BlackBerry Protect is a new service that is currently in private beta from Research in Motion and works in similar ways to Apple’s Mobile Me (subscription service) or Microsoft’s low-cost My Phone service. These services, including RIM’s Protect, allows phone owners to locate, find, and/or wipe their lost or stolen smartphone.

On the security front, Protect will allow users to find their phones by activating the GPS remotely from a browser, turn on the volume of the phone so they can find a misplaced BlackBerry, and send messages to the phone–such as owner information to help in the recovery efforts.

For the synchronization side, if after you have recovered your lost or stolen device, Protect will also try and re-sync with all your emails, tasks, SMS, notes, and appointments to get you off and going quickly.

Currently, Protect is compatible with the following devices:

•Storm 9500 with 5.0 OS software

•Storm 9530 with 5.0 OS software

•Storm2 9550 with 5.0 OS software

•Bold 9000 with 5.0 OS software

•Bold 9700 with 5.0 OS software

•Tour 9630 with 4.7.1 or 5.0 OS software

•Curve 8520 with 5.0 OS software

•Curve 8900 with 4.6.1 or 5.0 OS software

(via: IntoMobile)