The companies said they would build solutions that would allow SAP’s core business applications to run “native” on the Blackberry devices. SAP and RIM said the partnership would “change the way people work” by enabling anywhere, anytime mobile access to core SAP applications through the Blackberry device.

SAP and RIM have worked together in the past. Four years ago, a joint announcement heralded SAPs development of applications for the device. But the latest partnership is deeper, with a commitment to enable existing SAP enterprise applications on the Blackberry.

The partnership targets the growing legions of mobile workers. According to research firm IDC, the mobile user population is set to increase from about 800 million in 2007, accounting for 25.7 per cent of the worldwide workforce, to one billion in 2011, accounting for 30.4 per cent of the workforce.

“Most existing solutions require users to learn yet another application and navigation paradigm on their devices, and for IT to manage a complex infrastructure to deploy and support,” said IDC’s CRM applications vice-president Mary Wardley.

“By having a native application on a BlackBerry smartphone that easily extends functionality but retains the native ease of use, users will find it non-intrusive to adopt applications such as CRM. This is an exciting partnership and definitely has the potential to change the game.”

SAP Americas and Asia Pacific Japan president and chief executive Bill McDermott said the partnership with RIM would “open many new doors for mobile workers around the world who require real-time mobile access to enterprise applications in a secure setting.”