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RIM posts Q2 earnings: $2.87 billion in revenue, softer $235 million loss
RIM may have given us hope that its transition to BlackBerry 10 has turned a corner, but that doesn't mean the dark clouds have entirely broken just yet. The company's second fiscal quarter saw it generate $2.9 billion in revenue, a slight gain over last quarter, while it posted a net loss of $235 million -- again better than expected, but not the best news it could deliver. Waterloo's main challenge was holding on to its smartphone base. While RIM did expand the total BlackBerry user base to 80 million, its phone shipments dropped from 7.8 million to 7.4 million and were braced by shipments of just 130,000 PlayBooks, or half as many tablets as were delivered in the spring. The sunshine is mostly found in the total picture. RIM says it's still on track to deliver the first BlackBerry 10 phones in early 2013; while the smartphone maker is bracing for an operating loss in its ongoing third quarter, the higher revenue and reduced losses suggest to CEO Thorsten Heins that RIM is getting its fiscal house in order before BlackBerry 10 (hopefully) renews interest. Full details of the company's financial performance are available after the break.
RIM applies for patent on tablet with concealable keyboard, keeps your QWERTY love a secret
RIM just can't quit keyboards, and neither can many of its fans: even the BlackBerry PlayBook has an official Mini Keyboard case. It almost shouldn't be a surprise, then, that the company is applying for a patent on a tablet design with a stealthy keyboard built-in. The layout hides a full, hinge-attached QWERTY keyboard from critics (and accidental key presses) underneath a back-mounted cover. When an owner's urge to use physical buttons becomes overwhelming, the keyboard swings into action and relies on the cover as a kickstand. It's a clever solution to lugging around a separate keyboard or specialized case, but it's hard to say if RIM will implement what it's learning into a finished product -- the firm isn't in the best position to experiment with new tablet concepts, and we've already seen a few imminent solutions to the concealed keyboard problem from other vendors. That said, the patent does show that the folks in Waterloo would like to keep a love of keyboards alive in the tablet era, even if it requires some subterfuge.
PlayBook Mobile Responder app puts police tools in a finger-friendly package
The PlayBook may not have taken off in the consumer market, but its enterprise-friendly features may help it find a home elsewhere -- especially now that it's packing a speedy 4G radio. Fresh on the heels of the LTE edition hitting Canadian shores, Intergraph has unveiled its Mobile Responder app that turns RIM's slate into a formidable tool for police and other emergency responders. The app taps into the company's Computer Aided Dispatch system, which pulls in data from police databases, keeps dispatch centers just a tap away and allows the immediate filing of incident reports. The suite is getting its first public demo next week at the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police Conference in Nova Scotia. For more, check out the PR after the break.
BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE hands-on
RIM's attempts to get a cellular-equipped version of the BlackBerry PlayBook have been troubled, to say the least. The company signalled its intentions around Mobile World Congress last February, only to watch as carriers backed off -- partly as RIM focused its attention on LTE, and partly after carriers grew skittish over sales of the WiFi version. A year and a half later, we finally have an LTE version, and with a faster 1.5GHz processor to boot. But do 4G data and a processor bump make all the difference? And does the upgrade stand a realistic shot in a competitive field that has moved on since the original PlayBook? We'll find out in our hands-on. %Gallery-162114%
Leaked Rogers memo details its BlackBerry Playbook 4G LTE pricing options
For a few days now, folks in the Great White North tied to Telus and Bell have known how much coin they'll have to layout for a BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE when it launches on the 9th. Thanks to leaked memo from Rogers, obtained by MobileSyrup, we now know what the carrier will be charging as well. $550 nets Canadians the slate free of any commitments, while one- and two-year contracts drop that price by $50 and $100 respectively. If you're brave enough to partner up with the OS 2.0.1-loaded, 1.5Ghz slate for three years, it can be yours for a more wallet-friendly $350. Hey, it's not like BB10 is exactly right around the corner.
RIM tips August 9th BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE Canadian release (update: faster, too)
The wait for a quicker PlayBook is nearly over -- for our neighbors to the north, at least. RIM let it be known via the official BlackBerry blog that the followup to its business-minded slate will be hitting "select" Canadian retailers on August 9th. Not convinced that you need the BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE in your life? RIM's got four, count 'em four, reasons to pick up the verbose slate -- speed, size, web browsing and movies and TV -- which can be found in moderate detail at the source link below. The tablet features 32GB of storage and OS 2.0.1 pre-loaded -- the aforementioned software is also currently available as a maintenance update for owners of the old fashioned WiFi model. The slightly souped-up PlayBook is hitting Canada first, but will be coming to additional areas including the US, Europe, South Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America in "coming months." [Thanks, Ruben] Update: As had been hinted before, the 4G PlayBook also ramps up to 1.5GHz from the original 1GHz -- that's a nice leap for customers who wanted more than just a cellular link before leaping in. Update II: Looks like Telus will be first to get it.
Mysterious 10-inch BlackBerry PlayBook appears in Vietnam
The last we heard, all notions of a 10-inch PlayBook had been shelved, with rumors suggesting that RIM wanted to concentrate on its BB10 plans and next-gen smartphones instead. However, we've just received these images from Tinthe, showing off something that looks very much like the bigger BlackBerry slab. A handful of photos, comparing the tablet to the existing 7-incher and an iPad, were sent in by forum member quang3g, who appears to be involved in BlackBerry sales. Looks-wise, the hardware's largely unchanged, aside from the bigger footprint and a screen ratio that appears closer to the iPad competition, rather than the widescreen shape that arrived on RIM's first tablet. According to the brief teardown shot, there's a potent 7,250 mAh battery housed in the still-slim 10-inch frame, while it's worth noting that the tablet also includes a SIM holder and cellular radio -- though there's not enough meat here to discern whether it deals in 4G or 3G (HSPA+) radio waves. While we wait for the official word on the existence (or cancellation) of this flavor of PlayBook, you can take a skeptical sideways glance at several more pictures of the tablet at the source below.
Strategy Analytics: iPad keeps riding high in Q2 tablet market share, Android doesn't budge
The Apple iPad may as well be called the Teflon Tablet for now, since challengers can't quite stick. Thanks to those 17 million iPads shipped in the second quarter, Strategy Analytics estimates that Apple held on to the 68 percent of tablet market share that IDC credited to the company in the previous season. That may not sound like a change in the status quo, but it's a significant jump from the 62 percent Apple had a year ago -- and not very good news for anyone else. Android is still holding on at 29.3 percent, although that's slightly underwhelming given the surge of extra devices in that time frame. The real hurt was dished out to Windows 7 tablets and "others" like RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook, both of whom were cut down to just 1.2 points of share each in the spring. We'll see if the newer crowd moves the needle for Android in the summer, although the well-received Nexus 7's current scarcity won't help its chances -- and both Microsoft as well as RIM are in holding patterns for the next several months.
Video Store application for BlackBerry PlayBook now available in Canada
We all know things aren't exactly looking bright over at RIM's Waterloo HQ, but, thankfully, that's not keeping the company from taking care of its current and very valuable customer base. How so? Well, earlier today the BlackBerry maker announced its official Video Store application is now live in Canada's App World, giving the PlayBook crowd a hub to buy / rent "thousands" of movies and TV shows. Obviously -- similar to iTunes and Google Play on their respective slates -- folks will also be able to preview content before taking the plunge, and as a Berry rep told us, there should be no problem with streaming videos to a high-def television via the tablet's HDMI output. Video Store Canada, as it's known by its formal name, is up for download now at the source link below.
BlackBerry PlayBook with 4G LTE may reach Bell by July 31st, 1.5GHz chip tagging along for the ride
RIM has been planning a 4G-capable BlackBerry PlayBook for so long that CEO Thorsten Heins' promises of a 2012 launch still made it feel distant. If Bell Canada information breezing past MobileSyrup's desk is any indicator, though, the launch is coming sooner than Heins implied -- just one week away, as of this writing. The slip has at least the one carrier reportedly offering an LTE-equipped, 32GB version of the 7-inch tablet on July 31st at a price of $550 Canadian ($540 US) without a contract. And yes, it would get that rumored 1.5GHz processor upgrade if there's any substance to the story. We'd still prefer to see the tablet jump to BlackBerry 10 more than anything, especially at that kind of price, but the RIM faithful could still find something to cheer if they're looking for a truly definitive PlayBook to make the BB10 wait feel shorter.
How the iPad changed the NFL
The NFL season is sneaking up on American football fans faster than we know it, with all training camps starting up within the next two weeks. There's one thing that will be new to many of the NFL teams this year: iPads. NFL.com's Jeff Darlington provided an in-detail look last Friday at how the iPad and an innovative app are changing the way that football players and coaches sift through the mountains of statistics, game videos, and play diagrams that make up team playbooks. We've discussed a typical NFL playbook solution -- iPads and an app called Digital Playbook -- before, but Darlington's post really points out how many teams have either started replacing paper playbooks and videotapes/DVDs with iPads or are about to. A quick survey of the 32 NFL teams shows that fully half of them will be using the iPad in one way or another for the 2012 season. That's not counting the many teams that are letting players use personal iPads for video review purposes. Many teams are using solutions from Digital Playbooks or Global Aptitude to keep the playbooks secure, although players (like Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams) might do something dumb or spiteful and tweet a screenshot from the playbook. Needless to say, iPads have found a place in NFL team locker rooms and on team airplanes, and we're likely to hear a lot more about innovative uses for Apple's tablet in sports as the season progresses. [via CNET]
The Engadget Interview: RIM CMO Frank Boulben
It's been said before that RIM CEO Thorsten Heins surely has one of the toughest jobs in tech. It's a title he no doubt shares with Frank Boulben, the company's newly minted CMO. After all, it's Boulben who will be taking charge of the marketing for the company so badly in need of a new image. The Orange / Vodafone expat, naturally, sees very bright things ahead for Research in Motion's future -- a future that hinges almost entirely on the success of the company's much delayed BlackBerry 10. Like Heins, Boulben insists that all who have seen the much anticipated mobile operating system thus far have been thoroughly impressed -- it's a sentiment that we certainly can't debate. Of course, given all of the trouble the company has run into bringing the OS to market, the number of folks who can claim membership in that exclusive club is small indeed. When the first BB10 devices finally hit early next year, Boulben's team will be tasked with making sure that number increases significantly enough to ensure the company's success in a field that is increasingly dominated by the likes of Android and iOS. We spoke to Boulben about his plans to help spread the BlackBerry gospel, the time he spent as an executive at the also-troubled Lightsquared and the changes RIM must make to ensure it's success in the future.
RIM announces Q1 earnings: $518 million net loss, 5,000 job cuts, BB10 not due until Q1 2013
The last quarter has been about as rough as they come for RIM, and it's now detailed just how things stacked up in terms of hard numbers. For the first quarter of its 2013 fiscal year, the company brought in $2.8 billion in revenue, down a full 33 percent from the prior quarter, while it reported a net loss of $518 million -- much worse than analysts were expecting. What's more, it's also announced that it's cutting an additional 5,000 jobs as part of its ongoing restructuring efforts, and that the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones now won't launch until sometime in the first quarter of the 2013 calendar year (that includes a QWERTY model launched in "close proximity" to the touchscreen-only device). As for why, RIM only went as far as to say that the integration of some key BlackBerry 10 features and the "associated large volume of code" has "proven to be more time consuming than anticipated." For his part, though, CEO Thorsten Heins says he remains "confident that the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones will provide a ground-breaking next generation smartphone user experience," and that he's "encouraged by the traction that the BlackBerry 10 platform is gaining with application developers and content partners." He further notes that the response to BB10 from key carrier partners has "been very positive." In terms of its existing devices, RIM reports that BlackBerry smartphone shipments (not sales) for the quarter totaled 7.8 million, while there were about 260,000 PlayBooks shipped -- on the company's earnings call, Heins noted that the total BlackBerry subscriber base now stands at 78 million. Not surprisingly, the company is warning of more bad news to come. It says it expects the "next several quarters to continue to be very challenging," with everything from the "increasing competitive environment," lower handset volumes, impact from the BlackBerry 10 delay, and the company's plans to "continue to aggressively drive sales of BlackBerry 7 handheld devices" expected to cut into its bottom line. In another bit of news, the company also announced that it has appointed Steve Zipperstein, Verizon's former General Counsel, as its new Chief Legal Officer. You can find the full earnings report at the source link below.
PSA: Pacemaker DJ app for BlackBerry PlayBook drops into the mix today
What started as hardware, back in 2008, has since been superseded by advances tablet-tech. Logical then that the team behind Pacemaker has remixed the idea for 2012. We've already had a sneaky peek at the PlayBook app, but that was back in beta-land. Today, it launches proper. The official unveiling will be at Barcelona's Sonar festival, but if you didn't get a ticket (or even if you did) you can get your hands on it today from BlackBerry App World for $19. A little more than Cut the Rope, sure, but small change compared to the original hardware's $850 price tag.
Has RIM canceled the 16GB PlayBook? (Update: it has)
If you're an indecisive fan of the BlackBerry PlayBook, your purchasing decision might just have been made a little easier. We're hearing reports that customers have been advised only existing stocks of the 16GB variant remain, and the firm will be offering just the 32- and 64GB models going forward. The speculation is that this is down to the lower profit margins on the smallest memory version, however this is not confirmed. We've contacted RIM for the official word in the meantime, and will update accordingly. Update: RIM's PR has responded with the following statement: RIM will no longer be making the 16 GB model of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The 16 GB PlayBook will continue to be available for distributors and retailers while quantities last. We continue to remain committed to the tablet space and the 32 GB and 64 GB models of the BlackBerry PlayBook continue to be available from our distributors and retailers around the world. There is more value for our customers in the higher capacity models (32 GB, 64 GB), and as such we have decided to focus our efforts here.
BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 beta ready for download: better portrait mode and Android app support
That Michael Clewely is a man of his word. Not only has the PlayBook OS 2.1 beta version arrived just when he promised, but it also brings some handy additions that nudge the tablet a little closer to the land of fulfilled potential. There's portrait support for the Email, Calendar and Contacts apps, along with full device encryption and some smaller tweaks like .png screenshots and improved email folder support. The Android runtime has also been bolstered to allow multiple apps to run in separate windows, access the camera module and support in-app payments via the BlackBerry Payment SDK. There'll be more stuff in this update, according to RIM, but we'll have to wait (there's that word again) until the commercial release. You'll find the beta registration link below.
RIM warns of loss for Q1, hires JP Morgan and RBC Capital Markets to help with strategic review
RIM announced last quarter that it would no longer be providing its traditional financial guidance for upcoming quarters, but CEO Thorsten Heins has nonetheless seen fit to deliver a "business update" today that offers some indication of what's in store for the company. The headline is that it's unsurprisingly projecting an operating loss for the next quarter (Q1 of its 2013 fiscal year), although it's not saying exactly how much, noting only that the "on-going competitive environment is impacting our business in the form of lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the marketplace." The company's also confirmed that it has hired JP Morgan and RBC Capital Markets to aid in its so-called strategic review, which it says includes "opportunities to leverage the BlackBerry platform through partnerships, licensing opportunities and strategic business model alternatives." On the slightly brighter side of things, RIM was able to boast that it now has a worldwide subscriber base of 78 million, and that it now counts 80,000 BlackBerry apps and 15,000 PlayBook apps -- both significant increases from a year ago. It also further notes that BlackBerry 10 remains on track for the "latter part of calendar 2012." You can find the company's complete statement after the break.
Switched On: Clash of the troubled titans
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. Fans of the Lincoln-Kennedy coincidences can appreciate similarly contrived dynamics in comparing Nokia and RIM (neither of which, contrary to the occasionally expressed opinion, has been murdered despite "Apple and Android" consisting of three words and 15 letters). Both companies are former smartphone market share leaders -- RIM in North America, Nokia globally. Both have had success in developing economies with efficient operating systems that they plan to support indefinitely. Both developed reputations for high build quality and good antenna design, and both were initially dismissive of the iPhone as they continue to see Android as the path to commoditization. And after precipitous market share declines, both hired new CEOs. Nokia, a European company, hired a CEO raised in Canada. RIM, a Canadian company, hired a CEO raised in Europe. These men now struggle with keeping their companies part of a viable alternative to the two dominant marketplace offerings. Since embarking on their new operating system strategies, though, there have been many contrasts. While Nokia hired an outsider as a CEO, RIM hired an insider. Nokia decided to adopt a licensed OS; RIM decided to build its own (based largely on acquisitions). And now that both the Mobile World Congress and BlackBerry World conferences have passed, there's an opportunity to assess their comeback progress.
Mobile Miscellany: week of May 14th, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, Verizon Wireless brought its LTE service to 28 new markets and expanded its reach in 11 additional areas. We also saw Straight Talk introduce the Samsung Galaxy Proclaim, and it appears that Rogers will soon offer the HTC One S. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of May 14th, 2012.
RIM CEO: 4G PlayBook coming this year
Again, not exactly a bombshell here, but a day after the 4G version of RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook was "confirmed" over a hearty breakfast at BlackBerry World, the company's CEO let it be known that the tablet is, in fact, on the way. According to Thorsten Heins at a press event this morning, the 4G PlayBook is due out before year's end. While he didn't specifically mention LTE, the executive prefaced that statement by saying that his company admittedly has a glaring lack of LTE devices. Should we put two and two together? Interpret it how you will.
