Yesterday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that Microsoft and RIM will be partnering to integrate Bing’s Search and map applications into RIM devices. At the Blackberry World Expo, Ballmer said, “We’re going to invest uniquely into the BlackBerry platform.”

As a Blackberry fan, I’m wondering if this will help save my beloved devices. Once king of the smartphone market, will this partnership help regain or boost their marketshare? Nielsen’s latest survey (Jan 2011-March 2011) on new mobile consumers revealed 31% of consumers planning to purchase a smartphone in the next year planned to buy an Android-powered device, while 30% wanted to purchase an iPhone and 11% wanted to purchase a Blackberry device. The last time Nielsen’s survey was released, in September 2010, 33% planned to make an iPhone their next device, 26% said they would go with Android, and 13 % said they wanted a Blackberry. The good news for RIM and Microsoft is that 20% of those surveyed for the most recent study are undecided about what phone to purchase next, and the two companies combined account for 32% of all current smartphone market share.

What should perhaps be most worrisome for the two companies is iPhone and Android owners have an average of 48 and 35 mobile apps on their devices, respectively, compared to 17 and 15 for Windows Mobile and Blackberry owners. Combined, Apple and Android make up nearly three-quarters of mobile app downloads. Only 29% of Blackberry users continue to use apps multiple times a day 30 days after download. That percentage pales in comparison to iPhone (68%), Android (60%), and Windows Mobile (45%).

Clearly Microsoft and RIM have some catching up to do. Only time will tell whether their partnership (and that of RIM and Nokia) is too little too late or if it will help save the day.