Last night when the news broke that RIM's co-CEO's were being replaced by Thorsten Heins, the company's COO, I commented on Twitter that this was a "first step to saving that troubled company." Removing Balsillie and Lazaridis was absolutely the right move; despite having built RIM up from nothing, they were clearly not capable of navigating an industry that had changed dramatically in just the past few years. What's disappointing is that there is no indication that RIM's new leader is going to...
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Interested in new developments from RIM? Link to video: http://www.blackberrydevcon.com/americas/webcast
You can also follow along with our friends at Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/18/blackberry-devcon-americas-2011-keynote-liveblog/?sort=newest&refresh=120
I was thinking about the many consequences of the HP Touchpad meltdown we all just witnessed, and I am thinking the biggest consequence may be one that doesn't end up affecting HP at all. That consequence is to scare consumers away from taking a chance on any but the two established options for tablets, Apple and Google, and thereby establishing them as an immovable duopoly for the next three to five years. Some may point out that the problem with the TouchPad in the first place was a lack of...
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My mom who is middle aged and wants to switch to a smart phone. Knowing her she NEEDS it to be simple and very reliable. I was thinking iPhone because it is just that... simple and fast. Any other phones or OS's we should consider?
It looks like RIM wants to get into the digital media player market. This is some interesting news, considering yesterday's events (see open letter to RIM senior management and how they need to focus on only a few projects). On one hand, I find it rather confusing as to why they'd work on an Apple TV competitor in the consumer market. On the other, I could see something focused for corporations / presentations / meetings to be somewhat useful (perhaps they want it to be something that could...
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This is pretty crazy! It reminds me of the Stephen Elop / Nokia "burning platform" letter earlier this year (see: http://gdgt.com/discuss/thoughts-on-nokia-s-dilemm... ). It's a pretty intense read! What do you think? Via: http://www.bgr.com/2011/06/30/open-letter-to-black... Posted below: ---- To the RIM Senior Management Team: I have lost confidence. While I hide it at work, my passion has been sapped. I know I am not alone...
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From the YouTube description: "The invention of the new Blackberry Series spontanously defines the kind of friends or clique you will belong in the society. For the ladies it equals fashion and style also part of every classy girl's establishment. For the Men it's simply a means to an end. The ladies will do all it takes to own a piece or more as the guys looks for something deeper." Gather some friends, grab some popcorn, and watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3rAItM0lMw Also,...
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Firstly: I currently use a Blackberry 9650, which I love. I'd also love the Blackberry Bridge functionality from the PlayBook. But how functional would the PlayBook be if I bought a phone that isn't a Blackberry? Secondly: I'm not sure I'd buy into the TouchPad and WebOS (again) with it's developer support dwindling quickly. Is the app situation on WebOS as bad as it was last year? Third question: Is Honeycomb a viable option for tablets? I know the Xoom is basically...
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shaping up to be the perfect tablet for me. The capability to connect this with not only a BT keyboard, but also FULLY control the device with a BT mouse makes it almost the Atrix of tablets. Use it as a great multi-tasking tablet or connect to an LCD or TV and it just becomes the "brains." It works great through my Verizon iPhone hotspot and works flawlessly on the Flash sites I need to access. Much has been made in the initial reviews of the lack of a native email app, requiring the...
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And how (if at all) the Playbook interfaces with a BES (which I've just resurrected)? Or does any 'bridged' content just time out straight away? And if that's the case, does it have implications for app development regarding personal productivity? Just curious - I've been interested in this for a while and have partially cranked back up the server side of Blackberry support so that I can get going with a handset + Playbook combo, but it's not been a 'must...
Still think it's one of the best BlackBerrys RIM ever put out, I especially love the roomy keyboard. Won't be using it as my primary phone, but I did load it up with Gmail, Google Voice (mainly for SMS), Twitter, and AIM, and it's been really nice to have for banging out messages and emails when I'm running around town. Other advantage of carrying two phones: multitasking. Being able to compose an email while looking at my calendar or a webpage is surprisingly useful.
[This piece appeared in the gdgt weekly newsletter. Subscribe to it here: http://gdgt.com/newsletter ] Last week started off with a big bombshell -- AT&T's announcement of its plans to buy T-Mobile -- and ended with the confirmation of a long-standing rumor that RIM would be bringing support for Android apps to its PlayBook tablet. It's a bold move on their part, but it raises a whole bunch of questions, not just about how it'll be implemented, but what it also means for...
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Here's the press release: RIM Expands Application Ecosystem for BlackBerry PlayBook BlackBerry PlayBook to support BlackBerry Java and Android apps Native C/C++ development support added, in addition to HTML5, Flash and AIR support Support from leading game engines: Ideaworks Labs (AirPlay) and Unity Technologies (Unity 3) BlackBerry PlayBook becomes a new market opportunity for all the developers who have already created over 25,000 BlackBerry Java apps and more than 200,000 Android apps...
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RIM announced that they'll be selling the PlayBook starting at $499 (available mid April), and Samsung will begin selling their 10.1 inch tablet starting at $499 as well (available in June). It looks like we finally have a game folks! And this can only mean good things for us. Color me excited! Starting prices for tablets: Apple iPad 2: $499 RIM PlayBook: $499 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1: $499 Motorola Xoom: $599 HP TouchPad: ??? (Note: I know there's varying specs between each of these...
We had a number of awesome companies come out and show off their latest gear. For some, this was their first gdgt live event and the response was fantastic. Did you get a chance to play with any gear? If so, what did you check out and what were your impressions? Full list of companies that attended: Platinum: HP, Incipio, Motorola, Rovi Gold: BlackBerry, Logitech, Samsung Mobile, Sonos, TiVo, Western Digital, Windows Phone Silver: 3M Touch Systems, 3M Pocket Projectors, Bitbop, BodyMedia,...
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In terms of hardware design and quality iPad2 is the best. However that makes it 2-1 to the competition! If only i could have the iPad body and a mixture of the competition inside!
Who likes the Blackberry Bold 9900 keyboard better than every other BB keyboard? It seems to be a new styling of keyboard and overall makes the keys feel bigger... Who agrees it is a good thing?
I have AT&T with a grandfathered unlimited data plan but prefer Verizon's performance. I am using an iphone 3gs. Itunes frakked my music collection and I hate it. I need Exchange support, though we do have a BES in house. Security is the most important. Had a BB curve a couple of years ago it was SOOOooo Slow and I had to pull the battery so often, I installed the battery puller app.
Last week, BlackBerry suffered a 3-day outage. To try and placate affected customers, RIM is offering $100 in free downloads from BlackBerry App World.
Were you affected by the outage? Are you going to take advantage of the free apps (and does this make up for the outage)?
More info: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/12/blackberry-outa...
It's amazing how much things can change in such a relatively short period of time. Back in 2006 the big players were Nokia, RIM, Microsoft (with Windows Mobile), and Palm. Now every single one is struggling. Also serves as a reminder that no matter how high Apple and Google are riding right now, it is still a volatile business and it's not hard to imagine two or three other companies emerging in the next five years to seriously challenge them (like Facebook, for instance).
I hope to be getting a new phone within the next few months. I've been using a blackberry curve for a while and I've heard that data won't work once the device is no longer activated with a carrier, even over wifi. I was hoping to still be able to use the berry as a simple email/messaging device around the house over my wifi after I moved on to a different phone. Can anybody confirm this is true or not?
I know there was an app for Windows that let you view texts, contacts, emails, etc. that were on a BlackBerry backup (the name's escaping me right now)... but it a) was only a 14 day demo b) unable to purchase beyond that because the company stopped supporting it c) I'm on a Mac now. So, my question is: is there any way to access/read what's on my .ipd file? Thanks!
After RIM's disappointing Q2 numbers, a lot of speculation has spun up about possible buyouts. The two potential buyers I've heard are Dell and Microsoft. Any diehards in the BlackBerry camp care to comment? Would you continue to support the BB brand if it lived on under the aegis of Microsoft or Dell? I see pros and cons to both deals.
Was a big Blackberry fan for a while but I see the writing on the wall and have gone to Android. Even if RIM makes it back it will be at least two years before their hardware is relevant again. Just in time for me to get a new phone.
Ive never had any products from RIM and was thinking of pre-ordering this from bestbuy and getting my friend to send it to Japan. I'd like to know how RIMs app store works ? Is it like Webos which is region locked ?? How do you buy apps ??? Thanks
I have one of these lying around not currently on a contract and I'd like to use this as a way to use email, Twitter, Facebook, etc... at home. I actually sort of enjoy using it over my Droid X for these tasks. The problem is that its seems like nothing works just over wifi except for the Twitter app. Is this something Blackberry/Verizon does to cripple the phone if it doesn't have a data plan or do I need to change something buried in the settings?
I figured that given the unveiling of the iPad 2 earlier this week, last week's launch of the Motorola Xoom, and the introduction earlier this year of the T-Mobile G-Slate, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, BlackBerry PlayBook, and HP TouchPad (among others!) that a lot of you might be contemplating a purchase. Personally I'm not sure what my next tablet will be yet. I've been using the Motorola Xoom for the past week, and while Honeycomb is a little rough around the edges and the...
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Seeing some previews of what Android 3.0 is going to be, it looks like you can do a lot from the home screen beyond: widgets, desktop OS-like functionality, etc. But with all that functionality adds more complexity for the user. I have to admit, I was almost getting lost watching videos of how a user would navigate through the OS. This is a big contrast to iOS' super simple icon grid, though limited, interface. EDIT: I forgot to mention the Playbook. I think it definitely has promise,...
Planning to discuss why the platform is lagging behind in terms of developer adoption, fragmentation, RIM's acquisitions of Torch Mobile (which turned into their HTML browser and BlackBerry OS 6) and QNX (which turned into the PlayBook), and the WebWorks platform, among other things. Anything you've been wondering about RIM's strategy that only someone like Chris might be able to answer? Let me know, and I may just ask it on-stage!
