RIM’s new BlackBerry Balance service separates business and personal data

In a recent study from Deloitte, a global consulting firm, it was predicted that in 2011 we’ll see enterprise increasingly adopt new devices onto their networks, allowing employees to choose their own handsets. And, it’s also forecasted that we’ll see 25% of tablet market share bought by enterprise this year alone.

In the third quarter of last year industry analysts at NPD Group, a market research research company claimed that in the U.S, Android’s OS grew to 44 percent in Q3 at the expense of RIM. NPD’s report which compared OS share to the third quarter of the year before, highlights that RIM’s OS fell to third position in the consumer market declining to 22 percent.

In Canada, since 1999, many Canadian businesses relegated their employees to using RIM’s handset Blackberry for their mobile solution. But, as Android and iOS devices become a more popular choice for professionals, RIM will need to find ways to retain market share by both appealing to business and consumers. Enter BlackBerry Balance.

RIM has recently announced that it will roll-out a new service called Blackberry Balance, a service RIM hopes will appease consumers looking for alternative choices like iPhone and Android. The service slated to launch in North America in 2 months, will allow IT departments access to the enterprise and BES (blackberry enterprise server) part of the Blackberry while giving users a personal side for browsers, photos and social networking applications such as Facebook. This essentially splits the device in two and only gives IT departments control of  things such as corporate email.

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“We just wanted to create an innovative solution that allows enterprises to manage the corporate data side while at the same time give their employees the freedom to use Facebook and browse the Web and get their Internet email at the same time, – Jeff McDowell, RIM’s senior vice-president for business and platform marketing.

RIM’s new tablet, the Blackberry Playbook will also include BlackBerry Balance however the Playbook will not come with BES functionality when it’s launched according to McDowell.

We’ll be watching closely to see if RIM’s new service will be a huge deciding factor for consumers. Will RIM’s latest announcement keep professional from straying away to the Android and iPhone ?

The smartphone platform market share mix is expected to shift significantly throughout the duration of the forecast. We expect Android growth to surge, iOS growth to moderate, BlackBerry OS growth to stall, and Windows Phone 7 to find a niche. –IDC Canada