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Tag: RIM

  • Get Up Close And Personal With The New BlackBerry 10 Handsets

    BlackBerry, formerly known as RIM, announced its newest handsets that will run on the new BlackBerry 10 operating system. Both devices feature a little something for everybody, including those that demand a physical keyboard on their handsets.

    First up is the flagship BlackBerry 10 device – the BlackBerry Z10. This will be the device that RIM will market to consumers and enterprise customers alike. It’s more similar to the iPhone than anything else, but features a slightly larger screen than Apple’s latest smartphone.

    The other handset – the BlackBerry Q10 – will definitely appeal more to the enterprise customer that wants something similar to a classic BlackBerry handset. The device features the physical keyboard that BlackBerry fans have come to know and love, while still sporting all the power and functionality of the BlackBerry 10 operating system.

    Check out the rest of our BlackBerry 10 coverage here.

  • BlackBerry Messenger Gets Video Chat And Screen Share In BlackBerry 10

    BlackBerry 10 officially launched today to a chorus of BlackBerry fans extolling its praises. The new features, such as Hub and Flow, are sure to excite long time fans. The new BlackBerry Messenger app will probably do the same.

    The company formerly known as RIM showed off its new BlackBerry Messenger app today. The integrated messenger service has evolved quite a bit over the years, and the transition to BlackBerry 10 presents a new, fresh look for one of BlackBerry’s defining features.

    First up is BBM Video Chat and Screen Share. Video chat is pretty self-explanatory, but Screen Share is something wholly unique to BB10. Users can now share what’s on their display with their friends during a video chat. It would be especially useful for those who like to share photos of family members or pets with their friends.

    It wouldn’t be a new BlackBerry product if there wasn’t a focus on business applications, and the new BlackBerry Messenger has just that. The company says that Screen Share is especially useful for those who want to share documents, like Powerpoint slides and Excel spreadsheets, with coworkers over a live video chat.

    You can follow more of our BlackBerry 10 coverage here.

  • Check Out All The New Features In BlackBerry 10

    BlackBerry, the company formerly known as RIM, revealed its latest BlackBerry 10 handsets and operating system to the world today. The devices come with a number of new features that RIM BlackBerry thinks consumers and enterprise customers alike will love.

    First up is BlackBerry Hub, the one stop shop for all the messages you receive in any given day. It collects all the texts, BlackBerry Messenger messages, Tweets and Facebook posts you receive into one place. It’s the one big feature of BlackBerry 10 that the company has spent a lot of time talking about.

    Similarly, BlackBerry has taken a lot of time to focus on the enterprise advantages of BlackBerry Hub. Alongside keeping all of your incoming messages in one place, Hub also keeps track of all your meetings and calendar events. You can even access who will be attending meetings all from within the Hub app.

    Next is BlackBerry Flow and Peek, both of which make multitasking easier on mobile devices. Flow is the name given to BlackBerry 10’s ability to move between apps flawlessly without having to close any of them. Peek is just how it sounds – you can peek at an app while staying in another app. The example given during the keynote today was a user watching a YouTube video, and they could take a peek at their email while the video still plays at the side.

    The final major feature is called BlackBerry Balance. It holds personal and private business data on the device in separate areas so users can keep their personal and professional lives separated. All the enterprise data is stored on BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. That means employees who leave the company can have company data wiped from their phones without impacting any personal data on the device.

    There’s far more BlackBerry 10 news coming out of BlackBerry today. You can follow our coverage here.

  • BlackBerry 10 App Store Has Over 70,000 Apps

    While Apple and Google can brag of hundreds of thousands of apps in their respective app stores, BlackBerry (formerly known as RIM) is only just now launching its BlackBerry 10 app store. Along with the announcements of the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones, the Z10 and the Q10, BlackBerry today announced that it now has 70,000 apps in its BlackBerry World app store.

    The company claims it will launch with over 1000 of the “top applications” on smartphones. It name-dropped several big-name apps, including Skype, Amazon’s Kindle app, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The app store will also have a limited selection of games highlighted by Fruit Ninja and the Angry Birds games, including Angry Birds Star Wars. The app store has a fairly solid launch line-up of apps, and includes most of the major social and news apps.

    Though 70,000 apps is a testament to BlackBerry’s developer outreach and its efforts at making BlackBerry 10 ports simple to create, that number is still less than one one-hundredth of the number of apps that can be found in the Apple App Store or Google Play. If BlackBerry 10 is to be the product that turns around RIM’s BlackBerry’s fortunes, the company will have continue to lure compelling software to its platform.

  • BlackBerry Officially Launches BlackBerry 10 Smartphones

    During its big BlackBerry launch event, the newly renamed BlackBerry company officially unveiled its new BlackBerry 10 phones. BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins took the stage this morning to show off the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10.

    The BlackBerry Q10 stays true to classic BlackBerry devices by having a physical keyboard. The Z10 is more of a standard modern smartphone, and heavily resembles an iPhone.

    Where the phones really differentiate themselvesHeins and BlackBerry executives heavily emphasized the multitasking available using the BlackBerry 10 operating system. Many of the mobile OS’ features, such as the calendar and other updates, are heavily integrated into its interface through the “BlackBerry Hub.”

    The company also claims to have the “best typing experience” on any smartphone device, even on the Z10. The touch keyboard in the BlackBerry operating system features a system where most-used words can be placed into a text box by flicking the first letter of the words.

    The devices also feature quick account switching that moves between “Work” and “Personal” modes. Certain apps can be designated as work-only or personal, supposedly maintaining a user’s privacy while also allowing IT to control the work portion of the device.

    The company formerly known as RIM has designed its new operating system to entice business to move back onto BlackBerry’s famously secure device ecosystem. The upcoming months will tell whether businesses are still loyal to BlackBerry, or whether BlackBerry 10 is too little, too late.

  • RIM Changes Its Name To BlackBerry As Part Of Rebranding Effort

    It’s been a long time in the making, but BlackBerry 10 is finally here. RIM CEO Thorsten Heins took the stage in New York to announce the new line of handsets and mobile OS platform that the company is hoping will restore it to relevancy.

    Before all of that, however, RIM announced that its rebranding itself for the future. The first part of that change was renaming itself to simply BlackBerry. The company uses the slogan – “One brand. One promise.” – to show that it is focusing solely on the BlackBerry brand going into the future.

    The rebranding comes as a surprise, but it’s not exactly shocking. BlackBerry has been RIM’s flagship product for years so it makes sense to name itself after said product. Not to mention, people never really say RIM, but rather just say BlackBerry. The move will help the company consolidate itself under one united brand going forward into the launch of BlackBerry 10.

    The rebranding is only one small part of the BlackBerry 10 launch event today. The star of the show will be the two new handsets that run BlackBerry 10. We already know one will be the BlackBerry Z10, but the other is still veiled in relative secrecy. The only thing we know is that it will feature a physical keyboard.

    Follow more of our BlackBerry 10 coverage here.

    UPDATE: BlackBerry announces the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10. The latter has the physical keyboard. Check out our coverage for more details.

  • RIM Announces Large Selection Of Film, TV Shows And Music For BlackBerry 10

    RIM will be launching BlackBerry 10 to the public later this week. It could very well succeed, but it must become more than an enterprise device if it’s going to do so. RIM’s latest move may very well just make it an attractive consumer device as well.

    The BlackBerry World for BlackBerry 10 will feature a large selection of media when it launches later this week. RIM announced that the store will feature the latest movies, TV shows and music for consumers who want to check out their media on the go.

    To make things even sweeter, RIM announced that it would be getting films same day as the DVD release, and TV shows the day after broadcast. The move helps BlackBerry 10 be more attractive to the regular consumer that may have moved away from BlackBerry after it fell behind Android and iOS in media content availability.

    “Music and video content is an integral part of a rich mobile experience. People want easy and convenient access to their favorite music, movies and TV shows wherever they are,” said Frank Boulben, Chief Marketing Officer at Research In Motion. “RIM is committed to working with content providers to bring the best, most up-to-date content to our customers with BlackBerry 10, and to make it easy for them to get what they want.”

    Video downloads and rentals will initially be available only to customers in the U.S., UK and Canada. Films and TV shows from pretty much every distributor will be available, including independent labels.

    As for music, there will be plenty of content from all the major and independent labels. Unlike visual media, music on BlackBerry 10 will be available in 18 countries at launch. These include Canada, U.S., UK, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa, Spin, Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.

    I was a little worried at first as RIM was only showing off enterprise features with BlackBerry 10. Granted, the company’s most important customers come from the enterprise market, but it needs to appeal to consumers to really get a foothold in the mobile industry again. This latest move is a big step in appealing to those who want more than just enhanced security and job contacts on their mobile devices.

  • BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 Launches Today

    It’s do or die time for RIM with the launch of its BlackBerry 10 handsets quickly approaching. Before that, however, the company will be launching one other service that may just keep it in the game – BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.

    RIM announced today that BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 is now available to its customers around the world. The software is an enhanced version of its past enterprise mobility management solutions but with some added bells and whistles like updated security.

    Here’s all the features businesses can expect from the new service:

  • Manage all BlackBerry, iOS, and Android devices, including the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones
  • Application management for internal corporate apps or public apps from BlackBerry World (formerly BlackBerry App World) through BlackBerry World for Work
  • Easy over-the-air activation for end users
  • Enhanced IT policies

    • Those who were already enlisted in the popular BlackBerry 10 Ready Program can start upgrading to the the new service today. For those who haven’t, the BlackBerry 10 Ready Program provides users “with a simple and straightforward upgrade path from [their] existing portfolio of enterprise mobility management solutions.”

    For those who are just not sure, RIM is also offering a 60-day free trial of its new management solution service. You can sign up for it here.

    RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Service is still seen by many as one of the best in the business. Even if its handsets fail, the company could downsize itself and focus solely on its enterprise services. The company may also be looking into licensing out its BlackBerry 10 smartphone software to other hardware manufacturers. RIM still has a lot of fight left in it, and the launch of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 is a strong step in the right direction.

  • RIM Says Early Interest In BlackBerry 10 Is Looking Good

    BlackBerry has always been an enterprise phone. BlackBerry 10, while hopefully appealing to more consumers, will still remain an enterprise phone. The hope is that BlackBerry 10 will also become the enterprise phone once again. Early reports out of RIM suggest the company may be on its way to reclaiming some of its former success.

    Speaking to Reuters, RIM’s Senior Enterprise Accounts Director, Bryan Lee, said that its enterprise consumers are registering en masse for its BlackBerry 10 Ready Program. More than 1,600 customers in North America have already signed up for the service which will help with the transition to BlackBerry 10 and Enterprise Server 10.

    Speaking of Enterprise Server 10, Lee said that more than 130 major government agencies and corporations are now testing the service. Some of these organizations will presumably outfit their thousands of employees with the newest BlackBerry 10 devices. That’s sure to make RIM and its investors happy.

    According to Reuters, that’s already happening as RIM’s share price has more than doubled as it approaches the launch of BlackBerry 10 on January 30. The company’s share price now sits at a comfortable $14.64.

    The enterprise market will definitely help RIM get back on its feet, but it’s unlikely that the company will enjoy long term success by only serving this one market. It needs to find at least some success in the consumer market as well if it intends to survive. I’m not saying that RIM needs to beat Android or iOS, but only having 7.3 percent of the smartphone market isn’t doing the company any favors.

    If this whole BlackBerry 10 thing doesn’t work out for RIM, the company can at least rest easy knowing that its browser is faster than the competition’s.

  • BlackBerry 10 Browser Speeds Ahead Of Competition

    BlackBerry 10 officially launches at the end of this month. As such, more details about RIM’s hardware and software are starting to leak out. We already got a good look at the Z10 on Tuesday, and now the phone’s browser is being put to the test. Spoilers: It’s fast.

    In a series of videos from GadgetMasters, a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpa B’s browser speed is put against the browsers of an iPhone 5 running iOS 6 and a HTC 8X with Windows Phone 8. Both devices are lauded for their speedy browsers, but how do they hold up to the BlackBerry 10’s WebKit-based browser?

    Both videos illustrate that the BlackBerry 10’s browser, at least at this point, is faster than both Safari and Internet Explorer in iOS 6 and Windows Phone 8 respectively. The BlackBerry 10 browser also has a higher HTML5 score at least when compared to Windows Phone 8.

    The only thing we don’t know for sure is how fast BlackBerry 10 is compared to Android. Granted, it’s hard to test something against Android due to the variety of devices and builds. The most effective test would be to see how it stacks up to a Nexus 4 or Galaxy S III running Chrome.

    Beyond that, it’s important to note that the BlackBerry 10 phone on hand is not final hardware or software. The browser could be even faster when the device launches later this month. Of course, the browser is only one component of a smartphone, and other devices may easily beat out the BlackBerry 10 in other areas. We won’t know for sure until people get the final device in their hands and run it through a battery of tests.

    For now, however, we can say that Windows Phone 8 has been smoked by BlackBerry 10.

    [h/t: BGR]

  • Get Up Close And Personal With The Blackberry Z10

    RIM’s last chance to save itself is almost upon us. BlackBerry 10 and its accompanying handsets will launch on January 30. That being said, not a lot of people have had a chance to see the new handsets in action. Now they can thanks to a vide from TelekomPresse.

    TelekomPresse, a German Web site, uploaded a video today that features the BlackBerry Z10, RIM’s all-touch smartphone. The entire video is in German, but you can get a good look at the phone and its features by watching it.

    The BlackBerry Z10 in the video looks just like the Z10 that we’ve already seen before in leaked photos from the developer beta. The only real difference is that the handset looks much smaller in video than it does in the photos. As many commenters on the video point out, it could just be the presenter has large hands.

    Besides not understanding the German, did the video inspire you to switch back to BlackBerry once it launches? That’s going to be RIM’s greatest challenge moving forward because the enterprise market can’t carry it alone anymore. It has to capture at least some part of the consumer market that’s currently enamored with iPhones and Android devices. RIM will also have to deal with a reinvigorated Windows Phone brand that’s doing much better than expected thanks to increased demand for Nokia’s Lumia 920.

    [h/t: BGR]

  • BlackBerry 10 Phone Pics Leak Out Again

    RapidBerry, the self-styled “Number 1 Dedicated UK BlackBerry site” today released what it says is leaked marketing material for one of the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones. The pictures show the BlackBerry Z10 in various stages of use, particulary in business contexts. Rapid Berry states that the images are pulled from the latest public developer alpha for BlackBerry 10.

    The first thing that is easily noticeable in the pictures is how similar the Z10 looks to the current design of the iPhone. Though it works to RIM‘s advantage to design a smartphone that isn’t wildly different from what people are used to, the company should also beware of Apple. Samsung has seen what happens when you attempt to copy Apple. Of course, Samsung is now Apple’s biggest competitor, so perhaps following the crowd really is the way to get ahead in the mobile market.

    Something else to notice is that one of the pictures shows what appears to be a BlackBerry Messenger video calling app for BlackBerry 10, which might be an essential feature for the base of customers who are still loyal to the BlackBerry brand. A slide-on case bearing the BlackBerry logo can be spotted in another picture.

    Of the apps that can be seen on the phones’ screens, only a few social network apps are not made by BlackBerry. If RIM really does expect customers to switch to a BlackBerry 10 device, it’s going to have to make sure some of the most-used mobile apps and games will show up on the Z10. The company will have until its January 30 announcement to shore up developer support.

    (Image via RapidBerry)

  • BlackBerry Fans Think BlackBerry 10 Is Awesome

    BlackBerry 10, RIM’s last chance at staying relevant, won’t be available until early next year. Until then, the press and analysts can only anxiously wait to see how the new OS and handsets perform. That was the case at least until RIM invited the most impartial of critics, die hard BlackBerry fans, to try out the new devices.

    RIM recently invited 20 of its “BlackBerry Elite Fans” to its HQ to test out the BlackBerry 10 OS and handset. If you were worried about the future of the OS, don’t. The fans are obviously not bias in any way and deliver an approving critique of the OS devoid of any complaints. It’s obvious that RIM has something special on their hands here.

    My best attempts at sarcasm aside, RIM really needs this to be a hit. Putting it in the hands of the fans first is a good move. These folks can now deliver the good news to the RIM faithful the world over. They might even be able to bring back a few of the lost sheep that have moved to the greener pastures of iOS or Android.

    Even though they are fans, the positive comments on BlackBerry 10 seems to indicate that RIM will at least be doing right by its fan and long time users. Unfortunately, that’s just not going to cut it anymore. RIM needs to get back into the mainstream again at a time where iPhone and Android fever is at an all time high. The company also has to deal with the slowly rising star that is Windows Phone 8.

    All of this leads to one very simple question – will RIM survive 2013? The fans seem to think so with one even saying BB10 is a “game changer.” Everybody else may think differently, however, and that will make or break RIM going into the new year.

  • LinkedIn App Gets Updated For BlackBerry Smartphones

    LinkedIn App Gets Updated For BlackBerry Smartphones

    LinkedIn updated its mobile app last month with the ability to edit a profile from within the app. The update only applied to iOS and Android with a BlackBerry app update nowhere in sight. It’s now here a month later, and it doesn’t have quite the same feature set.

    RIM announced today the LinkedIn app has been updated for devices running versions six or seven of the BlackBerry OS. Like previous social media app updates, the LinkedIn update focuses primarily on integration with BlackBerry contacts.

    First up, the update app now lets users sync and merge their LinkedIn connections with their existing BlackBerry contacts. The reverse is also true as you can move your BlackBerry contacts into your LinkedIn account. It’s especially useful when keeping track of colleagues that you may have just met.

    The update also introduces the “Groups and More” tab that keeps track of, well, groups, but also your jobs. The Groups tab will list all of the groups that you are currently a member of while simultaneously displaying groups that you may be interested in. As for jobs, the tab will list all of your saved jobs while also displaying all of the jobs that you may be interested in.

    You can grab the updated LinkedIn app here. While you’re at it, you can upgrade to the latest versions of Twitter and Facebook for BlackBerry if you haven’t already.

  • BlackBerry 10 Smartphone L-Series Leak Video Released

    More than a month out from RIM’s scheduled unveiling of its BlackBerry 10 lineup on January 30, the leaks are already coming. Today, a Vietnamese website known for its Apple leaks has released a video preview of an upcoming BlackBerry 10 device codenamed “London.”

    The smartphone, as shown in the video, has a rear-facing camera & flash, a microSD card slot, and a removable battery. It is also rumored to have a 4.2-inch screen, which the video appears to confirm.

    The surprising thing about the video may be that the device isn’t all that remarkable. Even the BlackBerry 10 software running on it heavily resembles the Android and iOS interfaces, with a few twists. This could be worrisome for RIM fans, as not even Microsoft’s highly unique Windows Phone 8 devices have been able to capture consumers’ imaginations and make much of a dent in the iOS/Android dominated smartphone market.

    Unless RIM has a surprise waiting for January, BlackBerry 10 devices could easily fall under the shadow of Apple and Samsung, as so many other manufacturers have. In fact, it might be hard for the company not to be upstaged by Samsung, who has teased a big announcement for CES earlier in January.

    (via BGR)

  • Facebook For BlackBerry Gets Expanded BBM Integration

    RIM is launching its new BlackBerry 10 handsets in January, but the company hasn’t forgotten its faithful customers that are using its older handsets. In recognition of their loyalty, RIM has updated its BlackBerry Facebook app.

    Facebook for BlackBerry has been upgraded to version 3.3, and it comes with a number of new features like expanded BlackBerry Messenger integration and more social options. There’s even an update for photo sharing.

    First up is an expansion on Facebook’s BlackBerry Messenger integration. Now users can find fellow BlackBerry users on Facebook and add them to their BBM contact list. From there, users can start up BBM chats with their friends instead of using Facebook Messenger.

    To make finding BBM users on Facebook easier, RIM has also enabled an option to let users share their BlackBerry PIN on Facebook. This will make it easier for other BlackBerry users to find you on the social network and vice versa.

    BBM integration is nice, but RIM has finally added the best feature of Facebook to its BlackBerry app – unfriending. Users can now unfriend people from the drop down menu that appears when you tap on a person’s profile.

    Last but certainly not least, photo pages on the BlackBerry app have been redesigned to make it faster and easier. Upon updating, you’ll see that photos are now arranged in thumbnails for faster browsing. Upon going full screen, the photos will be displayed in a higher resolution. Particularly important photos can also be saved to a BlackBerry device from the Facebook app for safe keeping.

    RIM says that the Facebook app should be available to download on BlackBerry World today. It could take up to 24 hours for the update to appear, however, so just be patient. It won’t be long until you can start unfriending people on the go.

  • BlackBerry Ditched by U.S. National Transportation Safety Board

    The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is looking to replace all of its BlackBerry devices with iPhone 5’s. The agency posted a notice to the Federal Business Opportunities website seeking firms that can handle the the transfer of the agency’s devices.

    The NTSB stated that the switch away from BlackBerry was due to the devices “failing both at inopportune times and at an unacceptable rate.” From the agency’s justification document:

    The NTSB requires effective, reliable and stable communication capabilities to carry-out its primary investigative mission and to ensure employee safety in remote locations

    The agency is contracted with Verizon Wireless to provide it with wireless service, and it currently deploys some iPads to employees. It’s decision to use the iPhone 5 instead of Android devices came partly because of that the iPad use:

    The iPhone 5 has been determined to be the only device that meets the dual requirement of availability from the existing wireless vendor and is currently supportable by existing staff resources. The NTSB also anticipates the benefit of synching of the iPad devices and the iPhone devices, allowing users to seamlessly transition between the use of multiple platforms while retaining the same applications and capabilities.

    Research in Motion (RIM) has been losing large enterprise clients at a disturbing rate this fall. In September, Yahoo announced it would be giving free high-end smartphones – but not BlackBerrys – to its employees. Government contracter Booz Allen announced last month that it’s 25,000 employees will be transferred to Android or iPhone devices, and the U.S. Department of Defense is looking to hire a contractor to manage hundreds of thousands of Android and Apple devices.

    RIM is currently hanging its hopes of revitalizing its business on the January 30 launch of its new BlackBerry 10 platform. Analysts, however, are not convinced the new OS and devices will be enough to bring the company back to the dominance it enjoyed five years ago.

    (Via AllThingsD)

  • BlackBerry 10 Is Set To Launch On January 30

    RIM is in a bad place, and the company’s last hope lies in BlackBerry 10. It seemed strange then that the company would delay the launch until after the holidays when most consumers are buying new phones. Even then, we were left with an ambiguous early 2013 launch window, but now we know that BB10 will be out before the end of January.

    RIM announced this morning that BlackBerry 10 will be available on January 30. The company plans to hold multiple launch events in countries around the world on the date. The launch events will feature not only the new BB10 platform, but the public unveiling of the first two BlackBerry 10 smartphones as well.

    “In building BlackBerry 10, we set out to create a truly unique mobile computing experience that constantly adapts to your needs. Our team has been working tirelessly to bring our customers innovative features combined with a best in class browser, a rich application ecosystem, and cutting-edge multimedia capabilities. All of this will be integrated into a user experience – the BlackBerry Flow – that is unlike any smartphone on the market today,” said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of Research In Motion. “Thanks to our strong partnerships with global carriers and a growing ecosystem of developers, we believe our customers will have the best experience possible with BlackBerry 10. We are looking forward to getting BlackBerry 10 in the hands of our customers around the world.”

    It appears that RIM will be able to hit its launch date as BB10 is already in testing with carriers around the world. It’s unknown which carriers will actually be offering BlackBerry phones at launch, but RIM has over 50 carriers lined up so far. RIM’s CEO Thorsten Heins also told CNET that early response from carriers has been good.

    The handsets have also recently achieved FIPS 140-2 certification which makes BB10 ready for deployment within government agencies. RIM points out that this is the first time a BlackBerry product has been certified before launch. It might be all for naught, however, as government agencies increasingly look to Android and iOS.

    It sounds like BB10 will be gearing up for a good launch in January, but not everybody is so confident. Just last week, an analyst with Pacific Crest said that BB10 would be DOA when it launches. Other firms, however, are saying that RIM may be able to pick itself back up.

    We won’t know anything for sure until early next year though. RIM is obviously going all out with the launch, but will consumers buy into it after a holiday of buying up new devices? Will consumers actually want to wait out deals like a $99 Nokia Lumia 920 or offers of cheap Android devices in favor of a device that may or may not fail? It’s a gamble that’s too hard to call. RIM’s investors must be hoping the company knows what it’s doing.

  • RIM, HTC Losing Big Worldwide, Shows Analyst

    RIM, HTC Losing Big Worldwide, Shows Analyst

    It’s widely known that RIM, HTC, and Nokia are in trouble in U.S. cell phone markets. As Samsung consolidates its power over the Android smartphone market, it isn’t leaving much room for another Apple competitor. It’s sometimes said that even though this is the case, other handset manufacturers have a good chance at propping up their profits by focusing on emerging cell phone markets.

    Research firm Canalys today released its worldwide country-level smartphone shipment data for the third quarter of 2012, and the numbers still don’t look good for anyone other than Samsung, Apple, and Sony.

    Their shipment data shows that the worldwide smartphone market reached 173.7 million units in Q3 2012 – 44% higher than Q3 2011. For the third consecutive quarter, Samsung led the global market by shipping 55.5 million smartphones, or 32% of all smartphone shipments. Apple came next with 26.9 million (15.5%), and Sony rounded out the top 3 with 8.8 million (5.1%).

    HTC and RIM come next on the list, and they aren’t far behind Sony, with 8.4 million (4.8%) and 7.3 million (4.2%), respectively. However, these numbers are a huge decrease for these companies from their 2011 shipment numbers. HTC shipped 36% more smartphones in Q3 2011, and RIM shipped 38% more. Their shares of shipment numbers have similarly dropped, over 5% in HTC’s case and almost that much for RIM.

    Nokia has been pushed off the top 5 and is now included with the “others” category, which collectively ships 38.5% of the world’s smartphones. Nokia shipped fewer units in Q3 2012 in anticipation of the launch of Windows Phone 8. RIM is currently gearing up for BlackBerry 10, which it hopes will revitalize its business, but which analysts are predicting might be DOA.

    Canalys emphasized that these numbers are heavily skewed by China, where Samsung has a large lead in the smartphone market.

    “When considering actual use of smart phones, however, the markets differ dramatically again, determined by network availability, speed, pricing and localization,” said Chris Jones, Canalys co-founder and principal analyst. “For example, data from the Canalys App Interrogator tool shows that the US market still leads in terms of app downloads and revenue. For example, the US made up 45% of all Apple iPhone app downloads in September, compared with just 11% in China.”

    (via BGR)

  • Analyst Predicts BlackBerry 10 Will Be ‘DOA’

    BlackBerry 10 is going to turn everything around for RIM. It’s going to propel the beleaguered smartphone manufacturer back into relevancy. At least, that the story that RIM’s executives would have you believe. The truth is that we don’t know exactly how the market is going to react to the launch of BlackBerry 10 early next year. One analyst isn’t too optimistic.

    Bloomberg reports that James Faucette, a Pacific Crest analyst, has weighed on the potential of BlackBerry 10. He expects “the new OS to be met with a lukewarm response at best and ultimately likely to fail.” In short, he believes BB10 will be DOA.

    Despite the doom and gloom, RIM isn’t doing that bad these days. The company is still posting losses, but its second-quarter losses weren’t nearly as bad as analysts had predicted. The reduced losses coupled with RIM already testing BB10 with carriers has some analysts cautiously optimistic.

    Two firms – Cormack Securities and Scotia Capital – have raised their respective ratings on RIM’s stock. Paradigm Capital’s Gabriel Leung also came to the company’s defense by saying that RIM has “significantly improved its ability to attract developers to build apps for the BB10 ecosystem, which we view as a key catalyst for success.”

    So, who’s right in all of this? We can’t know for sure until it launches, but it is highly unlikely that RIM will be able to capture a large chunk of the market. That’s not to say BB10 will be a failure. It could do very well and help turn RIM’s fortunes around. The company just shouldn’t be looking to take on iOS and Android. At best, RIM should settle for a decent, instead of distant, third place position.

    If all else fails, RIM can license the BB10 software to third-party OEMs. Samsung could probably cook up a nice BB10 handset that would sell well enough.

  • BlackBerry 10 Is Now Being Tested At Over 50 Carriers

    RIM is still on track to release BlackBerry 10 early next year. The mobile OS needs to be a hit, or RIM won’t be around for much longer. We won’t know the consumer reaction to the new BlackBerry handsets until early next year, but RIM says that carriers are already excited.

    In a statement sent to CNET, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said that BlackBerry is now in testing at more than 50 carriers. The response to the OS and the hardware has apparently been good. Heins said that carriers are “excited about the prospect of launching BlackBerry 10 in their markets.”

    Heins is right when he says that this is an important step. It at least confirms that BlackBerry 10 is on schedule to launch in Q1 2013. It would be disastrous for the company if the launch was delayed. Getting into the testing period this early also allows RIM to make sure everything is perfect by launch. Another global outage of the BlackBerry network would not look good.

    Much like what Microsoft is trying to do with Windows Phone 8, RIM is trying to capture the consumer market with BlackBerry 10. That’s not to say it’s ignoring the enterprise market entirely though. It’s just that RIM is losing major enterprise customers everyday as more companies make the move to iOS, Android and even Windows Phone 8. The consumer market may be the only hope that RIM has going forward.

    All is not lost though. Heins makes a note that the BlackBerry enterprise teams are now presenting BlackBerry 10 devices to its business partners. The company may yet be able to get back in the game, especially if Windows Phone 8 bombs.