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=DJ Research In Motion Shrugs Off Big Microsoft Pact >RIMM
By Stuart Weinberg and Robert Curran Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
TORONTO (Dow Jones)--Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) confirmed that the U.S. Census Bureau has ordered 500,000 handheld devices equipped with Windows-Mobile software, but analysts who follow Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) played down the news, saying the devices aren't for wireless email.
Jefferson Taylor, associate director for communications at the U.S. Census Bureau, confirmed the devices won't have mobile-phone or wireless-email capability. The devices will be used specifically to help the bureau conduct the 2010 census, Taylor said. "...instead of paper and pencil, which was done in the past, this is a forward-looking decennial census which Congress has called the high-tech census 2010," Taylor said.
While the Census Bureau has decided not to use the devices for email, John Starkweather, group product manager in Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Device Group, said the Census-Bureau win was a competitive win that included RIM, maker of the BlackBerry wireless-email device. "Ultimately, it came down to RIM and us," he said.
Officials from RIM weren't immediately available for comment.
On Nasdaq Tuesday, RIM is down 15 cents to $85.30 while Microsoft is up 11 cents to $27.67.
Company Web Sites: http://www.rim.net, http://www.microsoft.com

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04-04-06 1143ET
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