Google Says It Will Stop Supporting Gmail App for BlackBerry
November 14, 2011, 1:30 AM ESTBy Hugo Miller
(Adds analyst’s comment in fourth paragraph.)
Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc., the maker of Android software for mobile phones, said it will stop supporting the Gmail application for rival BlackBerry smartphones, made by Research In Motion Ltd.
The app for Google’s Web-based e-mail will no longer be available as of Nov. 22 and won’t be supported after that, the Mountain View, California-based company said in a blog posting. Users may continue to use the app if already downloaded, Google said.
RIM is struggling to find ways to stop a decline in smartphone market share as customers increasingly opt for Android devices or Apple Inc.’s iPhone. Google’s move is an inconvenience for BlackBerry users with a Gmail account who want to access those messages on the go and also a signal to RIM more than anything else, said analyst Roger Entner.
“It’s a more symbolic gesture, as if you want it to work you can make it work but the app makes it easier,” said Entner, founder of market research firm Recon Analytics LLC in Dedham, Massachusetts.
BlackBerry users that want to access their Gmail accounts will still be able to do so on their phone’s Web browser, or by synchronizing their Google account with their BlackBerry service.
RIM’s share of the global smartphone market fell 5 percentage points to 10 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to research firm IDC. Its market share in the U.S. alone dropped to 9 percent from 24 percent, according to another researcher Canalys.
RIM’s ‘Ecosystem’
While RIM is struggling shift its entire range of devices onto a new operating system and revive interest in its PlayBook tablet, its base of more than 70 million subscribers remains a threat to competitors. Google is seeking approval for its $12.5 billion purchase of handset maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., which would turn it into a hardware maker as well as software and search engine company.
“Google is sticking it to RIM because RIM has become more and more of a competitor, from an ecosystem perspective and, pending the Motorola acquisition, from a device perspective,” said Entner.
Google said it is stopping development of its app for BlackBerrys to focus on the mobile browser experience, without elaborating further.
RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, fell 3.6 percent to $18.16 at 2:22 p.m. in New York. Before today, the stock had dropped 68 percent this year. Google fell 1.7 percent to $601.98.
--Editors: Niamh Ring, John Lear
To contact the reporter on this story: Hugo Miller in Toronto at hugomiller@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net
