announced model.

Speaking at a press conference in London, Lothar Pauly, Siemen's CEO of its new Communications Group, said "the steadily growing demand for unified communication solutions will dramatically boost the need for phones that unite a broad range of office functionalities with convenient access to e-mail." He went on to say that "the introduction of our first BlackBerry mobile (the SK65) is more than just an addition to our portfolio. It is, in fact, a leap into a new league of truly intelligent devices that unite the convenience of sophisticated e-mail access with classical wireless communication."