Microsoft announced on May 12th that they have partnered with Research in Motion (RIM) to deliver two of their Windows Live services to users of the Blackberry smartphone line. The two services, Windows Live Hotmail, and Windows Live Messenger, represent over 430 million users, so it's not an insignificant release, and it certainly raises some interesting possibilities.

With the previous announcement of Windows Live Mesh, a shift in how Microsoft makes program, data, and sharing access available to multiple access points including mobile, as well as Microsoft's previous work in Unified Communications, this announcement gives us a few things to consider.

* Previously, IT decisions about smartphones centered around whether to use a Windows Mobile, a Palm, or a BlackBerry OS device, and with that third option came decisions on whether to run one's own BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) or use the consumer grade product.

* With Windows Live support of Hotmail and Messenger, a company could implement a software-as-a-service implementation of presence and status messaging outside the channel of the corporate email server, or instead of that server. In the first case, it just means another channel to send and receive status, presence information, and more. In the latter, it means not having to implement Outlook and a BES solution.

How will this all integrate? Which parts of the various Microsoft options will make the most sense for you to integrate? How will this impact your business communications strategy?

See more notes from the Microsoft press release here http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may08/05-12WLBlackberryPR.mspx