In a move that can only be summed up as the boys in Redmond have decided that they would rather Mac owners buy iPhones than buy BlackBerrys, Microsoft has removed BlackBerry support from Entourage 2008 for the Mac.

Not only has Microsoft removed native BlackBerry support, but they’ve removed it for third party applications like the Missing Synch.

Say what you want about Microsoft, they generally make good business decisions for the most part. I have to admit, however, that I have no idea what they are thinking here.


Microsoft has to know that Mac users overwhelmingly aren’t going to purchase Windows Mobile devices so long as the iPhone exists. A few of them, however, may purchase BlackBerrys. Does Redmond really want to push even more Mac users to the iPhone?

I will be the first one to tell you that I don’t think the iPhone is ready to be a prime-time corporate smartphone, however, it will be and I believe that when Apple makes it secure, sticks a keyboard on it, and allows a means for centralized management, the iPhone will eat into Microsoft’s share a lot quicker than it will into RIM’s.

Bill, I know that you are about to retire. You may want to rethink this one before you do.

[Source Via Simon]