Nokia Axes BlackBerry Connect From E71, E66

Nokia has surprised everyone by not allowing the BlackBerry Connect e-mail client on its new E66 and E71 handsets.

BlackBerry does work with a number of smartphone manufacturers, letting them use the BlackBerry Connect e-mail system. But Nokia might well have had enough of that setup, as the company told ZDNet that its new E66 and E71 series phones will drop BlackBerry Connect. In Mobile magazine, Simon Ainslie, Nokia’s UK managing director, was quoted as saying the move was because Nokia wanted "an opportunity to give consumers a proper choice on what email solution they want," and to "make email a mass-market proposition for everybody."

Meanwhile RIM, the makers of BlackBerry, issued their own statement. It didn’t mention the two Nokia handsets involved, but said that RIM "continues to work with various smartphone manufacturers (including HTC, Motorola, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Palm) to offer BlackBerry Connect to customers. Nokia offers BlackBerry Connect with the 9300i, 9300, 9500, E50, E51, E60, E61, E61i, E62, E65, E70 [and] E90."

So far Nokia has said nothing about whether the future of its other handsets with be Blackberry colored or not.