Microsoft and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) are teaming up today on the public release of BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365, a name which surely Microsoft itself had a hand in creating. The new service will allow corporate customers to manage their deployed BlackBerry devices using Exchange Online, the hosted version of Microsoft’s messaging platform.

The addition comes at no extra cost to current subscribers of the Office 365 suite or the standalone Exchange Online offering, and supports any BlackBerry devices, whether on a business or consumer data plan.

Once enabled, the managed BlackBerry smartphones will be able to sync with Microsoft Exchange Online email, calendar and organizer data. BlackBerry Balance, a new technology that helps admins manage the corporate data on the device, while leaving personal data untouched, will also be available with this new offering. I.T. will be able to manage the phones using a web-based console, but employees will have access to self-service tools for password and device resets, remote lock and remote wipe functions.

BlackBerry Business Cloud Services is live now in 50 countries. More info is here.

Partnerships like this are one of the reasons why some mobile industry insiders believe that RIM could be a viable acquisition target for Microsoft. The companies are already working so closely together to integrate their technologies, and both share a similar end user customer base: the enterprise market. Reports that RIM has even engaged in takeover talks with Microsoft emerged in December, but nothing has yet to come of that. Instead, the company’s recent moves like the co-CEO step-down and (misguided) statements from new CEO Thorsten Heins (“I don’t think any drastic change is needed”) imply that company is attempting a turnaround, not putting itself on the auction block. At least for now.

On Monday of this week, RIM’s new CEO made a statement that set off a bomb on the blogosphere, and I’m not sure he understood its repercussions at the time. “I don’t think any drastic change is needed.”

If you’ve been paying attention to RIM and its numbers, you know that what the company desperately needs is change. Sales are declining, platform market share is dwindling, and the BlackBerry brand, to a large extent, has lost the power it once had behind it. So in a recent interview with CrackBerry, Heins made sure to clarify exactly what he meant by “no drastic change is needed.”

I think this got into a little bit of the black and white zone. I was talking about drastic or seismic changes. What I was trying to address was that there was some suggestion that RIM should be split up or should even be sold. My true belief is that RIM has the strength and the assets that we can really succeed in this market.

There is a LOT of change. There is a lot of structure change, there has been already a lot of change in terms of our software, our software platform, bringing QNX in. There is no standstill at any moment here at RIM.

What I wanted to make clear to the market is that we believe in our own strength, we are BlackBerry, we are an integrated solution, hardware, software, services, and network.

Perhaps, Mr. Heins makes a point. RIM is clearly trying to change. We just haven’t seen it yet.

A QNX-based BlackBerry 10 operating system is a huge step in the right direction, but it was announced in April 2010 and won’t be ready until the second half of this year. Quite the wait, if I may be so bold.

Then there’s the PlayBook 2.0 OS that’s supposed to make its way to us next month, and refreshed hardware to go along with it which hasn’t been given a clear release date. Again, these are solid changes. PlayBook 2.0 brings everything that the first tablet OS was lacking and does it in a seamless, elegant manner. But… the original PlayBook should’ve launched with this version of the OS, even if it meant the launch would be a bit later. Another case of attempted change, but poor execution.

Another change we’ll soon see from RIM has to do with their launch strategy. RIM usually puts out two or three new phones all on the same day. It’s like a BlackBerry explosion. But according to a leaked roadmap, the company seems to finally realize that a staggered approach is the only way to give each device a moment in the sun. It’s a smart move, we just need to experience it.

Finally, the BlackBerry London. Despite the fact that RIM’s bread and butter lies with its full QWERTY keyboard, the company is expected to debut BlackBerry 10 on an all-touch device, codenamed London. I have to say I applaud RIM for this choice, for now.

RIM’s core audience enjoys the full QWERTY, no doubt, and the company will likely continue to be the de facto when it comes to communication and QWERTY handsets. But (yep, another but)… the world is moving to all-touch whether RIM likes it or not. This is the company’s chance to tap into a different, younger segment of the market.

Of course, the London will need to be just about perfect in terms of hardware to get the ball rolling again, especially since RIM’s found itself in an uphill battle.

Long story short, RIM certainly is in the midst of a change. Whether it’s big enough or coming soon enough is an entirely different story.

Whenever a company appoints new leadership here in the tech world, the blogosphere seems to unanimously post about what the new top dog needs to do to make his or her company better. I promise, you’ll see dozens of headlines today talking about what Thorsten Heins must do in order to save BlackBerry.

In many cases, I agree with what’s being said. RIM’s in trouble, and without a new vision the company risks slipping even further behind the competition. You know… “the other fruit company.”

So rather than list out all of the things Heins needs to do to save the company (which, we can all agree, would take a really long time), I’m going to tell you guys the five things that Mr. Heins absolutely must not, without a doubt, under no circumstances… do.

That is, if RIM wants to keep selling smartphones.

Be Complacent

In less than a day at the post, Heins has proven himself to be quite the quote machine. My favorite: “I don’t think there is a drastic change needed.”

Alright, Mr. Heins. In that case we have a problem.

First, let’s just take a look at RIM’s numbers over the course of 2011. According to comScore, RIM slid from an 8.6 percent market share in January (as far as mobile phone OEMs go) to a 6.5 percent share in November. Where smartphone OSes are concerned, the dip was much more pronounced. RIM’s 30.4 percent share in January fell to almost half that, 16.6 percent, by November.

If these numbers can tell us anything, it’s that a drastic change is in fact needed. Yes, the BlackBerry brand did make a huge impact on the mobile landscape, and sure, there are still plenty of people in the Middle East and Europe (and even here) that heart their little BBM-machine. But whatever mind share the brand used to have is dwindling, just as the numbers are.

Sure, a superphone with killer specs would be great. A solid operating system? Yep, the company needs that too. But until leadership over in Waterloo realizes that enterprise-level security on messaging and a physical keyboard are no longer bringing in the “ooohs” and “aaahs”, nothing will change.

Lose Track Of Time

Anticipation can be deadly, as can forced urgency. RIM has struggled with both in the past year.

The company first announced it would be transitioning over to the QNX OS in April of 2010. It’s now 2012. Granted, the BlackBerry PlayBook is enjoying its QNX status (although the PlayBook has its own problems), but when we focus on smartphones the company has yet to offer or even announce a QNX-powered (BBX, or more formally BB 10) BlackBerry.

A big part of the mobile realm has to do with timing. If you know Apple’s about to release a new iPhone or that Google is about to pop out a new version of Android, you aren’t going to run out and pick up a new phone. No, you wait. It’s a fact these companies need to embrace.

If I’m a BlackBerry owner in April of 2010, and I hear that an entirely revamped, much more powerful OS is in the works, I want to wait to upgrade my hardware. But over the course of the year, Google launches Ice Cream Sandwich and Apple releases Siri and the iPhone 4S. And what do you know? RIM’s market share tanks to half of what it was. Obviously QNX wasn’t worth the wait for many.

I’m not saying the move to QNX is a bad decision. The opposite, in fact. But if you’re going to bet the company on a brand new OS, get yourself in gear and make it happen. And in the meantime, shut your lips about when it’ll be available and how awesome it is. You’re only frustrating your loyalists and asking potential Android/Apple defectors to come and check out… well, nothing.

But rushing is just as fatal, which is the story of the PlayBook. No need to relive that nightmare, but you know the important parts: no email, no contacts, no calendar, no PlayBook owners. It’s quite simple: If it’s not ready, we don’t want it.

Neglect Developers

RIM is more than just your basic OEM. The company provides services and, to an extent, builds out its own software. It’s an ecosystem, which is what every electronics company strives to be. But RIM’s ecosystem is one with a serious lack of wildlife — a tundra, if you will. Especially compared to the jungle of iOS and Android.

Developers take what is usually a very fundamental system and make it do everything and anything. Without the App Store, my iPhone is actually quite limited. That’s what owning a BlackBerry is like.

Compared to two app stores with well over half a million apps each, RIM’s BlackBerry App World boasts just 38,363. Unfortunately, at least 5,000 of them are visual themes. RIM’s own services like BBM are great but compared to other platforms, such a small selection (even with BBM) is a tough sell.

The good news is that any app built for PlayBook 2.0 will also run on BB 10, so in that way, RIM can double up on developers. Still, you need developers to build before you can run their app on both tablets and smartphones, and if I were a developer I’d already have lost interest. RIM needs to take note of this and create some incentives quickly.

If you have an iPhone or Android device, there’s probably an app for that.

Ignore Employees

Perhaps the greatest mistake that former RIM leadership made was to ignore the folks that comprise the company. I say it may be the biggest because who knows what kind of mind-blowing ideas and game-changing opportunities RIM has passed up under old leadership. In the past year, numerous open letters from both curernt and ex-employees have pointed to the same thing, over and over again: Mike and Jim didn’t listen to the lower level.

RIM has plenty of young guns, I’m sure, who are much more in tune with what today’s consumer wants from their smartphone. In fact, many of them probably grew up in a world where mobile phones were ubiquitous and smartphones are the growing norm, which can’t be said for Mike, Jim, or Thorsten.

But that’s not really the point. The point is that every single one of his new employees will be looking to see if he’s Mike/Jim’s new puppet (especially after this morning’s comments). They’re all waiting, likely pregnant with ideas on how to better the company, to see if he’ll turn an ear to them or not.

Hopefully he’s got his listening ears on.

Follow

It’s easy to follow when you’re already behind, but Mr. Heins must resist. It would be easy to follow Apple and Android because that’s largely what the company has been doing since 2009, when it launched a competing app storefront a year after Apple launched the App Store. But I’m less worried about that.

After the comments he made earlier today, namely that no change is needed, it would seem that Heins is already on Lazaridis and Balsillie’s team. The problem is that they refused to look forward, instead focusing on their glorious past. By saying that no change is needed, Heins is basically agreeing with them and telling the board, investors, and BlackBerry owners that the company has no real plans to compete in this landscape.

While the spec is dead (and megapixels don’t really mean that much in terms of picture quality), I remember the names Titan 2 and Xperia S because HTC and Sony hooked up these phones with 16- and 12-megapixel sensors. In the past year every flagship has had an 8-megapixel camera, and while I don’t think that either of these phones are a huge upgrade, they’re still the first of their kind.

It wouldn’t hurt RIM to try to be first at something. The company has likely forgotten the feeling of being first, which means they’ve likely also forgotten the value of it.

But everyone, most importantly the consumer, loves to be first.

RIM’s new CEO Thorsten Heins has only been at the reigns for an evening, but he did a very “BlackBerry” job of presenting himself to the media this morning on his introductory media call.

It felt a lot like the media calls of yore, with Balsillie and Lazaridis at the helm. Especially when Heins referred to Apple as “the other fruit company,” noting the two companies shared strategy of vertical integration. Unfortunately, vertical integration of software and hardware is about all that these two fruits have in common.

Remember folks, Heins is coming off of a four-year stint at RIM. At the relatively young company, Heins worked under founder Mike Lazaridis and his partner in crime Jim Balsillie. That said, you can basically hear Lazaridis-style hubris in Heins’ comments.

When asked if there was anything Heins wanted to do in the past, but was held back from by his position, Heins confirms that he (along with the freshly removed prior leadership) doesn’t see much wrong with RIM.

“At the time, the company was growing but still acting as a startup,” said Heins. “But startup processes don’t scale. Every company goes through that phase. I had the opportunity to learn about RIM here. I don’t think that there is a drastic change needed. We are evolving our tactics and processes. I don’t feel that I was held back in any way to do what I needed to do.”

So, let’s just parse this out, shall we? Heins, as COO, was never held back in executing operational decisions or strategies. That means that anything he has wanted to do to help grow (and likely save) the brand, he could’ve already done. In other words, don’t expect a brand new BlackBerry or a brand new RIM.

But the new CEO had plenty more to talk about, namely that he has no plans to split the software and hardware businesses. So you can kiss dreams of an Android-powered BlackBerry out the window for now.

No, it’s BB 10 all the way, courtesy of QNX. When asked whether QNX is really “the thing,” Heins responded by saying that “QNX is not developing an OS. It’s an existing OS. It’s used already. It’s a multi-threaded OS. What that allows us to do is true multitasking. You can have many apps open at the same time and really run them real-time in parallel.”

He finished his shpeel by noting that QNX is “an extremely competitive OS today.” Of course, we have no way of judging that until RIM fiddles around with it, makes it usable on a smartphone, and then finally releases it.

Heins also mentioned that he’d be open to licensing BB 10 to other manufacturers, “if it makes sense strategically and tactically.” But again, other manufacturers would likely need to see consumer reaction to the OS before anything like that went down, which brings us back to RIM’s most pressing and important near-term goal: get BB 10 to market quickly.

[via Engadget]

Peter Rojas published a thought-provoking piece about RIM and BlackBerry 10. He said, in short, that the Canadian company should wipe out Blackberry OS and run Android or Windows or, barring that, sell out completely and offer a software package running on another OS. While both of those are logical positions, I think RIM will end up in far worse shape than those options allow.

RIM is popular for three reasons: the keyboard, BBM, and the back-end software. For most of this decade, IT shops have been able to send out fleets of BlackBerry products without concern simply because there was nothing better for email and messaging. Over the past three years, however, that claim has gone completely out the window. I would reckon that a nice IMAP server install is far easier and cheaper than any BB Enterprise Server ever was and, given this screenshot from the actual BBES “purchase” page, there is a lot of sales pressure involved.

What needs to happen (and what probably will happen) is fairly tragic: a major player, probably Microsoft, will buy the company and fold whatever patents and IP RIM has into its own cache. The buyer will pay lip service to the promise of a “bold new BlackBerry” and then, like Danger and the Sidekick, it will flatten the organization after all of the major talent leaves. BlackBerry will end up a footnote, BBES turned into Exchange, and WinPho 7 will make a “best-of-breed” keyboard phone. Given the improvements in batteries and materials, it should be hard to make a clone that runs as long as everyone with a BB expects it to. Plus, you’ve got the might and majesty of Microsoft behind it.

So, in the end, the question is not how BlackBerry will survive but when will it die? I’m bearish on the company – have been for years – and as good as those phones have been to millions of users, nothing bodes well for our cellphone neighbors to the North.

[Image: Asturianu/Shutterstock]

When RIM first launched the BlackBerry PlayBook last spring, we were all rather shocked to find that RIM’s stand-out core services — secure messaging and productivity related apps like calendar and contacts — were… absent. The company promised an update to fix it, and after eight months said update has finally been unveiled here at CES.

Truth be told, the new PlayBook OS is much better than expected, but I guess you start to set the bar low when the first time around was so disappointing. We got a chance to go hands-on with the new system here at CES, and recorded a video just for you fine readers.

In it, you’ll see the new unified inbox which I find to be the best new feature. I also like the fact that you’re not bombarded with a home screen full of pre-set app tabs, but can now customize tabs to hold whatever apps you like. Everyone organizes themselves differently and on a tablet specifically designed for the productive professional, there shouldn’t be any restrictions to how you set yourself up.

The only problem is that this is exactly what PlayBook 1.0 should have been, as Matt points out. RIM was relatively early to the tablet space, and flopped entirely. It would’ve been better to enter the tablet space now (with 2.0) than to try and regain consumer interest in what has become a rather crowded segment.

If you’re a BlackBerry user and you’ve been waiting for a music service that’s just a bit more compelling than BBM Music, then you may be in luck — emphasis on the “may.” Spotify for BlackBerry was officially released today, but you’ll only be able to use it under some specific circumstances.

According to Spotify’s blog, the newly released app will only work for users with the following BlackBerrys: the Bold 9780, Bold 9700, Curve 9300, Bold 9000, and the Curve 8520.

If none of those handsets sound terribly familiar, I can’t say I blame you — the newest of the bunch (the 9780) was released more than a year ago. Spotify doesn’t explicitly mention whether or not the app works with newer BlackBerry 7 devices, but a Spotify rep told the owner of a newer Bold 9900 that he could “be sneaky and try it anyway.”

Even then, the sneaky approach won’t work for everyone. Spotify’s blog mentions that CDMA BlackBerrys aren’t compatible at all, and neither is the Torch 9800. That said, BlackBerry owners with flashier hardware may still want to give it a whirl — some users on CrackBerry have apparently gotten the app to work on both a Bold 9900 and the ostensibly verboten 9800.

RIM has announced that it will be taking over half a billion dollars in charges related to two major failures this fiscal year. First is the immense overproduction of the Playbook tablet, the writedown of which inventory amounted to $485M on its own, or $360M after tax. The second charge is related to the prolonged network outage in early October, though it’s unclear whether that money is directly related or being reserved for dealing with ongoing costs like lawsuits.

Sales of handsets and services were as forecasted, but a lack of growth must be inferred by their waning market share, and at any rate the sales weren’t enough to put RIM at their expected revenue of $5.3 billion for the upcoming quarter. Quarterly earnings are at a level with (low) predictions of around $1.20 per share, but yearly earnings will miss the expected $5.25 per share, and analysts are calling for as little as $3.50.

That enormous PlayBook charge really indicates how serious a misstep the device was. While there are plenty of happy PlayBook owners out there (especially after recent markdowns), the numbers are nowhere near what RIM must have expected, and sales have been less than half what they shipped. A bit of napkin math has the hundreds of thousands of unsold devices adding up to hundreds of millions in lost revenue, and then of course there are the many thousands of devices that sold at less than the expected price by hundreds of dollars each. Acer recently faced a glut of inventory and admitted its entire strategy needed to be revised. RIM has not shown much contrition despite serious reservations by shareholders analysts.

RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis demonstrated this lack of forthrightness in the earnings report:

RIM is committed to the BlackBerry PlayBook and believes the tablet market is still in its infancy… Early results from recent PlayBook promotions indicate a significant increase in demand across most channels.

October’s outage also affected RIM’s credibility. While even the best services can’t guarantee 100% uptime, the length and seriousness of the outage eroded RIM’s reputation as a reliable business solution. The PlayBook’s lack of enterprise chops and familiar BlackBerry services further contributed to a loss of faith.

RIM has had a bad year, and that’s putting it lightly. But they’re still nearly in line with their predicted earnings and they are, in fact, on the verge up a major product refresh with the new line of QNX/BBX-based BlackBerry devices and a major PlayBook update. A company that stumbles isn’t necessarily a company that falls, but RIM is running out of chances.

The full earnings report can be found here, and some extra commentary by investors and analysts has been collected by Reuters.

We’ve gotten a few discreet glances as what could be RIM’s first next-generation BlackBerry in the past, and now we may have a name to go with it. Originally code-named “London,” BlackBerryOS reports that the BBX-powered device will henceforth be known as the “Surfboard.”

Erm, yeah. I”m not thrilled either.

As odd as the name may be, it doesn’t come completely out of the blue. RIM filed for the BlackBerry Surfboard trademark in the Canadian Intellectual Property Office in July 2010, and has been sitting on it ever since. It seemed for a while like one of those names RIM would never get around to using, but they subsequently filed for an extension of time this past May — it’s possible that RIM has chosen to dust off a name from the archives to use for their latest smartphone.

Then again, the BlackBerry PlayBook was rumored to be called the “SurfBook” for a while thanks to another trademark also filed in 2010, and we all know how that one turned out. I sort of doubt that the London/Surfboard will make it all the way to its reported June 2012 launch date without a few more tweaks to the branding, but then again that’s really the least of their problems. Older specs aside, RIM needs to make absolutely sure that their new-fangled OS is up to snuff before people will even consider choosing it over every other compelling smartphone option under the sun.

Research In Motion this morning introduced a new enterprise mobility solution dubbed BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, aiming to help its business and government clients manage employees’ smartphones and tablets running the BlackBerry operating system, but also Android and iOS devices like the iPhone and the iPad.

Currently in early beta testing with a limited number of enterprise customers, RIM expects to kick off a closed beta program in January 2012, with general availability scheduled for late March 2012 (pricing unknown).

Mobile Fusion will encompass the company’s Enterprise Server technology for BlackBerry devices but combine it with mobile device management capabilities for iOS and Android devices, and will basically enable IT departments within organizations manage a multitude of decices from a single, Web-based ‘control room’.

RIM realizes that, increasingly, employees are bringing their own devices to the office, and is trying to cash in on the fact that those devices are increasingly not BlackBerry phones or tablets.

In an interview with Reuters, RIM’s VP for Enterprise Product Management, said:

“What our enterprise customers are looking for, and the opportunity for us, is to become the de facto platform. We will take full advantage of whatever security capabilities are provided by the core operating system. We’re not going to hold that back in any way, shape or form.”

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will also introduce self-service functionality for employees to secure lost or stolen BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook tablets.

One of the primary criticisms of the BlackBerry PlayBook, and rightly so, was the omission of native email, contacts, and calendar applications. It was troubling then that they hadn’t considered these primary activities as important to address natively, and it’s troubling that it has taken then so very long deliver these elementary functions.

RIM originally said these reviews weren’t “fair,” but regardless of the quality of the OS and the device itself (both of which seem perfectly fine), it’s criminal to subject your loyal users to such a long wait for an email client competitive with Apple and Google. But at least the apps are being finalized, and were just showed off at the BlackBerry Innovation Forum.

BlackBerryCool has posted some quick shots of the apps. They look clean and more or less as you’d expect, and much better in my opinion than the early versions they showed at BlackBerry World. I have no trouble believing they’re as polished as the rest of the OS, and I look forward to seeing how they have integrated off-screen gestures and the like. Ideally, the PlayBook should be as much of an email and messaging powerhouse as its handset brethren.

Unfortunately the apps won’t be arriving until February 17th, and there won’t be a native BBM client by then either. But there’s a good chance they’ll be included as part of a major update that makes the Playbook, which is in some ways ahead of its time, a more realistic competitor.

The PlayBook’s keyboard accessory should be hitting around the same time as well, which should aid in productivity.

[via CrackBerry]

It’s a fact of life for many a new smartphone on the market: the impressive sales seen at launch and during the first few weeks will inevitably taper off. RIM’s new line of BlackBerrys may have already blown through that initial grace period, if RBC Capital Market’s Mike Abramsky is to be believed. Abramsky noted to investors this morning that BlackBerry sales have begun to slow down as RIM heads into the holiday season.

“Despite on-time BlackBerry 7 launches, checks are showing slowing domestic sell-through, plus impacts from recent service outages and PlayBook challenges (delayed software, sluggish sell-through),” Abramsky said.

The news can’t be too welcome to the folks at Waterloo, seeing as RBC Capital Markets had previously maintained a bullish stance on the company’s future. For what it’s worth, RIM can take solace in the fact that they enjoy a strong position in international markets — Abramsky refers to them as the top vendor in Great Britain and Indonesia.

Still, at home and in the U.S., RIM is looking at a dire set of circumstances. Their new BlackBerry 7-powered devices must compete with top-tier smartphones from Apple, Samsung, Motorola, and HTC (among others) this holiday season, and they’re already feeling the squeeze. Abramsky isn’t the first to notice the dip in BlackBerry sales — Canaccord Genuity’s T. Michael Walkley reported on a similar situation last week in a note to investors, and notes that the new iPhone has helped in removing the wind from RIM’s sails.

“While our September/October checks indicated solid sales of new BlackBerry operating system 7 models, especially the Bold 9000 series as an upgrade enterprise sale, our recent checks indicate slowing sales trends post the launch of the iPhone 4S and price reductions of the iPhone 4 and 3GS,” said Walkley.

Meanwhile, RIM’s BBX-powered lifeboat isn’t expected to see the light of day until the middle of next year, which amounts to ages in the mobile space. A brief look at what could be the company’s first BBX BlackBerry revealed a list of specs that would have trouble wowing customers even now, let alone next year. In spite of everything though, RIM’s upper brass continues to put on a brave face. While on a conference call in September, RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie said that he felt the company was well-positioned going into the holidays, but we’ll soon see if his confidence was warranted.

We may have gotten a glimpse at what RIM has planned for the future, but for now RIM devotees will have to make do with a new pair of current-gen BlackBerrys. The new Bold 9790 and the Curve 9380 both run RIM’s BlackBerry 7 OS, but that’s about where the similarities stop.

As the model number suggests, the 9790 is an extension of RIM’s pint-sized 9700 series. The Bold 9790 sticks with the tried-and-true BlackBerry design, albeit with some revamped buttons that caused a bit of a stir when they were first spotted. Unlike the other BB7-powered Bold, the 9790 sports a smaller 2.44-inch 360×480 display, a 1GHz processor, and 8GB of internal storage.

Meanwhile, the Curve 9380 takes its cues from the other touchscreen BlackBerrys of late, but it’s a hair shorter and wider than it’s other all-touchscreen brother, the Torch 9850. The 9380 keeps the same 360×480 resolution as seen in the new Bold, and stretches those pixels over a larger 3.2-inch display. RIM is keeping mum on the new Curve’s specs, but considering the Curve series’s budget-friendly pedigree, I wouldn’t expect much of a barnburner.

Speaking of the Curve, something about it has been irking me since I first saw it, and I think I’ve just figured out what it is. Save for the optical trackpad, the 9380 looks almost exactly like the original BlackBerry Storm. Even the screen sizes are similar, with the Storm beating out the Curve by .05 inches. It’s an interesting development, considering how awful the Storm was, but in fairness its design was probably the least offensive thing about it.

RIM has yet to reveal specifics like pricing and availability, but here’s hoping these BlackBerrys get pushed out the door soon. I have a feeling RIM will need all the extra time they can get to polish up their new OS and the hardware that will go with it.

RIM has been caught in rough waters for the past few months, and RIM has made no secret of the fact that their hopes for the future are pinned on BBX and their new BlackBerrys. The Verge has managed to get a picture of what may be the company’s first BBX-powered BlackBerry, and — to my surprise — it’s a handsome piece of kit.

Code-named “London,” the device bears a slight resemblance to the heinous, Porsche-designed P’9981 that debuted last month because of its seemingly metallic body.

Thankfully, the London’s clean lines steer clear from that gaudy territory and impart it with an understated, premium look that previous BlackBerrys have never managed. The Verge also reports that the body is slightly boxy, much like the Future BlackBerrys we’ve seen RIM dream up already.

Unfortunately, the London’s specs don’t quite match up to the high bar its design has set. It reportedly sports a 1.5GHz TI OMAP processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front facer. While it’s an improvement over RIM’s current BlackBerrys, the London’s specs would have been bleeding edge a few months ago. As it stands, the London may end up looking downright quaint when its reputed June 2012 launch window rolls around.

On the software front, the device’s UI is reminiscent of the BlackBerry PlayBook — not exactly a surprise, due to their shared QNX underpinnings. The color scheme seems to have gotten a bit of a revamp, as do a few of the device’s icons, but nothing is set in stone yet. According to The Verge’s sources, the device itself is a non-functional dummy, so it’s still anyone’s guess as to what RIM will really trot out next year. Here’s hoping whatever it is will be worth the wait — otherwise, RIM may not be able to keep their heads above water.

RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer will soon come pre-loaded with PressReader, a digital news app from a company called NewspaperDirect.

The application offers one-click access to more than 2,000 ‘replica’, full-content newspapers from close to 100 countries.

According to NewspaperDirect, news publications often hit PressReader before they hit the newsstands in their local markets.

Some of the daily newspapers that will be available: Chicago Tribune, Daily Mail, International Herald, Irish Times, La Presse, La Tribune, Le Monde, The Australian, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail and The Washington Post.

Most individual newspapers and magazines available through PressReader can be purchased for $0.99 per issue, or downloaded in conjunction with a paid subscription on PressDisplay.com.

PressReader is also available for iPhone/iPad, Android phones and tablets, and Windows 7 slates.

According to new data from Nielsen, Android has continued to pick up steam in the United States, and retains its crown as the most-used smartphone OS during Q3 2011. Google’s mobile OS now accounts for 43% of U.S. smartphones, up from the 39% we saw back in July. Apple’s iOS, on the other hand, has remained lock-steady at 28% this whole time, putting it at a distant second.

Despite their lack of growth on the software front, Apple still rules the roost when it comes to hardware. Apple’s iPhones are used by a full 28% of all smartphone customers, making them the top manufacturer for yet another quarter.

Meanwhile, use of RIM’s BlackBerry OS has slowly begun to slip: while it previously accounted for 20% of the smartphone OS market, it now accounts for 18%. Certainly not a drastic dip, but the Q3 report doesn’t take into account some of the more recent unpleasantness that the folks in Waterloo have been dealing with.

Surprisingly, Windows Phone’s adoption rate seems to have slowed down as well, as it now only accounts for 7% of smartphones, down from the 9% figure we saw last time. Microsoft and Nokia certainly aim to change that come next year, but we’ll soon see how well their grand designs pan out.

The Q3 results are definitely interesting, but I think the Q4 report is really the one to look out for. New hardware (and OS) announcements are coming at a blistering pace, and it’ll be a hoot to see how the landscape changes after the holiday retail wars have come and gone.

With BBM Music, RIM has thrown their hat into the already crowded mobile music ring. The new service’s focus on leveraging your social connections to score some new tunes is a novel twist, but it begs a significant question. Why would RIM release an ostensibly limited music service when you can shell out a few extra dollars a month for unlimited access?

At first glance, BBM Music seems like a huge hassle. Unless you only ever listen to a few songs, reaching out to your BBM buddies isn’t so much a suggestion as it is a requirement. Even though RIM claims to have a catalog of several million tracks, you can only ever have 50 of them linked with your BBM Music profile.

By connecting with your BBM-using friends, you slowly bolster your music collection by gaining access to their 50 songs, and so on. In short, it requires people to actually work for their music in addition to paying $4.99/month for it.

Competitor RDIO takes a similar approach to its social elements — you can follow fellow users and see what they’ve been playing — but none of that is mandatory to enjoy the nearly 9 million tracks in Rdio’s catalog. You’re definitely paying more for the privilege though: RDIO will run users $9.99/month for unlimited mobile access.

Still, the higher monthly price also grants users full access to the catalog on their computers, as well as on iOS and Android devices. It’s certainly the easier option between the two, but to unequivocally call it the better service is missing the point.

People have been drawing comparisons between these two opposing music models, but it’s very difficult to be fair since they’re geared for completely different audiences. It seems to me that BBM Music isn’t so much a music playing app as it is a music discovery app — it allows people to leverage their social connections to grow their collection, and it does it for less money than a typical Starbucks order.

By tying the music concept into BBM, RIM is capitalizing on one of the stickiest parts of the BlackBerry experience. There’s a strong chance that these users have already built up their BBM contact list, and with BBM Music, those users can finally get more out of their friends than just stimulating conversation.

Instead of trying to release a BlackBerry-specific unlimited streaming service that would drown in a sea of similar competitors, RIM wisely targeted existing BBM users to whom the service would add the most value because of their existing contact lists. Whether or not BBM Music will survive for long is another story entirely, but RIM took their music efforts in the best direction they could given the circumstances.

Alright BlackBerry fans, the time has come for you to experience BBM Music. If you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s a somewhat inexplicable music subscription service that integrates BBM. As of yet, the app has only been available to beta zone members, but today the app went live in the BlackBerry App World for all to enjoy. And by all, I mean users in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

Here’s how it works: For $4.99 a month, you’ll have the ability to store 50 songs on your “BBM Music Profile.” Powered by Omnifone, the BBM Music app lets you add friends through BBM integration, at which point you can then get access to the 50 songs on their profiles. So theoretically, you could end up with access to way more than 50 songs, but past your own music, the tracks you’ll be rocking out to won’t necessarily be your style. Oh, and you can only swap out 25 songs a month from your BBM Music Profile.

Then, of course, there’s a free subscription model. But the catch with this free lunch is big: instead of access to 50 full songs, you’ll only be allowed to listen to 30-second clips. I can’t imagine that the free model will do well — I mean, who enjoys a preview of a song?

In any case, you can’t blame RIM for trying, especially in such a viral way. The more friends you invite and add to the app, the more bang you get for your buck. Not a bad idea, but only time can tell if this app will fly or die.

I promise I’ll stop harping on RIM for a while, but I couldn’t resist — the BlackBerry Porsche P’9981‘s product page has gone live, and it affords us several new looks at the silliest-looking RIM device in recent memory.

One thing I neglected to mention yesterday is that users of the Porsche P’9981 are issued a special PIN that begins with “2AA.” It’s digital elitism at it’s worst, given that most people won’t be able to pick up on what’s so special about it.

After having slept on it and seeing these pictures, I actually find myself hating the Porsche P’9981 just a little less. It’s actually sort of handsome from the back and sides, but man — the face just seems amazingly gaudy. I think the keyboard is really what kills me, since it seems to put style ahead of usability. A handful of comments and tweets yesterday accused me of not “getting it,” and it’s with great consternation that I admit that I absolutely don’t.

Okay, I’m done. Back to business as usual, everyone.

We’ve already gotten a glimpse of what Microsoft hopes the future will look like, but how about a different take? PocketNow was able to dig up a pair of videos created by RIM that offers yet another glimpse at our device-driven tomorrow.

RIM’s vision of the future, like Microsoft’s, is one that’s heavily powered by touch — good luck finding a keyboard or physical button anywhere. Meanwhile, BlackBerrys have grown to be considerably more robust, and are able to seamlessly integrate with screens and surfaces that extend their functionality. Working on a long email and need a keyboard? Set your phone down on a table or a countertop and a keyboard pops up next to it.

As you’d probably expect from RIM, most of the scenarios they’ve dreamed up deal with business, from a new hire having her device remotely set up to a repairman using an augmented reality display to find a certain house. Even classic RIM focus points like device management make an appearance, albeit with a futuristic twist.

If some of that stuff sounds familiar, well, you’d be right: a lot of the things seen in the videos are already possible with current technology. NFC-enabled phones work great at (some) train stations, augmented reality keeps getting more sophisticated, and video conference calls happen everyday.

RIM’s thinking here isn’t quite as blue-sky as Microsoft’s; it’s more a refined extension of what we already have as opposed to a wild vision of what we could have. All I know is that the sooner RIM makes this future a reality, the sooner people will stop forecasting gloom and doom for them.