LinkedIn networking comes to the BlackBerry

LinkedIn for BlackBerry is available now as a free download

LinkedIn users will now be able to access key functionality from the social networking site on the go via a new BlackBerry application.

The partnership is hardly surprising given that LinkedIn is regarded as the social networking site for professionals, and BlackBerry smartphones are the most widely favoured by business users.

"With the addition of the application for BlackBerry to our broader suite of mobile applications, LinkedIn is available to more business people than any other professional network in the world," said Adam Nash, vice president of search and platform products at LinkedIn.

"This is an important step in our strategy to deliver business productivity tools to our members wherever their work takes them."

LinkedIn for BlackBerry v1.0 will work with existing BlackBerry email, calendar and contacts applications.

The free application is available immediately for owners of BlackBerry Tour, Curve and Bold series smartphones, and operates on devices running BlackBerry OS 4.3 or later.

Full integration of the LinkedIn application with native BlackBerry applications requires BlackBerry OS 4.6 or later.

LinkedIn has already launched mobile offerings for the iPhone and Palm Pre.