What is RIM’s greatest obstacle? Honestly, it’s a tough question to answer seeing that the Waterloo-based company hasn’t had the best few months — but if I had to pick just one issue, it’d be lack of apps.
Not having enough apps on a given platform is akin to sitting down to a perfectly set dinner table and getting no food. Luckily, that Android App player that RIM promised for the BlackBerry PlayBook seems to be nearing launch. → Read More
If you’re a member of BlackBerry Beta Zone, you should be happy to hear that Ticketmaster has just released the Ticketmaster for BlackBerry app in beta version 2.0.
This means you can select the event of your choosing straight from your phone, buy tickets, and be on your way, all from the comfort of that QWERTY keyboard. → Read More
The latest news from the RIM rumor mill is that a media streamer is in the works. Codename Cyclone will pack the standard equipment of HDMI, WiFi, Netflix and is scheduled for a Fall release. Waterloo has yet to make this official, but most rumors concerning RIM pan out. I would be seriously surprised if it did not exist – it fits perfectly within the company’s BlackBerry-centric ecosystem — but it will still probably be the latest RIM product to publicly crash and burn.
I’m a fan of Research in Motion. They make good smartphones that admittedly tend to lag a bit behind Android and iOS. That’s fine in my book. It shouldn’t matter as much in RIM’s familiar turf of the enterprise market, but the company seems stuck on competing in the consumer market with budget handsets rather producing quality kits for the corporate crowd. That’s where RIM is most loved and respected anyway. But back to this RIM streamer. → Read More
RIM announced at a shareholder’s meeting that they would release seven new models this year including the Bold 9900, the 9860 and 9850. We could also expect a new Curve and a new (shudder) Torch. We can also expect a 4G PlayBook by the fall. RIM also admitted to failing to sell the PlayBook correctly at retail and admitted that it was their first “retail” product on the shelves and, as such, did not have the might of carriers behind it. → Read More
A Retrevo survey found that 34% of iPhone owners think the “4″ in iPhone 4 stands for 4G. Admittedly, they could have been fooled by the previous 3G moniker, but still…
Twenty-four percent of Blackberry owners think their phone is 4G (which is also impossible). 61% of iPhone owners don’t actually care about 4G and will buy a next-gen iPhone with or without the service. → Read More
The popular UberSocial Twitter client for BlackBerry (formerly known as UberTwitter) just got an update with a bunch of new features and bug fixes.
Notably, its developer UberMedia is doubling down on its BlackBerry app around the same time one of its rivals, Seesmic, is abandoning the BlackBerry platform.
One of the new features in UberSocial for Blackberry 1.2 is called “Inner Circle”, which basically lets you group together the most important people you follow in an exclusive timeline, alongside the traditional timeline. → Read More
Hot on the heels of my scathing diatribe against the once-mighty Blackberry empire, Erick and I explore the current financial and development situation that has befallen our neighbors to the North. Plus, we have an extra special guest who, as Erick notes, will “build an app for any platform, even Windows Phone 7″ but bailed on BBOS.
As I wrote in my post, I wish it didn’t have to be this way. RIM has long been a powerhouse in the mobile world and their failure to adapt mirrors Nokia’s: it’s the sense that internally, the successes of the past defined the actions of the present, resulting in out-dated thinking. → Read More
The Playbook is a study in missed opportunities. The sexy form factor, interesting new UI elements, and distinct, recognizable branding should have set it apart and made it a real player in the tablet game. Instead, it’s a mishmash of consumer and pro features, and missing things that would give any shopper pause. Why would they go to market without even a native email client? Sources say it was in fact a fundamental limitation of the Blackberry system. → Read More
Seesmic might have the sweetest Twitter app for Blackberry, but the Blackberry’s appeal isn’t sweet enough. Seesmic is discontinuing support for its Blackberry app on June 30.
Research in Motion, the company that makes the Blackberry, is going through a rough spot right now. But things must be pretty bad if Seesmic bailing. This is Seesmic, folks! They’ll build an app for any platform, even Windows Phone 7. → Read More
Breaking - Dolby has just announced that it has filed patent infringement lawsuits in the United States and Germany against BlackBerry maker Research In Motion.
The lawsuits seek recovery of financial damages and injunctions to halt sales of “many RIM products” that Dolby claims infringes its patents. → Read More
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) this morning announced intentions to debut the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in an additional 16 markets over the next 30 days, including the UK, Hong Kong, France, India, Spain and Australia.
So far, RIM’s iPad competitor has only been available to customers in North America (since April 19, 2011), and has drawn mixed reviews. → Read More
The majority of BlackBerry owners out there tend to fall on the enterprise side of things, so it only makes sense that RIM would build an app that caters to its suit-wearing, email-checking, conference-calling customer base. The app is called BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing, and it basically streamlines the entire tedious process of dialing in, giving an ID code, etc. North American BlackBerry owners will now be able to skip over annoying conferencing details by simply pressing a “Join Now” button to enter the conversation from their smartphone. → Read More
Remember that one time when there was no Facebook app for the iPad? And everyone was really upset about it? And we all just wished that Zuckerberg and Jobs could find some common ground, whether it be in Flash or not? Yeah, we haven’t quite woken up from that nightmare yet, but BlackBerry users certainly have something to celebrate: Facebook for Blackberry Beta v2 (Beta 3!) just went live in the BlackBerry Beta Zone. → Read More
Reuters is reporting that wonder twins, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, could be out at RIM as shareholders continued to watch the company falter in the smartphone and revenue race. The expectation is that an group of activist investors could make a move to control the company and make changes at the top. On investor saw the pair as “taxed for time” and under pressure to perform even as they were left behind. → Read More
Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo has announced its summer line-up of cell phones today, and we have squeezed all their nine new smartphones (plus Fujitsu’s Windows 7/Symbian hybrid) into this article for your reading pleasure (click here for a list of all new feature phones). → Read More
I don’t often like to post “numbers” news since we’re hardware guys, but this particular stat sticks out: Mike Lazaridis just reported that BlackBerry sold 150 million phones in the past 12 years and sold 15 million last quarter. To put this into perspective, Nokia shipped 108.5 million mobile devices in Q1 2011 while AT&T alone sold 3.6 million iPhones last quarter. Like the baby bear’s bowl of porridge, RIM isn’t too hot nor is it too cold. Some would say, in fact, that those sales are just right or, barring that, tepid. → Read More
An app that probably should have appeared on the Playbook at launch, video chat, is coming to tablet owners tomorrow morning in an OTA update. In addition to front and back camera support, the chat app allows you to make VOIP and video calls as well as connectivity based on the user’s BBID. The app features “powerful in-call functions” like – and I’m not making this up – “mute/unmute.” → Read More
I’m here at Blackberry World in Orlando and I’m waiting patiently for news of a/many new phone(s). Keep your eyes on the prize here and I’ll be posting the news as soon as it happens at 8:30am Eastern/5:30am Pacific. → Read More
Sales Manager: Where’s Paul? He’s the only one who knows how to paste in the fake images onto devices in the catalog. Intern: He’s at lunch. I can try. I know Photoshop. Sales Manager: No, you’re an intern. I’ll do it. What is this thing? A tablet? Intern: Yeah, but… Sales Manager: Go take pictures of those USB thingers that just came in. Let me concentrate. And get me a latte. via MacMall via Eng → Read More
