Like Google for Android and Apple for the iPhone, RIM is now offering up a good chuck of change to advance the mobile experience. It is partnering with RBC and Thomson Reuters to create the BlackBerry Partners Fund, a $150 million venture capital fund designed to drive the development of mobile applications and services.
Unlike Google and Apple, RIM isn't limiting funding to its own mobile-device platform, however. It says the BlackBerry Partners Fund is designed to advance the industry as a whole, by fostering development and driving the entrepreneurial spirit.
In the words of RIM co-Ceo Jim Balsillie, the aim is "to help fuel innovation and activity in the mobile ecosystem.”
This includes the advancement of mobile commerce (payments, advertising, retailing and banking), vertical and horizontal enterprise applications, communications, social networking, location-based applications and services (navigation and mapping), media and entertainment, and lifestyle and personal productivity applications.
The Fund will consider all stages of development. You can sign up to receive further information here.
