bbm
Latest
RIM announces 'budget' BlackBerry 9220 for Indian socialites
There are a lot of Indian hands out there, hands in which there could also be a BlackBerry smartphone. A fact not lost on RIM it would appear, as it's set to released its "most affordable" Curve -- the 9220 -- over there. Naturally, the ubiquitous BBM service takes center stage, even having its own dedicated button. The new handset also comes fully laden with all the usual social networking goodies, and for the launch RIM's kindly throwing in a selection of apps from BlackBerry World worth 2500 rupees (about $50) if you get on board before June 30th. You might want to find a WiFi hotspot to download them though, as there's no 3G, but you can tune into Radio Mumbai via the FM receiver to take your mind off that omission. Camera-wise it's a fairly humble 2-megapixel affair, which combined with the memory card slot, should allow a stack of photos for sharing. Wondering exactly how affordable it is? Lay down 10,990 rupees (about $210,) and it's yours -- as of tomorrow that is.
Former RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie's very different rescue plan revealed
Sources close to former RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie have revealed his plans to save the company before he was shown the door, a plan that didn't involve handsets. He'd entered into talks with AT&T, Verizon and several European carriers to offer them use of the company's BlackBerry-exclusive network to provide limited data plans to featurephone users that included social networking and BBM -- with the aim of reducing the cellphone operators data burden and coaxing users to upgrade to smartphones. The company was working on Mobile Fusion; software that allowed enterprise and government users on iOS and Android devices to join RIM's system, which reportedly earns the company $1 billion per quarter. However, while talks progressed, company execs grew nervous and ousted him in favor of Thorsten Heins with a mandate to focus on BB10 and new devices rather than turning RIM into a service company. However, given that it's still losing money on its handset business, Heins has reopened the door to Balsillie's plan. It's just a shame Balsillie himself is keeping quiet, as we'd love to hear his thoughts in an executive-level edition of How Would you Change.
Twitter and Facebook for BlackBerry get BBM connected, BBM gets some animated avatars
BlackBerry fans of the world over rejoice: some of your favorite social apps have just become slightly more connected to your favorite smartphone ecosystem. RIM announced today via its official blog that the 3.0 versions of Facebook and Twitter for BlackBerry have become BBM connected, meaning, among other things, that you can share status updates, tweets and the like with your BBM contacts. The Canadian smartphone maker also used the opportunity to announce a handful of additional updates to fellow BlackBerry App World apps like BBM itself, which is getting BlackBerry Tag integration and, hold onto your BlackBerry hats, new animated avatars. You can find all of the relevant updates by clicking the source link below.
RIM confirms departures of two top BlackBerry, BBM execs
Word of a big exec shakeup at RIM leaked out just ahead of the company's quarterly earnings late last month -- something that was then quickly confirmed in said earnings report. It looks like that wasn't the end of it though, as RIM has now also confirmed the departures of two more high-level executives. That includes Senior Vice President Alan Brenner, who will be leaving after an unspecified transition period, and Alistair Mitchell, a VP for RIM's BBM service who has already left the company. No word on any further departures to come (willing or otherwise), but given Thorsten Heins' talk of a "comprehensive review" it certainly doesn't seem like the most remote of possibilities.
RIM sticking with consumer goods, just 'refocusing' on enterprise
Some people got the wrong idea yesterday when RIM's new CEO Thorsten Heins said the company was refocusing on the enterprise market and would stop trying to be "all things to all people." Many took the post-earnings call comment to mean that RIM would be exiting the consumer market, an assumption that didn't seem like much of a stretch considering its failure to capture the imagination of users outside the office place. Things weren't made any better when Heins seemingly left the door open for the manufacturer to leave the hardware business entirely. However, in a statement, managing director of global sales and regional marketing Patrick Spence clarified that "the claim that RIM has said it will withdraw from the consumer market is wholly misleading." He continued to explain that, "whilst we announced plans to refocus our efforts on our core strengths, and on our enterprise customer base, we were very explicit that we will continue to build on our strengths to go after targeted consumer segments." In particular there still seems to be hope that BBM can become a staple in the lives of young trend setters, but it'll probably need some help from cross platform clients to do so.Update: Just in case there was any doubt RIM has posted a clarification on its blog saying in no uncertain terms that the consumer market is still a target. "To be really clear, we are fully committed to the consumer market," there really isn't any way to misconstrue that. Hit up the more coverage link to read the whole post.
The Engadget Interview: RIM VP of Enterprise Alan Panezic at MWC 2012 (video)
This week at Mobile World Congress we had the opportunity to talk with Alan Panezic, VP of Enterprise at RIM about what the company is doing to keep existing business customers (and possibly even lure new CIOs) in the warm and secure embrace of its enterprise services while still giving users personal freedom to fully enjoy their devices. RIM's secret weapon? BlackBerry Balance on the PlayBook running OS 2.0 (of course) and BlackBerry Mobile Fusion on the server side. Take look at our video and remember -- that corporate PlayBook of yours may still lack BBM integration but IT professionals are people too, so be gentle with them!
BlackBerry 9320 leaks out, looks like every other Curve
If you thought RIM's decline would inject a need to give its handsets a major makeover, think again. The folks from BGR have smudged their fingertips all over an India-bound BlackBerry device and, well, it shamelessly resembles just about every member of the Curve family. The purported 9320 is said to come sporting OS 7.1 at its core, along with a 2.44-inch, 320 x 240 qVGA+ display, 512MB of RAM as well as a 3.2-megapixel rear shooter. Allegedly, the BlackBerry is also rocking a BBM button on its left spine, which should come in handy to those who love some Berry-specific instant messaging. Word is the Curve 9320 will be ready to hit the streets next month for around 12,000 Rupees (or around $245). Hopefully by then you haven't spent your cash on one of those shiny new talkers we saw in Barcelona.
Samsung ChatON now available as web-based messaging client
ChatON is Samsung's mobile messaging platform available for Bada, Android, BlackBerry and, yes, iOS phones. Now it's pulled the sheets from the web-based version of the service that allows you to message your frenemies from the comfort of your desktop. As well as short messages, you'll get group chat, multimedia sending, profile pages and buddy charts to let you know who your BFFs are. All of your communiqués and shared multimedia are stored in the "Trunk," a repository for those office-party pictures you wish you'd never sent. You'll also be able to link your desktop and phone accounts so that you're accessible at whatever device you're sat at. Head on down to our source link to go straight to sign up.
BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 review
More Info BlackBerry PlayBook review RIM shows off new features for PlayBook 2.0 at DevCon BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 now ready for download Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the world of email. Yes, email! Sure, many of you have given up on the stuff in favor of more instant means of communication, but don't worry, because that's here too! Yes, the BlackBerry PlayBook, which was released 10 months ago, is now finally able to send messages all by itself. Sure, BlackBerry Bridge is still there and more useful than ever, tying the PlayBook even closer to your work-issued smartphone, but the 7-inch slate finally feels like it can stand a little more solidly on its own two feet. Thankfully that's not all -- this recently refreshed tablet has a few other tricks up its sleeve, most notable being the ability to run some (focus on the some) Android apps without having to resort to any messy tweaks or hacks. The experience isn't entirely clean, nor does it quite feel like the refresh the "two dot oh" moniker implies, but it is a nice step forward. Click on through to see what you get.
RIM builds BlackBerry server center in Mumbai, right where Indian government wants it
This is the epilogue to a story that started as far back as 2008, when the Indian government first demanded access to encrypted BBM traffic. In 2010, RIM made "certain proposals" that satisfied politicos and averted a ban, and now it's gone one step further -- placing 5,000 BES Enterprise servers directly beneath officials' noses in Mumbai. It's not yet clear if messages will be subject to any more scrutiny than they were before, but N4BB reports that a "team of officers" has already inspected the installation and that "permission for direct monitoring" is "expected to be issued." Looks like those snoops will soon be working double shifts.
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.
Did you fire off a bunch of texts this Christmas? Welcome to the museum
Finland might be the spiritual home of the SMS, but it also proves that this ancient form of communication is going the way of the rune stone. A mere 8.5 million texts were sent over the country's Sonera network on Christmas Eve, versus 10.9 million on that festive day in 2010. The same trend was spotted on other Finnish networks and also on the other side of the world: Christmas Day texts in Hong Kong were down nearly 14 percent on the year before, and Telstra in Australia experienced a nine percent year-on-year decline over the whole of 2011. Things are different in America, where texting has continued to grow, but that growth seems to be slowing down and some analysts expect "SMS erosion" to hit Verizon and AT&T by 2014. The obvious culprit is mobile internet: social networking apps, BBM, iMessage and a host of other 'free' options, but you won't find carriers complaining -- data contract ARPUs suit them just fine.
Indonesian government threatens to ban BlackBerry services if it can't spy on users
It's not the first time that RIM's security measures have caused a bit of an inferiority complex, but the Indonesian government now is threatening to ban BIS and BBM services within the nation if it doesn't get its way. Partially, it seems that Indonesian officials are upset that Research in Motion will be building its new data centers in Singapore, rather than in the homeland. Additionally, as is, the government is unable to monitor these communications, which it sees as a security risk. As you likely know, all data is currently processed in RIM's Canadian facilities. Heru Sutadi, a member of the Indonesian Telecommunication Regulation Body, had the following to say: "With the condition as it is now, we warn that the country's users to be cautious about using BlackBerry because the data exchanged is not safe or cannot be guaranteed of its safety." Sounds creepy, right? We always feel safer when knowing the government is monitoring our messages, too.
Yahoo Hub offers free messaging to anyone, locks horns with RIM and Google
Yahoo, evidently tired of being passed up by hundreds of free messaging apps floating around the various smartphone application stores, has launched a service of its own to take on the likes of BBM and Google Messenger. The new app, called Hub, is only available for Android devices at the moment, but there's a brightside here: you can send a message to anyone, not just other folks who've downloaded the same app. The recipient -- or multiple recipients, since group chat is allowed -- can easily reply to the thread using their own standard SMS service. Curiously, Hub is only offered if you have a US SIM card and a text plan, even though the messages are transmitted using your data connection or WiFi. If you do a lot of international travel, Hub is supported in nine other countries besides the US, a rather small number we hope will grow as the service graduates from its beta status. While Yahoo can use all the help it can get right now, is this going to endear very many users? [Thanks, Ashish]
RIM unveils BlackBerry Bold 9790, Curve 9380, hitting the market within weeks
Now that we've seen all the leaks and heard all the rumors, RIM has finally announced the BlackBerry Bold 9790 and Curve 9380, welcoming two new members to the OS 7 family. Picking up where the Bold 9780 left off, the comparatively higher-end 9790 boasts a 2.44-inch touchscreen display with 360 x 480 resolution, and is powered by a 1GHz CPU. The QWERTY-equipped handset also ships with 8GB of onboard memory and features a microSD slot that offers up to 32GB of additional space. The Curve 9380, meanwhile, is an all touchscreen affair, with a 3.2-inch, 480 x 360 display and a five megapixel camera. RIM hasn't offered any other details on the 9380's specs, though the company did specify that both devices will offer NFC and augmented reality support, and will come pre-loaded with BlackBerry Messenger, Documents To Go Premium, and BlackBerry Protect. No word yet on pricing or availability, though RIM says to expect a launch "over the coming weeks." Find more details in the full PR, after the break.
Refresh Roundup: week of October 24, 2011
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout attips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy! Official Android updates Guess which phone's finally getting Gingerbread: the HTC Thunderbolt. Yes, we're being serious. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in, and thanks Eddie for the image!] Gingerbread is now rolling out to the Motorola Droid Pro and Droid 2 Global. [PhoneScoop] The HTC EVO Design 4G wasn't out for very long before it was ready for a maintenance release. It's called version 1.19.651.0, and no change log was found right away. More HTC stuff: the EVO 3D also offers a small bug fix in the form of a security update under the name of version 2.08.651.3. [AndroidCentral] The LG Revolution on Verizon's also officially gaining Android 2.3. [Pocketnow] In the UK, HTC Desire S owners are now finding themselves beneficiaries of the Android 2.3.5 firmware update as well as Sense 3.0. [AndroidCentral] How about a couple for the little guys? CSpire, formerly known as Cellular South, is pushing Gingerbread to its Samsung Galaxy S and Motorola Milestone X. [AndroidCentral(1) and (2)] Sony Ericsson announced this week that Android 2.3.4 is rolling out to the 2011 Xperia lineup around the world. Additional enhancements include 16x video zoom, WiFi DLNA, screen capture capability, ability to attach USB peripherals to Sony Ericsson LiveDock and more. Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery The Samsung Stratosphere on Verizon has been successfully rooted. [AndroidCommunity] HTC devices receiving the official Gingerbread kernel source from HTCDev this week: The Evo Shift 4G, the Thunderbolt and Droid Incredible. [AndroidCentral] When it rains, it pours -- the Thunderbolt, on top of receiving Gingerbread and its accompanying kernel source, has also found itself on the receiving end of an Ice Cream Sandwich SDK port. As can be expected, it's still in prealpha stages and has a few bugs to work out. [AndroidCommunity] If you're a CM7 user, there's now a file available that will turn your lock screen into one that resembles Ice Cream Sandwich's style. [Droid-Life] Other platforms Microsoft's pushing a firmware upgrade to the LG Optimus 7 Windows Phone which seems to grace the device with WiFi tethering and the ability to locate hidden WiFi networks. [WMPowerUser] It's not a BlackBerry firmware update, but many people still have a soft spot for BBM and will be interested to know that RIM is putting out version 6.0.1 with a few enhancements. Head to the source to check it out. [MobileTechReview] Refreshes we covered this week Windows Phone Mango now being delivered to 100 percent of compatible devices Windows Phone Apollo coming 'middle of next year,' says Nokia VP Nokia N8 gets Symbian Anna service pack update Symbian Anna update rolls out to compatible Nokia smartphones in the US Motorola Xoom will get updated with Ice Cream Sandwich Ice Cream Sandwich supports USB game controllers and HDMI RIM confirms PlayBook OS 2.0 delayed until February, still no BBM in sight Sprint issues OTA fix for HTC Android handset vulnerability
RIM releases BBM SDK for WebWorks, injects some chatting flavor into your apps
This year's BlackBerry DevCon might have come and gone with nary a mention of BBM's flagrant promiscuity, but RIM did give us some other BBM news. The Canuck company's BBM Social Platform SDK is now up for general availability after recently hitting version 1.0. The release extends its venerable messaging protocol to WebWorks developers, allowing their wares to initiate chats and incorporate BBM statuses, avatars and personal messages from the service. Also on the docket is "application-to-application background communication," which we presume enables a smorgasbord of behind the scenes cross-application chattiness. Finally, Crackberry developers will be able to start file transfers over the protocol, including virally sharing apps between users. Sounds like the 'Berry of the future is gonna be much more reliant upon Waterloo's messaging platform, so let's just hope there aren't any more outages.
RIM confirms PlayBook OS 2.0 delayed until February, still no BBM in sight
Well, we hope you weren't expecting to have PlayBook 2.0 up and running on your BlackBerry tablet any time soon, cause it's been officially delayed till at least February. Word has come straight from the mouth (well, keyboard) of David Smith, senior vice president for the PlayBook project. In a blog post Smith announced that RIM would be holding back on the release to ensure many of the new features, including native email and enterprise app deployment, work as advertised. The OS update will be getting a decently long beta test, with it rolling out to some in the Early Adopter Program "shortly." Sadly, it seems that some features have fallen by the wayside with the focus on polish -- namely, BBM. Since the messaging service relies on a one-device per-PIN model, getting it on the tablet has proved troublesome. For now users will have to rely on BlackBerry Bridge and their RIM handsets to get their BBM fix. Considering the company's track record, we wouldn't be shocked if the OS update slips even further into the future -- remember an email client was promised within 60 days of launch... that was back in April.
BlackBerry Tag: touch-to-share for... multimedia?
Research in Motion's Jim Balsillie's currently in Dubai, gassing about how amazing the latest update to BlackBerry 7 OS will be -- probably between trips to the beach. When it arrives, those crackberries equipped with NFC (Bold 9900 / 9930 and Curve 9350 / 9360 / 9370) will get BlackBerry Tag. You'll be able to tap two phones together to share contact details, multimedia content or add new friends to your BBM. RIM is planning to open up the relevant APIs so developers can use the facility in any number of interesting ways, like bringing touch-to-share to the system. Considering the speed constraints of NFC, it's difficult to believe that big files like images could be carried by the technology -- it's more likely that NFC will pair the devices and then send your files down a larger pipe, like Bluetooth. There's an enigmatic press release after the break, and hopefully the company will explain how this works in a little more detail before the update arrives.
BBM caught cheating with Android, CrackBerry epidemic to spread?
RIM's killer BlackBerry feature has always been BBM. So, you'll have to excuse us if we give some side-eye to these leaked shots of the private messaging service two-timing its Canadian maker. The pics over on TechnoBuffalo, supposedly obtained by a RIM employee, show off the BBM for Android app in question running on a crude developer phone. Not much can be glimpsed from the set aside from the application's icon and account interface. It could all be a slick hoax, or maybe the Waterloo-based co. really does plan to release its prized service into greener Android pastures. We'll let you know for sure when we hit up DevCon later this month.