BIS 4.3 SP1 Releases Notes Determine Fate of Your Hosted BlackBerry Email Address

RIM has posted up the documentation for BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service) 4.3 SP1 over the weekend and it includes some small improvements. The main change is for users who switch to a BlackBerry 10 device. RIM has stated that since email addresses are so easy to come by and free they no longer are offering their hosted @carrier.blackberry.com or @carrier.blackberry.net email addresses. This change is only for people who are switching to BlackBerry 10 but they do have a safety net. RIM will allow users to forward their carrier hosted email address to another address for 12 months which is a nice way to kill it off. They also recommend that you change your BlackBerry ID if you use your carrier BlackBerry email as your username.

Personally I think this is a great idea. RIM needed to either up their game on email or just remove the feature since Gmail, Yahoo, and others offer more features for free. Especially with BlackBerry 10 supporting IMAP, ActiveSync, CalDev, and CardDev there really is no need for this carrier address. Here are some details:

• Research In Motion is transitioning away from providing hosted email services because there are many free email services available to BlackBerry Internet Service subscribers. The forwarding solution available on BlackBerry 10 devices will provide automatic forwarding of email messages from the BlackBerry email address to another email address for 1 year so that subscribers can receive email messages sent to the BlackBerry email addresses on their BlackBerry 10 devices.
• Subscribers can set up a BlackBerry email address fowarding rule using a webpage or directly on their BlackBerry 10 devices. To set up forwarding information on the BlackBerry 10 device, subscribers are presented with an Email Forwarding screen when they try to add their BlackBerry email address in Settings > Accounts.
• Subscribers who use their BlackBerry email address for their BlackBerry ID username will be able to sign in to their BlackBerry 10 device, but they may experience some limitations receiving notifications. It is recommended that users change the BlackBerry ID username to a different email address. Subscribers can change their BlackBerry ID username on their BlackBerry 10 devices by going to Settings > BlackBerry ID> Edit.
• Subscribers who use their BlackBerry email address for their BlackBerry ID username must set up a BlackBerry email address forwarding rule so that they can continue to receive the following types of email messages:
• Password reset email message required to reset the BlackBerry ID
• Notifications from BlackBerry ID
• Purchase receipts that utilize BlackBerry ID
• There is no change to how the BlackBerry email address functions on smartphones running BlackBerry 7.1 or earlier.

Check out all the details in the PDF release notes here. Kudos to BBNews.pl for spotting this one!