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Tag: RIM

  • Google Android Edges Apple In Smartphone Market

    Samsung was the top handset maker in the U.S. for the three month period ending in November, accounting for 24.5 percent of the market, while RIM led among smartphones with 33.5 percent market share, according to comScore.

    For the three month average period ending in November, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top  mobile manufacturer with 24.5 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, up 0.9 percentage points from the three month period ending in August. LG ranked second with 20.9 percent share, followed by Motorola (17.0 percent), RIM (8.8 percent) and Nokia (7.2 percent).

     

    Smartphone-Platforms

     

    In the U.S. 61.5 million people owned smartphones during the three months ending in November, up 10 percent from the preceding three-month period, as RIM led with 33.5 percent market share of smartphones. After several months of strong growth, Google Android captured the #2 ranking among smartphone platforms in November with 26.0 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers. Apple accounted for 25.0 percent of smartphone subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points), followed by Microsoft with 9.0 percent and Palm with 3.9 percent.

    Mobile-Usage

    In November, 67.1 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 0.5 percentage points versus the prior three month period, while browsers were used by 35.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points). Subscribers who used downloaded applications comprised 33.4 percent of the mobile audience, representing an increase of 1.1 percentage points. Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 1.0 percentage points, representing 23.5 percent of mobile subscribers. Playing games attracted 22.6 percent of the mobile audience while listening to music attracted 15.0 percent.

     

     

  • RIM Buys Interesting User Interface Company TAT

    BlackBerry makers Research in Motion (RIM) are buying a company called The Astonishing Tribe (or TAT). RIM CTO  David Yach said the following in a statement on the BlackBerry Blog:

    Today we are pleased to confirm plans for The Astonishing Tribe (TAT) team to join Research In Motion (RIM). We’re excited that the TAT team will be joining RIM and bringing their talent to the BlackBerry PlayBook and smartphone platforms.

    For those who don’t know, TAT is renowned for their innovative mobile user interface (UI) designs and has a long history of working with mobile and embedded technology. TAT focuses on delivering great user experiences, from a design, technology, and usability perspective. Their design technology is used today in a variety of industries including the consumer electronics and automotive sectors.

    According to a promotional video (which a suggest checking out below), TAT’s technology powers over 470 million devices in over 15% of all new phones in 2010 and 20% of all touch phones. It also powers DTVs, STBs, car clusters and tablets. 

    TAT’s Paul Blomdahl says on the company’s blog:

    We’ve always been passionate about great user experiences and the interaction between people and devices. Our software and concepts are used in hundreds of millions of mobile devices, cars and consumer electronics products.

    Today we’re very excited as we are announcing that we’re taking a huge leap towards our vision to help create a full user experience for a great line of devices and products.

    He also assures customers that TAT will honor current agreements and services moving forward. 

    Neither RIM nor TAT has not disclosed the amount of money it is paying for TAT.

  • LinkedIn Stays Current for BlackBerry-Using Business Professionals

    In August, RIM announced the BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6 operating system aimed at delivering "integrated and uncompromising capabilities for consumers and business professionals". Now LinkedIn, the social network for business professionals has a new app designed for this device and operating system. 

    The version comes with a redesigned member profile for easier connecting and communicating with professional networks. "In addition to the layout changes, we’ve also added several new sections to the profile, such as recommendations," explains LinkedIn’s Laukik Watve. "A great way to build your own network is by viewing other people’s connections, and now you can easily view the connections right from the profile screen. Even better, we’ve added access to our popular ‘In Common’ feature. Now if you are about to meet someone new, you can quickly find out who you know in common with that person with just a single click."

    LinkedIn app for BlackBerry 6

    The updated app also makes it easier to view detailed profile updates within Network Updates. "From a profile update, you can now tap on your connection’s name to go to the top of their profile, or tap on any section to jump right to that section," notes Watve.

    This week, LinkedIn started letting users customize their profiles with five new profile sections, so you can now show off your publications, languages, skills, certifications, and patents (and see those of others). 

    LinkedIn Sections

    LinkedIn has long had a reputation of being the go-to place for professional networking, recruiting, and job searching in the social media world. Even as Facebook and Twitter have stepped into its territory to some extent, LinkedIn has managed to keep improving in the space where it excels, adding more useful, business professional-targeted features. 

    LinkedIn knows its place in the social media space, and keeping its app updated for BlackBerry should continue to be a priority, as these RIM devices are still a popular choice among business professionals. 

    The new app can be downloaded here.

  • RIM: Customers Tired of Being Told What to Think by Apple

    Apple and Google have become known for taking shots at one another during announcements and presentations. We talked about this at length here. However, Google’s not the only target of Steve Jobs these days. BlackBerry maker RIM was on the receiving end of some other harsh comments from Apple’s CEO this week when the company reported its financial results for the last quarter. 

    Aside from pointing out that iPhone sales had surpassed BlackBerry sales, Jobs made comments like 7-inch screen tablets like RIM’s PlayBook, would be "dead on arrival".

    RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie had the following to say on the company’s official BlackBerry Blog:

    Jim Balsillie of RIM responds to Steve Jobs commentsFor those of us who live outside of Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7" tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience. We also know that while Apple’s attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash. We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple. And by the way, RIM has achieved record shipments for five consecutive quarters and recently shared guidance of 13.8 – 14.4 million BlackBerry smartphones for the current quarter. Apple’s preference to compare its September-ending quarter with RIM’s August-ending quarter doesn’t tell the whole story because it doesn’t take into account that industry demand in September is typically stronger than summer months, nor does it explain why Apple only shipped 8.4 million devices in its prior quarter and whether Apple’s Q4 results were padded by unfulfilled Q3 customer demand and channel orders. As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story.

    Snap.

    Reactions to Balsillie’s comments range from "You tell him, Jim" to "Come on Jim, you’ve gotta do better than that." For example, one reader commented:

    "I read a transcript of what Steve said and just became disgusted. You killed it! This is why I will be a BlackBerry forever, y’all are good, honest people who make the best products.

    While another said:

    If customers are tired of ‘being told by Apple’ …sales would reflect that? Come on Balsille, RIM needs to step up their game and you know it. 

    BlackBerry PlayBook

    RIM’s PlayBook is due out next year, and when it ships, we’ll see how customers react. I’m guessing it’s not going to launch with the same hype the iPad carried, simply because Apple was first to the game, but that doesn’t mean it can’t sell well. Of course the market will be much more competitive soon. Apple and RIM will both have plenty of competition from manufacturers using Android for tablets. 

    I wouldn’t be surprised if the tablet market looks similar to the smartphone market for all three of these brands this time next year, in terms of brand market share. Sooner or later, Microsoft will get involved too.

     

  • New Tablet from RIM, Amazon Making a Tablet Too?

    Amazon may have launched a new web version of its Kindle software, but rumor has it that it is also launching its own Android app store and possibly even its own tablet. 

    MG Siegler at TechCrunch says Amazon is on the verge of releasing an Android-based App store,  but will also release its own iPad competitor. These are unconfirmed rumors at this point, but it could give Amazon another leg up over e-reader competitors as well as tablet makers. 

    Meanwhile, RIM has unveiled its new tablet – the BlackBerry PlayBook:

    "RIM set out to engineer the best professional-grade tablet in the industry with cutting-edge hardware features and one of the world’s most robust and flexible operating systems," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at RIM. "The BlackBerry PlayBook solidly hits the mark with industry leading power, true multitasking, uncompromised web browsing and high performance multimedia."

    The PlayBook is expected to be available in early 2011, missing the holiday season.

  • Bing for Mobile for BlackBerry Gets Update

    Microsoft announced an update for its Bing for Mobile BlackBerry app. The app can now access Bing Maps by pressing the Bing Maps icon from a user’s BlackBerry device. 
    In addition to this, the home screen has been updated, and a launcher has been added, so local, maps, directions and news can all be accessed faster. 

     

    Bing for Mobile for BlackBerry
    The app supports the following devices:

     

    BlackBerry Curve 8500
    BlackBerry Curve 2 8520/8530
    BlackBerry Bold 9000
    BlackBerry Tour 9600
    BlackBerry Bold 9650 (Essex)
    BlackBerry Bold 9700 (Bold2)
    BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8200
    BlackBerry Storm 9530
    BlackBerry Storm 9550 (Storm2)

     

    The app can be downloaded from m.bing.com from the device. Verizon users will be notified with an update. Microsoft has a video about the app available here.
     
  • The Town That Google Forgot, Facebook’s Mobile Strategy

    The Town That Google Forgot, Facebook’s Mobile Strategy

    Matt McGee at Search Engine Land has an interesting story about the town that disappeared entirely from Google Maps. Sunrise, Florida mysteriously vanished, but was resurrected. Google gave the site the following statement:

    Google is committed to providing our users with the richest, most up-to-date maps possible. We’ve built our map from a combination of authoritative sources, ranging from the U.S. Census Bureau to commercial data providers, and have used satellite, aerial and Street View imagery to help complete the map. Overall, this provides a very comprehensive map of the U.S., but we recognize that there may be occasional inaccuracies that could arise from any of those sources. We encourage users to let us know when something is incorrect by using our “Report a Problem” button, found at the bottom right corner of the map.

    Michael Arrington at TechCrunch has an interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s mobile plans. 

    Developers can now access locations of 250 million phones across U.S. carriers, according to Location Labs, as cited in an article by ReadWriteWeb. This is through an API from the company. 

    MobileCrunch talks about a new app coming out called ChatSquare, which lets you chat with other people in the same FourSquare location. This could potentially make Foursquare more useful to more people. 

    Silicon Alley Insider points out that Zynga is advertising for a "Software Engineer – Android" on its jobs site. This likely means Android games are on the way. 

    Neowin.net reports that Chris Wilson, who was known as the "IE Platform Architect" has left Microsoft for Google. This is particularly interesting, given that Microsoft has just launched its most interesting version of its browser in years, and Chrome is becoming more and more of a contender in the space. Neowin.net says he won’t be working on Chrome for at least another year though, due to a contract with Microsoft. 

    Speaking of  Chrome, Google announced today that the Google Chrome Frame has graduated from beta, and is now being promoted in the stable channel. 

    The Wall Street Journal says RIM could unveil its answer to the iPad as early as next week. 

    MerchantCircle has acquired TimeBridge "to Offer Superior Online Scheduling Capabilities to Over 1.3 Million Local Business Owners."

    AOL has partnered with Marlo Thomas to launch a new site. "Marlo Thomas has helped define an empowered world for women, created ground breaking content for children, and produced best-selling books that improve and inspire people’s lives. AOL is delighted to partner with Marlo to bring her content and creativity to the 250 million global consumers of AOL*," said Tim Armstrong, Chairman and CEO of AOL. "Marlo continues to have a big impact on families and health through her work at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and we expect her to have just as significant an impact on our audience."

    VChatter, which describes itself as "a family-friendly social video chat service with over 2.5M active monthly users" is expanding its service with the launch of a destination site and personal URLs that it says "add a video layer on social sites with a badge that connects directly to a live video chatroom."

    The service, which ties a user’s identity to Facebook ID, is able to ban repeat offenders and uses a mix of tools and processes to remove inappropriate content and maintain a safe and clean environment, which would give it a leg up on ChatRoulette. The company’s CEO and co-founder, Will Bunker, founded the dating site that was acquired by Ticketmaster and later became Match.com.

    Twitter has made some API announcements regarding the new version of Twitter. You can see the specifics here

    Mint.com and Zillow.com announced a partnership to help customers determine their homes’ value as part of their overall financial portfolio.

     

  • Google Android Closes In On Apple

    Google Android Closes In On Apple

    Samsung was the top handset manufacturer in the U.S. in July with 23.1 percent market share, while RIM led the smartphone platforms with 39.9 percent market share, according to the latest report from comScore.

    For the 3-month average period ending in July, 234 million Americans used mobile devices. Device maker LG ranked second with 21.2 percent share, followed by Motorola (19.8% share), RIM (9% share) and Nokia (7.8% share.)

    In the U.S. 53.4 million people owned smartphones during the three months ending in July, up 11 percent from the corresponding April period. RIM was the leading mobile smartphone platform in the U.S. with 39.3 percent share of U.S. smartphone subscribers, followed by Apple with 23.8 percent share.

    Google saw significant growth during the period, rising 5.0 percentage points to capture 17.0 percent of smartphone subscribers. Microsoft accounted for 11.8 percent of Smartphone subscribers, while Palm rounded out the top five with 4.9 percent. Despite losing share to Google Android, most smartphone platforms continue to gain subscribers as the smartphone market overall continues to grow.

     

    comScore-Smartphones

     

    comScore found in July, 2 out of 3 U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile devices, up 1.4 percentage points compared to the prior three month period, while browsers were used by 33.6 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 2.5 percentage points). Subscribers who used downloaded applications comprised 31.4 percent of the mobile audience, representing an increase of 1.6 percentage points from the previous period. Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 1.9 percentage points, representing 21.8 percent of mobile subscribers.
     

     

  • RIM Reportedly Acquires DataViz Assets

    BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has reportedly acquired most of the DataViz team. CrackBerry.com broke the news, which was confirmed by John Paczkowski at Digital Daily. DataViz is known for developing Documents to Go.

    "News of the acquisition follows DataViz’s cancellation of development for Docs To Go for webOS last Friday," says Paczkowski. "Makes you wonder if the same fate awaits the versions for iPhone, Android, etc., now that the deal’s official."

    DataViz describes itself:

    DataViz is an industry leader in developing and marketing Office compatibility and productivity solutions across a variety of platforms including Apple iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Java, Linux, Maemo 5, Palm OS, Symbian OS, WebOS, Windows Mobile, Windows and Macintosh. Founded in 1984, DataViz began its business developing file conversion software and has since expanded its expertise to providing solutions that meet the increasing demands of the handheld and mobile markets. With enterprise-grade solutions that include its award-winning mobile Office suite, Documents To Go, and wireless Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync client, RoadSync, DataViz is committed to developing premium solutions that mobilize ‘Microsoft Office’ without compromise and providing customers with instant access to critical files and business data.

    DataViz - Assets acquired by RIM
     
    DataViz has held a licensing partnership with RIM in the past (as well as with Microsoft, Palm, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung).

    Financial details about RIM’s acquisition of DataViz assets are unknown, as is the extent and plans of the acquisition itself. We’ll no doubt be hearing more about this in the near future.

  • Apple to Close Quattro Wireless, RIM Looks for Its Own Ad Network

    Apple’s VP of iAd (formerly Quattro’s CEO) Andy Miller sent Apple employees a memo saying that the Quattro Wireless Network will be shut down at the end of September. Apple bought Quattro, which would lead to iAd, last year for $275. Silicon Alley Insider has a look at the memo

    Meanwhile, RIM is shopping for an ad network, according to the Wall Street Journal. The publication cites the popular "people familiar with the matter".

    Here’s a fun one. Have you heard/read about the movie the Last Exorcism? There’s a viral campaign utilizing ChatRoulette (it can be used for marketing!):

    Google reportedly wants Motorola to create an Android tablet for Verizon. On a related note, the next version of Android (after Gingerbread) will reportedly be called Honeycomb.

    ZDNet reports that Windows 7 is a hit, while XP is officially in decline.

    Experian Hitwise announced the launch of two major search products: SERP position data for all major search engines and search term sequencing for common sequential trends in search behavior.

    Perhaps the biggest story in tech today is that Intel is buying McAfee for $7.68 billion. It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this has on the security industry.

  • Another Report Has Android Moving Up Quickly

    Mobile ad network Millennial Media released its latest Mobile Mix report this morning. Android is now officially the number 2 OS on Millennial’s network. The Android OS grew another 47% month-over-month. Since January, Android has grown 690%. Android surpassed RIM as the number 2 OS on the network.

    Apple ad requests increased 24% month-over-month, but are actually down 15% since January. iPad ad requests grew 327% month-over-month, however.

    Here are the top manufacturers and devices:

    Top 15 Manufacturers

    Top Mobile Phones

    There was a significant increase in app developers programming for RIM’s platform. RIM apps represented 11% of the US Developer Platform Usage Mix. This was a increase of 9%, and represents the increased importance app developers are placing on the RIM platform, the firm says.

    Top Mobile Phones

    Shopping and retail apps entered into the top 10 Mobile App Channels, perhaps reflecting a potential back-to-school trend, Millennial notes.

    Smartphones and connected devices increased their impression share 7%, and now represent 68% of the total impression share. Millennial says this is an example of the continued demand consumers have for a rich media experience they cannot get on a feature phone.

  • RIM Announces BlackBerry Curve 3G

    RIM Announces BlackBerry Curve 3G

    Research in Motion (RIM) announced its latest smartphone today, the BlackBerry Curve 3G. The plan for the device appears to be to win over non-smartphone users.

    "The majority of people in the worldwide mobile phone market have yet to buy their first smartphone and the BlackBerry Curve 3G is designed to provide an extremely attractive and accessible choice that will help convince many of them to make the leap," says RIM President and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. "The new BlackBerry Curve 3G is a perfect choice for happily busy people who are looking for a user-friendly 3G smartphone to help them make the most of their day and to stay connected with their friends, family and co-workers."

    BlackBerry Curve 3G Features

    Last week, RIM unveiled the BlackBerry Torch, as well as the BlackBerry 6 operating system. The company called the announcement of these "one of the most significant" in the company’s history.

    Today’s announcement may not be as exciting to smartphone enthusiasts, but if the company’s plan works, it could be key in winning back some of the market share it has lost to Android. Also last week, the NPD Group released a report indicating that Android had surpassed RIM in U.S. smartphone shipments for the first time.

  • Chatroulette Calls Upon the Power of Napster

    Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb reports that Sean Parker (of Napster and Facebook fame) announced from Techonomy that he’s working with ChatRoulette. This is particularly interesting, as TechCrunch reported in June that Shawn Fanning (also of Napster fame) was advising Chatroulette.

    PatentlyApple looks at a new patent application from Apple for a "smart bike". They liken the concept to Apple’s Nike + iPod system for runners "except for cyclists."

    Reuters reports on words from Yoko Ono this week indicating that you won’t be seeing Beatles songs on iTunes anytime soon.

    PocketNow has a photo of what appears to be Windows Phone 7 running on an ASUS device. The photo apparently comes from Pakistan.

    There’s an interesting article at The Register claiming that private browsing modes in the four biggest browsers often fail. This is based on a research paper that is scheduled to be presented at the Usenix Security Symposium next week.

    This week, RIM unveiled the BlackBerry Torch. Now CrackBerry.com has a teardown of the device available for you to check out (with lots of photos).

    Google announced that the Maryland Education Enterprise Consortium will make Google Aps for Education avaiable to 1.4 million students in the state. This is the fourth state to "go Google".

  • Report: Android on 1 in 3 U.S. Smartphones Sold

    The NPD Group has released a new smartphone report, finding that Motorola and HTC have driven Android to the lead in the U.S. Android is installed on one in three smartphones sold, according to the group.

    Meanwhile, for the first time since 2007, RIM has slid to the number 2 position, as Android took the lead.

    While Android accounted for 33% of all smartphones purchased in Q2, RIM accounted for 28%. Apple came in third at 22% with the launch of the iPhone 4.

    BlackBerry Torch with BlackBerry 6 "For  the second consecutive quarter, Android handsets have shown strong but slowing sell-through market share gains among U.S. consumers," said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD. "While the Google-developed OS took market share from RIM, Apple’s iOS saw a small gain this quarter on the strength of the iPhone 4 launch."

    This week, BlackBerry unleashed its new BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6. It remains to be seen what kind of an impact this will have on the market.

    "Blackberry 6 will soon offer features that have been popular in recently launched Android handsets, such as support for capacitive touchscreens and a WebKit-based browser. However, the Blackberry Torch lacks the large screen allure that has characterized the best selling Android devices at its price point, including the Droid Incredible and EVO 4G," Rubin said.

    The top 5 Android smartphones sold were:

    1. Motorola Droid
    2. HTC Droid Incredible
    3. HTC EVO 4G
    4. HTC Hero
    5. HTC Droid Eris

    Android still has tablets and Google TV to look forward to as far as attracting more users.

  • RIM, AT&T Introduce BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6

    Today, Research in Motion (RIM) and AT&T launched the BlackBerry Torch, the first smartphone to feature the new BlackBerry 6, which was also unleashed today.

    "This is one of the most significant launches in RIM’s history and we are proud to introduce the new BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6 together with AT&T," said RIM President and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. "With a new user interface, new browser and new handset design, the highly anticipated BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6 deliver integrated and uncompromising capabilities for consumers and business professionals that preserve the industry-leading strengths of the BlackBerry platform while adding exciting new dimensions."

    Here’s the full feature list from the release:

    • BlackBerry Torch with BlackBerry 6Elegant styling, measuring approx. 4.4" (5.8" open) x 2.4" x .57" and weighing 5.68 ounces
    • 3.2" 360×480 capacitive touch screen display
    • 35 key full QWERTY backlit slide-out keyboard, designed to feel optimally balanced when opened for typing
    • Optical trackpad that makes navigation fast and smooth
    • Powerful 624 Mhz processor with 512 MB Flash memory
    • 4 GB built-in memory storage plus a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB cards; a 4 GB card is included giving users 8 GB of storage out-of-the-box
    • 5 MP camera with flash, continuous auto focus, image stabilization, scene modes, geo-tagging and zoom, as well as video recording at up to 640×480 resolution
    • Built-in GPS for location-based applications and geo-tagging
    • Wi-Fi® (802.11 b/g/n); qualifying smartphone customers can enjoy seamless connectivity to over 20,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots at no additional cost
    • 3.5mm stereo headset jack
    • Premium phone features, including voice activated dialing, speakerphone and Bluetooth® (2.1) with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits (including systems that support the Bluetooth Message Access Profile standard) and other Bluetooth accessories
    • New BlackBerry® Desktop Software 6 with integrated media sync for easily syncing music, photos and videos**. It also includes Wi-Fi Music Sync, a unique feature that allows users to view their entire iTunes® or Windows Media® Player music libraries from their BlackBerry smartphone, create and edit playlists as well as select music for download. When in range of their home Wi-Fi network (or via USB), the changes are synced with iTunes or Windows Media Player and the songs are automatically downloaded to the smartphone
    • Tri-band HSDPA (3G) and quad-band EDGE support for the option of voice service in more than 220 countries, data service in more than 195 countries and 3G connectivity in more than 125 countries, including Japan and South Korea
    • Removable, rechargeable 1300 mAhr battery that provides approximately 5.8 hours of talk time on 3G networks or 30 hours of audio playback or 6 hours of video playback

    "BlackBerry 6 is the outcome of RIM’s ongoing passion to deliver a powerful, simplified and optimized user experience for both touch screen and keyboard fans," said Lazaridis. "Following extensive research and development to address consumer needs and wants, we are delivering a communications, browsing and multimedia experience that we think users will love, and we are thrilled to debut BlackBerry 6 on the amazing new BlackBerry Torch smartphone."

    A Nielen report released this week indicates that loyalty is lacking among BlackBerry users, saying that half of BlackBerry users could potentially choose an iPhone or an Android phone for their next device. These things should be taken with a grain of salt, and that was before today’s announcements, but it still has to be a little worrisome for RIM.

  • Groupon Working Too Well For Some Businesses

    Groupon may be working a little too well for some businesses. As Mark D. Carlson and Emily Fredrix explore in an article, some local shops around the country are struggling to handle the customer loads that deals from Groupon are bringing in.

    Last week Groupon announced Personalized Deals, which will make the service all the more attractive to both businesses and consumers, so businesses better be prepared when they get involved with that.

    TechCrunch Europe reports that Wikileaks has joined Flattr, which allows people to leave donations for content they like. According to this, The Afghanistan War Diary has 756 "Flattrs".

    iPad The New York Times is offering a platform for producing iPad and iPhone apps to other publishers, according to AdAge. It’s called the Press Engine, and the Telegraph Media Group, Dallas Morning News, Providence Journal, and Press-Enterprise have already signed on.

    Christopher Null at Yahoo News points to a story about the FTC exploring a "do not call list" type list for online tracking. Unfortunately for the FTC, it doesn’t have all of the powers of e-commerce that it would need to do so…yet.

    Appolicious (in association with Yahoo Finance) says that the United Arab Emirates ban of certain BlackBerry functions could give BlackBerry makers RIM a marketing boost, highlighting the device’s security features.

    Last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked a little bit about the company’s strategy for competing with the iPad, expressing concern about how well the iPad has sold. ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley has her own take on what Microsoft may or may not have in store.

  • RIM Reportedly to Have iPad Competitor Ready Before Holidays

    Everybody’s scrambling to get their iPad competitors out. Most recently, we heard what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had to say about his comany’s plans. Research in Motion (RIM) will apparently have its iPad competitor out in a few short months.

    Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports the BlackBerry maker intends to have one out in November. Hugo Miller writes:

    The device will have roughly the same dimensions as the iPad, which has a 9.7-inch diagonal screen, said the two people who wouldn’t be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. The device will include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology that will allow people to connect to the Internet through their BlackBerry smartphones, the two people said.

    BlackBerry  - Coming soon to a tablet near you Will it be called the BlackPad? As Mobile Crunch pointed out this week, RIM has purchased the BlackPad.com domain.

    iPad sales have been impressive, to say the least. However, it has yet to really be faced with competition, and that will soon change. The iPad-like tablet market is going to get flooded with new products and choices for consumers, and there is no doubt that some of them will be much more competitive with pricing. This is one thing that has helped Android grow (which is powering its own iPad competitors).

    As the holiday season arrives, it looks like the iPad isn’t going to be the only one getting looked at by consumers.

  • Which Sites Drive the Most Referral Traffic?

    John Pozadzides of the Web analytics company Woopra wrote a guest post for ReadWriteWeb looking at the web’s top sources of referral traffic. He breaks it down in to the following categories: social network, social bookmark, search, and media.

    Six versions of Google top the list for search before Bing makes an appearance. Facebook takes the cake in social networks, followed by Twitter and LinkedIn. In the social bookmark category, StumbleUpon leads, and in media, it’s YouTube.

    Mashable’s Jolie O’Dell reports that a court in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia has demanded a Russian ISP block access to YouTube because it hosted what it says is an extremist video. The Internet Archive and three online libraries were also reportedly blocked. As O’Dell points out, a number of other countries have also blocked access to YouTube at different times.

    The New York Times reports that the House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that would effectively legalize online poker and other nonsports betting, overturning a 2006 federal ban.

    Pocket-lint reports that Amazon claims ebook sales will overtake paperbacks next year. It’s a pretty astonishing notion, but not too hard to believe considering that Amazon recently announced that ebook sales have overtaken hardback sales.

    Mobile Crunch has pointed out that RIM has purchased the domain BlackPad.com, speculating that a long-rumored BlackBerry tablet could be called the BlackPad.

    News surfaced yesterday that a directory containing personal details of over 100 million Facebook users has surfaced on a file-sharing site. BBC News spoke to the man responsible who says he harvested the info for a security tool.

    Back in early May, it was discovered that Google had invested in something called Recorded Future. Now Wired reports that the CIA is involved as well, in the company that monitors the web predicts the future.

    Facebook launched the long-awaited Questions feature yesterday (in beta). Search Engine Land has a detailed walkthrough of the feature.

    According to Ben Patterson at Yahoo News, citing information from Courant.com, U.S. libraries are loaning more DVDs on a daily basis than Netflix and Redbox are renting them. This make sense given that many libraries offer free DVD loans, and cheap prices on new releases.

  • Google, Apple, Yahoo, AOL, Dell, HP, RIM, McAfee, Symantec, Siemens Sued Over Spam Filtering

    Google, Apple, Yahoo, AOL, Dell, HP, RIM, McAfee, Symantec, Siemens Sued Over Spam Filtering

    A few days ago, a Texas-based company called InNova Patent Licensing filed an infringement lawsuit against 36 well-known companies. The company claims to hold the patent on spam filtering, and appears to be resting on the notion that any company using spam filtering owes them.

    Among the companies being sued are Google, Apple, AOL, Dell, HP, RIM, Yahoo, McAfee, Symantec, and Siemens. The list doesn’t stop at tech companies though. It also contains names like Frito Lay, Cinemark, J.C. Penney, Rent-A-Center, and Dr. Pepper.

    Chad Catacchio at TheNextWeb points out that Microsoft is strangely absent from the list, though one of the publication’s commenters points out that many of the companies named have offices in the InNova’s area.

    Innova  claims patent for email filtering "Email as we know it would essentially stop working if it weren’t for InNova’s invention," says InNova lead counsel Christopher Banys. "More than 80 percent of email is spam, which is why companies use InNova’s invention rather than forcing employees to wade through billions of useless emails. Unfortunately, the defendants appear to be profiting from this invention without any consideration for InNova’s legal patent rights."

    Mike Masnick at TechDirt had some fun with this one. "First of all, actual spam filtering is a hell of a lot more sophisticated than the methods in this patent, and the idea that email would stop working without this patent existing is pretty laughable, he writes. "This is such a basic concept that it boggles the mind that anyone thought it was patentable."

    The patent, granted to InNova’s founder 15 years ago, is titled "System for adding to electronic mail messages information obtained from sources external to the electronic mail transport process." You can read it here.

  • RIM Unveils BlackBerry Protect Security App

    Research in Motion (RIM) has unveiled a new security application for BlackBerry called BlackBerry Protect. The product allows users to wirelessly backup, restore, and locate their BlackBerry smartphones.

    BlackBerry Protect comes equipped with remote device wipe, remote device lock, a "lost and found" screen, the ability to locate the device on a map, remote activation of the loud ringer.

    BlackBerry Protect

    BlackBerry Protect - Activate Loud Ring

    BlackBerry Protect is currently in beta status, and will be launched in limited beta later this week through the BlackBerry Beta Zone and invite codes.

    RIM has more screenshots, as well as a walkthrough of how to use the product here. You can sign up for Beta Zone here.

  • Consumer Reports Gives iPhone 4 a Thumbs Down

    Today, Consumer Reports called it "official". The iPhone 4 has reception problems. The organization says it reached the conclusion after testing three iPhone 4s purchased from separate retailers, in a controlled environment. Meanwhile, reports have surfaced that a class action lawsuit against  Apple & ATT from iPhone owners has been approved by a federal judge. Not a lot of great news for Apple at the moment, despite the impressive sales of the company’s recent releases.

    RIM’s BlackBerry 6 is due out this summer, and the company gave the public a new sneak peek today:

    A new Google Labs project has been unveiled, and could have huge implications for the future of Android. Google App Inventor provides a way for anybody (with or without developer skills) to create their own Android apps. If this catches on, it could fuel Android growth and inspire all kinds of creativity from the less-technically savvy. We’re having an interesting discussion about this with readers on our Facebook page.

    Microsoft had numerous demos and announcements today from its Worldwide Partner Conference. For one, the company unveiled Dynamics CRM 2011 along with Dynamics Marketplace. The company also unveiled partners (including eBay) for its Windows Azure platform appliance. Microsoft also released Windows Phone Developer Tools and the second public beta of Windows Intune. CEO Steve Ballmer also had some interesting things to say about Windows 7 tablets.