RIM's cloud computing partnership with Microsoft is on sale soon playbook

RIM will work with Microsoft to deal with the growing volume of data that customers use on mobile devices and plan to release the BlackBerry Playbook tablet soon.

Rim is looking for ways to improve the attractiveness of playbook to challenge Apple's dominance in the tablet http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/9397.html "> Computer market." Apple has said more than 65% of Fortune 100 companies are experimenting or deploying ipads, including Procter and Gamble, and Lloyd's.

View artwork (larger)

Jim Tobin Jim Tobin, a senior vice president for software and business services, said Rim had shown playbook to "quite a few" Fortune 100 companies, and their interest was "very high".

RIM's collaboration with Microsoft aims to make it easier for customers to use cloud computing services. He predicts that by the end of this year, One-fourth of RIM's big corporate customers will be storing data in the cloud computing environment, and half will be completing the conversion in 2012.

According to IDC and Gartner, a market-research firm, cloud computing accounts for about 5% of the company's information technology spending of $1.5 trillion trillion last year. "Cloud computing is an efficient technology for all companies," Tobin said. As smartphones and tablets handle more data than desktops, customers should not continue to store data on their local hard disks and servers. "Tobin has disclosed estimates of how this shift could save rim and its customers.

Jim Barsley Jim Balsillie, the joint CEO of Rim, said last month that the company would sell playbook this month or early April. Tobin did not disclose the exact time of the playbook sale, but said it would be "soon" on sale. Apple sold the ipad in April 2010, selling more than 15 million units.

The deployment of Playbook is a natural option for companies that already have BlackBerry smartphones deployed, Tobin said.