SAP and Research In Motion (RIM) have announced a deal that will see SAP's Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM) product combined with the very popular BlackBerry wireless handheld.

The deal between SAP and RIM was announced at SAPPHIRE'04, SAP's international customer conference being held in New Orleans this week.

The new application will let mobile sales reps in a variety of industries access and update information from mySAP CRM via their BlackBerry handhelds. The new partners expect this to mean that company sales departments can save time by being able to view sales orders and CRM analysis reports remotely.

The new product, which is scheduled to come online later this year, will be made available to existing SAP CRM customers at no extra cost for use on their BlackBerry devices, and in a reduced form for companies owning BlackBerrys who are not existing customers of SAP.

Jim Balsillie, chairman and co-CEO of RIM told service management reporters that the combination of its technologies and product offerings would help clients increase the productivity of their mobile field sales forces.

'This relationship will deliver innovative, cost-effective solutions to our customers worldwide to enhance sales effectiveness,' he predicted, confidently.