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BlackBerry loses its bread and butter as Bold and Curve sales finally collapse
In commercial terms, BlackBerry's much-hyped BB10 phones barely made a dent. The manufacturer's financial health has actually been propped up this whole time by sales of its older classics, Bolds and Curves running on BB7. It's pretty incredible how long those models have lasted, but BlackBerry's latest earnings report reminds us that nothing lasts forever: BB7 sales have fallen 50 percent year-over-year to 2.3 million units, which is double BlackBerry 10 sales, but not nearly enough to help the company stay in the black. Of course, the collapse of legacy hardware isn't news to the CEO, John Chen, who has promised to support BB7 devices "for as long as there's demand," but who has also set about rebuilding BlackBerry as fast as he possibly can.
BlackBerry makes 9720 handset official with Curve-era specs and software
No one can pretend it's business as usual at BlackBerry, but for the moment the company is pressing on with new releases. Today marks the official launch of the heavily-leaked 9720, which actually takes the whole carry-on-regardless approach a bit too literally by sticking with BB 7.1 instead of the new (and nice) BB OS 10. The phone has a 2.8-inch 480 x 360 display (214ppi) above a "re-engineered" (but distinctly Curve-like) thumbpad, a 5-megapixel rear camera and 512MB of RAM. There's also a dedicated BBM key to take you straight to the messaging app and the OS has been tweaked with a not-so-revolutionary onscreen button to make photo sharing easier. The handset is destined for Europe, Asia and Latin America "in the coming weeks" and ought to hit a much, much lower price point than the Q5.
RIM promotes UK and Ireland head in preparation for BlackBerry 10
Thorsten Heins is assembling his crack team for BlackBerry 10, hiring and firing to assemble the lineup of business heavyweights he needs. RIM's UK and Ireland chief Stephen Bates is the latest to move, being promoted into the newly-minted role of European Managing Director, while former product manager Rob Orr will take his place. A RIM spokesperson told ZDNet that the moves are to ensure the company's BB7 legacy devices remain strong sellers in a key market while preparing the region for the advent of BB10.
NPD: iPhones recover market share in Q4 2011, but Android draws the first-timer crowds
According to the latest research from the NPD group, Apple has got its second wind in smartphone sales. In the same quarter that saw the iPhone 4S reinvent the wheel obey our every vocal whim, the trio of available models soaked up a total of 43 percent of the US smartphone market in Q4 2012, apparently gnawing away at Android's market share of 53 percent held during the rest of 2011. However, Google's mobile OS appears to be the debutante smartphone of choice, cornering 57 percent of new purchases, with 34 percent going for Apple. The remaining 9 percent is distributed between the smartphone also-rans, with the likes of Windows Phone and BlackBerry languishing in that anonymous grey bar at the top. The top five handsets from NPD's Mobile Phone Track service is an Apple and Samsung love-in, with iOS devices claiming the three top spots, followed by the Samsung Galaxy S II (we assume collectively) and the Galaxy S 4G. NPD's blow-by-blow commentary on this increasingly two-horse race awaits below.
BlackBerry 7 devices get American, Canadian Government approval
The Governments of the USA and Canada have announced that BlackBerry 7 (and 7.1) smartphones are suitable for official use. The units have been granted FIPS 140-2 certification, demonstrating a suitable level of cryptographic security to protect sensitive information. Gear that hasn't been FIPS-certified can't be purchased by Government agencies, so RIM can expect to see a substantial order of its Bold 9900 / 9930 / 9790, Torch 9850 / 9860 / 9810 and Curve 9350 / 9370 / 9380 phones, as President Obama looks to swell the number of people legally allowed to BBM-him. After the break we've got a missive from Waterloo expressing how proud it is now it's been Government-sanctioned.
Shocker! New RIM CEO targets existing BlackBerry users for upgrades
All of new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins' fresh ideas will apparently still be revealed to the company's board in a couple of weeks, but he's already dropped some gems in interviews with the Wall Street Journal and Reuters (update: and Bloomberg). First item on the agenda? Getting current users upgraded to the latest and greatest BlackBerry hardware. Citing internal statistics that indicate 80- to 90- percent of the company's customer base aren't running BlackBerry 7 hardware yet, it will work closely with US carriers to promote upgrades until the new BB10 devices hit later this year. There's no word on what the carrier deals include, but he hinted at device or preloaded app bundles. He also promised an LTE version of the PlayBook would arrive this spring, with LTE connected handsets also planned for the BlackBerry 10 lineup. Is that enough to turn around RIM's fortunes in the US, where he acknowledged the company is "a turnaround candidate"? We'll find out, but as obvious as the need to placate the already BBM-addicted may be, execution of the plan is everything.
Android leads US market share, iOS may have stopped growing, RIM is still falling
NPD just published its latest plotting of the great American smartphone OS rivalry, and although the report covers annual rather than quarterly trends, it's perhaps more interesting to hold it up against the previous set of figures we saw -- those for Q2 2011. Back then, Google's OS had a 52 percent share, but these new figures suggest a marginally better performance of 53 percent between January and October. Meanwhile, iOS's 29 percent share is identical to what we saw in Q2, hinting that its growth has slowed right down or even stopped. RIM's share of the pie is 10 percent, compared to 11 percent in Q2, showing that the Summer flurry of new BB7 handsets like the Bold 9930 and Torch 9810 had little immediate impact. WP7 obstinately refuses to overtake Windows Mobile, although these figures are pre-Titan, while the doomed Symbian and webOS are barely clinging to life. Aside from all that, perhaps the only stats that are genuinely still shocking are those at the top of the column for 2006. Click below for further detail's in NPD's press release.
BlackBerry Bold 9790 Bellagio photographed in the wild, poses for family portrait
If you haven't yet snagged one of RIM's two newly refreshed Bold devices, you might want to hold off for the runt of the litter. Originally leaked back in May, the Bellagio 9790 borrows the bumped-up specs of its recently unveiled cousins, while staying true to the slimmed-down form factor of its 9700 predecessor. The leaked shots over at BGR show the diminutive portrait QWERTY next to the 9900, clearly showcasing the former's likely 2.4-inch touchscreen, optical trackpad and 5 megapixel rear-facing camera. We already know this phone's destined to ship with BlackBerry 7 OS, but as for the rest of the feature list, expect it to pack 8GB of storage, NFC-capability and a 1.2GHz processor. Of course, rumors being what they are, this could all very well change before the handset's purported end of year launch. Curious to see more? Then hit up the source link below for additional in-the-wild shots.
BlackBerry Torch 9850 review
Monza. It's a beautiful part of Italy, a majestic park split by one of the most historic racetracks in the world, and it was also the codename for this rather more homely looking phone. This is a handset that would go on to be known by many names (Storm 3, Touch...) before receiving its final moniker: Torch 9850. Why all the pseudonyms, and why choose to confusingly overlap this with the somewhat similar but rather different Torch 9810 that's also officially launching today? Maybe RIM didn't know what to make of this keyboard-free phone. Maybe the company wanted to distance itself from the Storm. Or, maybe what we have here is a smartphone that's trying to find an identity by sadly ditching the feature that, for many, makes a BlackBerry a BlackBerry: the physical keyboard. How does this smoothie compare to the others, and is it worth sacrificing all the QWERTY wonder found within the 9810? Read on to find out. %Gallery-130638%
Sprint welcomes BlackBerry Bold 9930 and Torch 9850 on 8/21, Bell now flaunts its 9900 and 9810
BlackBerry fans who prefer conducting business at the speed of "Now" will be getting their new fixations -- the Bold 9930 and Torch 9850 -- on August 21st. This is according to a pair of internal documents leaked from Sprint, which suggest RIM's new touch-enabled QWERTY handset will carry a $250 price tag, while its counterpart, the full touchscreen (and similarly specced) 9850, will sell for a more palatable $150. We understand the keyboard addiction is hard to break, but that's quite a monetary motivation to choose full touch. In related news up north, Bell has beaten its August 16th target date for the Bold 9900 and Torch 9810, as both devices are now available to its Canadian customers for $170 and $150, respectively. Granted, these prices represent Bell's standard three year commitment, but at least they remain reasonable -- unlike the option from a certain Magenta-themed network. Also, we've got some good news for Rogers customers, as the carrier has lowered the price of its Bold 9900 to a more suitable $200, compared to the original $250. Hey Sprint, care to follow suit? [Thanks, Luis]
RIM's BlackBerry Curve 9360 outed -- is this Apollo?
Did RIM forget this budget entry update, or was it pushed aside for this morning's announcements of its higher-end BlackBerry brothers? No matter the case, OneMobileRing got a hands-on with the Curve 9360, and it looks like this portrait QWERTY could be following in its brethren's OS 7 footsteps. Shots of the device reveal a Tour-like chrome trim, optical trackpad and the requisite micro-USB port for your charging / connectivity needs. A pic of the device's open battery door also shows off a SIM card slot, leading us to believe that this may very well be the ever-elusive Apollo. Could we see this mid-end, GSM workhorse in T-Mobile's near future? Our in-house Ms. Cleo predicts a yes.
BlackBerry Bold 9790 Bellagio offers unsanctioned tutorial (video)
Well BlackBerry fans, yet another variation of the Bold is now making the rounds on the internet: it's the 9790, otherwise known as the Bellagio. Although the device was first leaked in late May -- where we learned it would feature BlackBerry 7 OS, 8GB of internal memory, a touchscreen, and NFC -- RIM's latest QWERTY companion has remained below the radar ever since. Now, it's reappeared in some official tutorials, which reveal a familiar user interface. Also, two other videos offer views of the handset's exterior profile and a quick peek beneath the battery cover. Why are Lazaridis and Balsillie prepping this for sale when the Bold 9900 has yet to reach consumers? All we need is one, and the similar hardware and specs aren't building a compelling argument. Sure, RIM said it would be releasing seven upcoming smartphones in the coming months, but haven't its leaders learned that less is more? Follow the source for an extended peek at the redundancy.
BlackBerry Bold 9900 preview! (video)
RIM's BlackBerry 9900 is the device that the BlackBerry diehards have been hoping, wishing, and waiting for since the original Bold launched way back in 2008. However, this time around the company has added in a capacitive touchscreen, swapped the trackball of yesteryear for an optical trackpad, and slimmed the whole thing down into a 10.5mm thick package. We were lucky enough to get a prototype device from our friends over at Negri Electronics, and have manhandled the thing till we were blue in the face. Head on past the break for an exclusive preview of the device RIM is praying will stalwart its competitors until the first round of QNX-equipped devices lands in 2012. %Gallery-127041%
BlackBerry Torch 2 preview! (video)
We've already seen the BlackBerry Torch 2 in photos courtesy of Mr. Blurrycam, but a little birdie from Negri Electronics was kind enough to send over a pre-release device for us to get under our own glass for a little photo shoot. Though it has a virtually identical form factor to the original, the Torch 2 bumps the specs in almost every department from the camera to the RAM. Oh, and it's running the next-gen BB OS 7 -- which is really OS 6.1, and still lacks any QNX DNA. Read on past the break for a full preview of this yet-to-be-announced slider, and some glorious HD video if the beautious shots aren't enough to whet your BBM-hungry appetites. %Gallery-125262%
Leaked BlackBerry Bold Touch simulation offers tire-kickers a bumpy joyride
If you ache to get your hands on the BlackBerry Bold Touch and lack any semblance of patience, RIM's recently leaked simulator offers an opportunity to vicariously manhandle its upcoming creation -- all from the comfort of your Windows computer. Although the software isn't without quirks (as evidenced above), the 177MB download includes system v6.1.0.55 -- more commonly known as BlackBerry 7 OS. The functionality is rather robust, and we happily took the web browser for a quick drive around the block. It provided a pleasant rendering of our sister-site Autoblog, but the simulator started sputtering once we approached our own domain. Perhaps you'll have better luck. So, if you're suitably equipped and a wee bit curious, you can start kicking these tires by following the source. [Thanks, Zaoist]
BlackBerry Curve 'Apollo' gets featured in tutorial clips, BB 7 OS struts its stuff (video)
If you've been yearning to meet the upcoming BlackBerry Curve 'Apollo' on a more personal level, we think its leaked training videos will serve a fine ocular opportunity. While they're certainly no replacement for hands-on experience, these clips were discovered within a leaked copy of BlackBerry 7 OS and provide a concise overview of user interaction with the device. It's no touchscreen experience, that's for sure. Judging from the hovering orb that represents both your finger and wait times, we're not expecting this creation to be overly speedy, although these tutorials (hopefully) don't represent actual usage. On the plus side, there's some nice music accompanying the tour, which makes waiting for menus to appear feel downright enjoyable. Jump the break for an unsanctioned peek.
RIM announces BlackBerry 7 OS with better browser and BlackBerry Balance, but no legacy support
The BB OS 6.1 update that grew too big for its name has just been made official by RIM as BlackBerry 7. Its ambassador into the wide world of smartphones will be the newly minted BlackBerry Bold Touch, which is expected to arrive "this summer." What can you look forward to? The user experience is promised to be both easier and faster, voice-activated searches are available for content both on your phone and the web, and the browser has been "significantly enhanced" with new features like a JIT (just-in-time) JavaScript compiler and HTML5 Video support. BlackBerry Balance is also part of the new OS, allowing you to compartmentalize your personal and professional lives into neat and separate piles of content. Full PR can be found after the break. Update: RIM has just noted that there will be "no legacy support" with BB 7, meaning that older devices, even those running version 6 of the OS, won't be getting any (official) updates to the latest stuff. This has been justified by how tightly integrated the software build is with the underlying graphics hardware in the touch-capable Bold handsets. Basically, the old phones won't be able to run the new OS. Oh, and in case you were wondering, there's no trace of QNX in BB 7.
RIM to launch 6.1 update as BlackBerry 7 OS at BlackBerry World next week? (update: yes)
CrackBerry has just dropped word via "numerous sources" that RIM will be revealing the next iteration of its mobile OS at the fast approaching BlackBerry World conference -- and no, it's still not QNX. Despite consistent rumblings that upcoming devices like the Bold Touch, and Monaco would be launching with OS 6.1, it seems that RIM has decided to re-brand the update completely as BlackBerry 7, perhaps to increase the value proposition and differentiate new devices being announced along with it. However, the site also speculates that current phones running BB6 may not get any BB7 action right off the bat -- which could make sense, given that new features like NFC are only present in upcoming devices. All this is naturally unconfirmed, but if this is indeed yet another version of the BlackBerry OS, well, that certainly won't help the platform get any more developer love. Update: It's offficial. CrackBerry is reporting that RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie has informed investors of the new nomenclature on its earnings call, adding that "It's such a big update from 6." We can't wait to see for ourselves.
