LAWTECH GURU BLOG by Jeff Beard

First Blackberry Word Processor Released

I knew it had to come sooner or later. While Blackberries are great for e-mail, they've often lagged behind in third-party application support compared to Palms and Pocket PCs. Brighthand reports that DynoPlex has released eWord, a word processor for the Blackberry platform.

eWord is available separately for $59.95 or as part of the eOffice Business Productivity suite from Dynoplex. The suite also includes eCell, a Blackberry spreadsheet program that's compatible with MS Excel. eWord enables Blackberry users to create and edit Microsoft Word documents, including documents received via e-mail attachments. It also includes the ability to create formatted email messages and send them from within eWord.

Blackberry users interested in enhanced integration with their document management systems, such as iManage, as well as financial systems and time reporting applications should check out solutions from Onset Technology and InfoClarus. I've seen their presentations in which they've demonstrated performing remote iManage document queries from a Blackberry device. As one can imagine, it's not comparable to a remote laptop experience, and one certainly won't want to review a 100-page commercial lease on a tiny screen. However, for accessing and reviewing smaller documents on a Blackberry, it's doable.

Performing remote time entry on a Blackberry is also a great way to record time on-the-fly and recapture otherwise forgotten billable time, like mobile cell calls. The cool thing is that it doesn't take much recaptured billables to actually make money using a Blackberry, so it pays for itself when leveraged properly.