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Research In Motion (RIM) will now offer instant messaging on Blackberry handhelds as part of an agreement with Yahoo.

Through this relationship, the companies plan to pre-install full-color, graphical Yahoo! Messenger clients on BlackBerry devices in the coming months. Yahoo! Messenger is one of the leading instant messaging services in the world and BlackBerry users will be able to access and connect with everyone on their friends list while they are on the go. This new relationship builds on Yahoo!'s strategy of extending its core services beyond the desktop and RIM's strategy to provide a robust and expandable wireless platform in order to give customers a truly integrated communications experience. The companies also intend to provide a further enhanced Yahoo! Mail offering in the future.

"We are excited to extend the Yahoo! experience to millions of BlackBerry users around the world," said Doug Garland, senior vice president, Yahoo! Mobile. "Yahoo! has become an essential part of the lives of millions of its users and by bringing the services they love to these great mobile devices we are making it easier for people to communicate however they want, anywhere, anytime."

According to a Boerson Report article, "The partnership will give AOL subscribers access to messages through its branded network and on ICQ, a separate Internet messaging system purchased by AOL in 1998. Under the Yahoo agreement, RIM will begin to pre-install full-color, graphical Yahoo Messenger clients on BlackBerry devices."

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