Unusually, Research in Motion (RIM), makers of the BlackBerry has started a war of words, aimed at Apple.

The attack came at the Web 2.0 conference when the Chief Executive Officer Jim Balsillie told delegates that it wasn’t necessary to have an application installed on any mobile device in order to access the web.

He told the Daily Telegraph: “We believe that you can bring the mobile to the web.  You don’t need to go through some kind of software development kit. That’s the core part of our message. You can use your existing development environment.

He added: “There’s still a role for apps, but can you use your existing content? Can you use your existing web assets? Do you need a set of proprietary tools to bring existing assets on to a device, or can you use known tools that you use for creating websites?”

The war of words is seen by many in the industry as a demonstration of the growing touchy relationship between the two North American companies. It is also possible that RIM perceives Apple as encroaching on its traditional marketing territory, namely business. Since its launch, the iPhone 4 has grown in popularity amongst the business community as well as the normal general retail sector.

To compound things, Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO even bragged that sales of the iPhone had outstripped the BlackBerry. He also added salt to the wound by suggesting that RIM wouldn’t catch up any time soon.