How to Use your BlackBerry Pearl as a Bluetooth Modem under OS X

By: Grant Goodale

In the long tradition of only writing software when it solves something that annoys me, I've written an OS X modem script for the BlackBerry 8100 (a.k.a. Pearl). If you have an 8100, you can now use it as a Bluetooth modem with your Mac. Here's how you use it:

1. Download the script here. Please Right-Click and Choose 'Save As'.
2. Copy the script into /Library/Modem Scripts.
3. If you've already paired your Pearl with your Mac, open Bluetooth Preferences, Select your Pearl from the list of devices and press 'Configure...'. (If you haven't, choose 'Set up Bluetooth Device' - the following dialogs will be shown after you've paired your phone with your Mac. Make sure your Pearl doesn't require a password for your mac to connect to it - the 'Trusted Connection' option for the pairing should be set to 'Yes' on your phone, not 'Ask'.)
4. Make sure 'Access the Internet with your phone's data connection' is checked. Also, make sure 'Use a direct, higher speed connection' is selected. Click Continue.
5. In the Modem Script pulldown on the following screen, Select 'BlackBerry 8100'. Use the following settings for the other fields, then click Continue:

• Username, Password: leave blank
• GPRS CID: *99***1#

6. Open the Internet Connect application. Select the Bluetooth icon at the top. Under Phone Number, put your APN (for T-Mobile and the BlackBerry Unlimited plan, I use wap.voicestream.com, for Cingular it's "wap.cingular"). Type a username and password (I use guest/guest, for Cingular you'll use "WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM" as the username and "CINGULAR1" as the password) in the appropriate fields.

That's it! Let me know if it works for you. I don't believe my settings are getting the most out of the device's EDGE support, so I'll be tweaking as I learn more. Credit to Ross Barkman and Tim Hatch for the original scripts I tweaked to make it work.

Nokia battles Blackberry

by Leila Makki

Nokia is joining forces with Microsoft in an effort to take market share away from Research in Motion.

The Finnish mobile phone firm signed a deal with the software giant to expand corporate e-mail access to Nokia handsets

The world's top handset maker said it will enable access to Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync e-mail from nearly 80 million phones that use Nokia's latest edition of S60 software.

The collaboration will see 43 different Nokia devices using the mobile email application, making it the largest device range to enable the solution. The costs of mobility are contained, said Anssi Vanjoki, EVP at Nokia, as there is a "strong possibility that a large number of employees already have one or more of the 43 Nokia devices that enable Exchange ActiveSync."

As Nokia goes head to head with Blackberry, Research in Motion, makers of the push-email device, have begun to make devices that resemble consumer phones, as today, RIM introduced its first BlackBerry phone in flip format.

“The introduction of this exciting new flip phone will help extend the reach of the BlackBerry platform even further,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO, Research In Motion. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone allows users to send messages, make calls, view websites, take pictures, listen to MP3 and view online video.

It seems that, RIM is also following in Nokia's footsteps as the Canadian firm also annouced a deal with AOL to bring AOL Mail, Instant Messenger and ICQ Services to users of the Blackberry.

According to a recent report from Gartner, Nokia, is currently the smart phone leader, having sold over 15 million devices, giving it a market share of nearly 48 per cent. Meanwhile, Research In Motion sold 5.6 million devices, holding a market share of 17.4 per cent.

Gartner said Nokia took a hit from increased competition in the consumer smart phone market, especially from Apple's iPhone. "To stay competitive, Nokia will need to introduce more design variations amongst its NSeries models and keep innovating," Gartner principal analyst Roberta Cozza said in a statement. "The expected introduction of a touch-screen smart phone in the second half of 2008 will test the company's capability to show differentiation and innovation."

However, Cozza said RIM, which had an increase of 126 per cent year-on-year to nearly double its market share, continued to execute well and increase its reach at the consumer level.