Steve Ballmer reportedly took to the stage on Tuesday at the Blackberry World conference and announced a comprehensive partnership with RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) to feature Bing mobile search tools on all Blackberry phones and the PlayBook tablet.

According to a post from Matt Dahlin, Bing director, on the Bing Search Blog, Ballmer announced that Bing would be central to the Blackberry and Playbook experiences by default moving forward. This will actually be integrated at the OS level, according to Joshua Topolsky former Engadget editor and now writing (at least temporarily according to the blog) at This is my next.

Dahlin describes the integration as follows:

"Blackberry devices will use Bing as the preferred search provider in the browser, and Bing will be the default search and map application for new devices presented to mobile operators, both in the United States and internationally. Also, effective today Bing will be the preferred search and maps applications with regular, featured placement and promotion in the BlackBerry App World carousel. "  

In addition, Topolosky reported that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will begin to push RIM Enterprise Server as part of its enterprise services. As Topolsky points out, this is a shift in strategy for Microsoft and seemingly one that could come into conflict with its own services. But apparently the desire to have Bing as the default search tool on as many devices as possible outweighs Microsoft's concerns about cannibalizing its own enterprise interests.

Whatever happens, when you look at this deal in conjunction with the Nokia deal, nobody can say Microsoft isn't trying its hardest to remain relevant in the mobile space any way it can.

For more information:
- see the Bing Search Blog post
- see the Joshua Topolsky blog post

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