BlackBerry Messenger is reportedly coming to iOS and Android on June 27, according to a tweet from T-Mobile UK’s official account today. The tweet was accompanied by a picture of BBM in action on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone. We knew it was coming, since BlackBerry announced it would be arriving “this summer” back in May, and that it would be free on both platforms and require either iOS 6 or… → Read More
BlackBerry’s wryly jovial CEO Thorsten Heins spent quite a bit of time talking up the new mid-range Q5 at this morning’s BlackBerry Live keynote address, but the folks in Waterloo may be working on a follow-up smartphone that’s staggeringly different than the one we saw today.
According to a report from KnowYourMobile, the struggling Canadian company is working an all-touch BlackBerry… → Read More
Today at BlackBerry Live, CEO Thorsten Heins announced BBM will soon be available on Android and iOS. The messaging app will launch globally this summer. This is a huge move for BlackBerry as it brings BB10′s strongest feature to literally hundreds of millions of potential users.
“It is a state of confidence,” Heins explained. “The BB10 platform is so strong and the response has been so good… → Read More
BlackBerry has just announced the BlackBerry Q5 smartphone, the latest BB10 handset to come out of the Waterloo-based firm. Like the Q10, the Q5 has a QWERTY keyboard and comes in a host of colors, including red, black, white and pink.
“I know it’s going to be a big hit,” said Thorsten Heins, as he made the announcement. → Read More
BlackBerry and Samsung devices have been given the go-ahead for use on Defense Department networks. The approved devices are BlackBerry 10 smartphones, BlackBerry PlayBook tablets using the Enterprise Service 10 system and Samsung’s Android Knox. The Pentagon said earlier this week that it also expects to clear Apple devices using iOS 6 in early May. → Read More
BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins seems to be among the most transparent executives in tech in terms of showing his hand regarding future product plans, which may be partly because he doesn’t have much to lose at this point. In an interview yesterday, he downplayed tablet computing in what looks to be an indicator that BlackBerry will drop the PlayBook, its own lame duck tablet and the first of its… → Read More
This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about the Blackberry Q10, The HTC One, and the Fitbit Flex. This time we’re joined by Matt Burns, Darrell Etherington, Chris Velazco, and a tiny thinger that won’t fit into the bracelet. Enjoy! → Read More
The BlackBerry Q10 is, some might say, the BlackBerry OS 10 device that the company should have led with, ahead of its all-touch Z10. That’s because it sports a hardware QWERTY keyboard, something that has become a unique distinction among top-tier smartphones these days. BlackBerry tells me they wanted to nail the all-touch experience first, in part to prove that they could, but based on my last… → Read More
What the next iPhone really really needs is not an even bigger screen, flatter icons, flexible widgets or live tiles, or even crystal-ball-gazing cards. Or Facebook Home. That list is just garnish compared to the biggie: the iPhone needs a better keyboard. The iOS keyboard remains the most offensive piece of skeuomorphism across Apple’s faux realistic, lavishly textured user interface estate. → Read More
BlackBerry has been hit hard by Apple and Android in the enterprise smartphone market, and now it’s making some moves to make sure that it doesn’t face the same fate in the automotive segment. QNX, BlackBerry’s operating system subsidiary that makes the new BB10 operating system, today announced that it would be adding music streaming service 7digital into its in-car entertainment and information… → Read More
Just a few months ago, Skype competitor Viber previewed voice calling on the BlackBerry platform. Viber is available on a multitude of platforms, including iOS, Windows Phone 8, Bada, S40, Symbian, and the list goes on.
However, BlackBerry represents a good chunk of Viber’s user base (it’s their third largest platform behind iOS and Android), and yet it’s still in the minority of Viber apps… → Read More
Good news, Steve O’Hear. The physical QWERTY isn’t dead! The BlackBerry Q10 is now available for pre-ordering in the UK and ships at the end of the month.
BlackBerry’s second BB10 device will be available on Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Three, EE, and TalkMobile. Carphone Warehouse lists the device at £579.95 SIM-free or free on a 2-year, £36-per-month, contract. That’s on par with other… → Read More
BlackBerry last week posted better than expected quarterly results, but it’s not out of the woods yet. Now Canada is stepping in to help. Today, Export Development Canada, the Canadian export credit agency, announced that it has provided a €200 million ($256 million) working capital facility to Telefonica, one of the world’s biggest mobile operators, to procure BlackBerry smartphones, services… → Read More
BBM Music, I hardly knew ye (seriously, I never got the chance to play with it). In an email sent out to the service’s users earlier tonight, BlackBerry announced that it was officially pulling the plug on its curious BBM Music service on June 2 though the email admits the date is “subject to change”. → Read More
Curious about BlackBerry 10? Of course you are, even if just a little bit. Direct your mobile browser to blackberry.com/glimpse for, well, a glimpse at BlackBerry 10.
The in-browser experience isn’t a full emulation, but rather just a demo of BB10′s user interactions and popular features. It works well, guiding the user through all the swiping and sliding that is BlackBerry 10. → Read More
The big winners in the three-month period ending in February in terms of smartphone share globally and in the U.S. were Android and Windows Phone, according to Kantar Worldpanel, with BlackBerry experiencing significant declines in consumer interest and iOS remaining fairly level in most markets. The bad news for BlackBerry is that it saw its smartphone OS share decline even in the U.K., where it… → Read More
It’s approaching three years since I emailed and got a reply from the late Steve Jobs. The topic of my caffeine-fueled missive that sunny day in June 2010 was the industry’s move towards touch-based interfaces and, specifically, Apple’s one-size-fits-all approach regarding the iPhone’s lack of a physical QWERTY keyboard. → Read More
For the past year BlackBerry has been trying to prove to the world that it’s not a mobile has-been just yet, and that all came to a head earlier this year when the company finally released the BlackBerry 10 mobile OS to the masses. While the company’s future is still unclear, BlackBerry released its fiscal Q4 2013 earnings early this morning and they’re more impressive than you would expect… → Read More
BlackBerry’s App World now touts 100,000 BB10 applications. An impressive number for a platform just months old. But out of those 100,000 applications, roughly 20% are Android apps, simply ported over rather than being coded specifically for BlackBerry 10.
This is a win for BlackBerry. It’s a big win. Android or native, it shows that BlackBerry is successfully pulling developers into its fold. → Read More
BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins recently confirmed with CNET that the company would launch a midtier device yet this year and an “exciting” new flagship device could launch around the holidays. “It [the new flagship] takes BlackBerry 10 to another level in terms of the user experience,” he said.
Great! There’s a new BB10 device launching by the end of the year. How’s the Z10 doing, Mr. Heins? → Read More
BlackBerry delivered one of the world’s most mysterious press releases a short time ago when it revealed that it had sold a cool 1 million BB10 devices to an unnamed partner, but now it looks like some sleuthing has turned up the real client. AllThingsD and Detwiler Fenton both report that the likely source of the order was Brightstar, an international distribution company that counts Verizon… → Read More
BlackBerry is launching the Z10 today in the U.S., but it’s already looking ahead to what comes next, according to an interview between ABC’s Joanna Stern and BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins. The company is working on ways that BlackBerry software can power your laptop or tablet, too, and all from your smartphone. Heins sounds like he’s describing an Asus PadFone, and revealed a dream of a personal… → Read More
BlackBerry announced earlier today that its BlackBerry World content portal has officially crossed the 100,000 app marker, and has chosen to celebrate by talking up availability of some select, high-profile apps. New Amazon Kindle, OpenTable and Wall Street Journal apps have already gone live in the market, and BlackBerry has said that eBay, Skype, Soundhound, and Viber (just to name a few) are… → Read More
The U.S. Department of Defense will order 650,000 iOS devices to replace older BlackBerry devices that are incompatible with the new BlackBerry 10 operating system after the sequester is over, reports Electronista. → Read More
BlackBerry’s first BlackBerry 10 smartphone is about to make its official U.S. consumer debut in just a few days, and the long wait has seen the size of the platform’s app selection swell considerably. According to an interview with BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins conducted by the Australian Financial Review, Heins expects the BlackBerry World content portal to cross the 100,000 app mark in time for… → Read More
BlackBerry issued a press release today that amounts to little more than “Look! We’re selling handsets!” The four paragraph release hit the wire at 3:17 ET, and shares (which had been down on the day on the NASDAQ) shot up immediately afterwards. BlackBerry provides no details about who placed the order or why, noting only that it’s the single largest purchase order for the devices “in history.”… → Read More
When BlackBerry 10 launched, it did so with a dearth of big-name applications available in its BlackBerry World content portal. Even now some companies (I’m looking at you Netflix) continue to shy away from the platform, but at least one company has changed its tune on the BlackBerry 10. After a representative noted late last year that the team had “no plans to support” BlackBerry’s new OS… → Read More
It was something of a black eye for BlackBerry when it came out that Sprint wouldn’t be carrying the all-touch Z10 BB10 smartphone. A huge relaunch, integral to the company’s future success, and one of the four major U.S. carriers was taking a pass on the first hardware. But the carrier is going to sell the keyboard-toting Q10, and will also sell what could be a Z10 successor, complete with… → Read More
Google just announced that it is rolling out a new design for its Gmail mobile web app for Android, iOS, Blackberry and Kindle Fire. The new design looks very similar to Gmail’s recently relaunched iOS apps, with a generous amount of whitespace and larger fonts and icons. The web app now also features Gmail for iOS’s improved search tool and calendar integration. This means the mobile… → Read More
Just days after Bloomberg ran a report claiming that AT&T would release BlackBerry’s long-awaited Z10 smartphone on March 22, AT&T has issued a statement confirming that launch will indeed go forward as reported. Prospective BlackBerry owners will have to shell out $199 for the Canadian company’s new flagship and (for better or worse) sign a two year contract. → Read More
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