HTML email coming soon on the Blackberry
Posted by Mathew Patterson on January 29, 2008
Some important news if you send to a lot of mobile subscribers, or view emails on your own Blackberry. While existing Blackberry devices and software only support plain text email rendering, RIM has announced that an upcoming software update will add HTML and rich text support to the platform.
HTML and Rich Text Email Rendering – BlackBerry smartphone users will be able to view HTML and rich text email messages with original formatting preserved including font colors and styles, embedded images, hyperlinks, tables, bullets and other formatting.
It is not yet clear whether this will be optional, allowing Blackberry users to select their desired format, or whether HTML will always be shown when available. In any case, sending multipart text+html will always be the safest option.
The update is set to be released in 'the first half of 2008', and once it becomes available we plan to run our normal HTML/CSS rendering tests and post here about the results.
Of course, if you do know your audience is mostly mobile, then you will want to ensure your emails are shorter, to the point and simpler than you would typically do for a an audience using a desktop client.
A mobile context is very different, and even the type of content itself may differ considerably - information that is useful when at your desk may be pointless when sitting on a train or in a taxi.
Are you looking forward to HTML on your Blackberry? Or do your clients send campaigns specifically written for people on the move? Leave us a comment.
4 comments so far
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J.J. Merrick
wrote on January 31, 2008 8:10 AM
wow that is awesome. i just got an 8830 from Sprint last week and I love it. It is nice to see a product that is being developed from not just the hardware side but the software side as well. I was a 10 year palm addict and after the local Palm User Group closed down I knew it was time to give it up and defect to a new device. I heart my Crackberry!
Mick Brad
wrote on February 7, 2008 4:08 AM
I've not gotten a blackberry yet, as one reason is I cant stand all
my reply messages comming back as plain text. This is a significant
upgrade!
D.Orban
wrote on February 16, 2008 10:57 AM
We use BB's here for many job functions. They're able to access our intranet, but emails that go out with buttons/forms for managers to do approvals are pretty much useless right now. I hope RIM gets this completed sooner than later.
D
J La Due
wrote on April 24, 2008 11:41 PM
Any idea when this update is going to come out? I have been seeing posts on forums about it that date back to early 2007 and so far all RIM has done is release an occasional statement that it is coming. I can't help but get the feeling that they aren't planning on releasing it at all.
Got anything to add?