Tech Readers » Blackberry

RIM’s co-CEOs Exit, Former COO Takes the Authority

Mikey Mell — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:55:21 +0000

Research in Motion, a struggling Canadian mobile company is going to get a major change in leadership as its much defamed co-CEOs Jim Ballsillie and Mike Lazaridis are quitting, according to The Wall Street Journal. This is certainly big news coming out of the Waterloo-based company. The former COO of the company, Throsten Heins will be one replacing the co-CEOs.

It’s been quite some time that company’s board of directors and major stock holders calling up for the move. RIM was once the big name in the smartphone industry, but now it accounts for only 6% of the market share all over the world.

Both Lazaridis and Ballsillie remained in job for more than 20 years. However, both will remain the directors of the company for the fact that they hold big shares of the company.

Heins will certainly have its own plan for the company. RIM has been under a lot of trouble after getting a bad publicity over the recent few years because of certain missed dates and poor product performance as in case of PlayBook. One can clearly suggest that the company is handing over its enterprise market to Apple on a silver platter.

The company has made couple of other changes to the board as well – appointing new member Prem Wastsa, the CEO of Fairfax Financial, a large RIM shareholder. However, he cleared that he was not included in the ones who expelled out Lazaridis and Ballsillie.

The Globe and Mail reports that Heins has its own plans regarding the future of the company and one such act would be to appoint new CMO. Heins said “It’s a fantastic growth story and it’s not coming to an end. What you will see with me is rigour and flawless execution.”

Now the question arises, whether Heins will be able to bring back the lost image of the company. The company closed at $17 per share on Friday, which is over $50 down from its 52 week high. There are rumors surfacing over the recent few days that the company is considering to sell out Samsung.

For now all eyes are on the Heins and he is pretty hopeful to take company back to its lost status. Here is what RIM’s new CEO has to say:

Apple’s App Store Now Worth More Than RIM

Mikey Mell — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:28:12 +0000

The BlackBerry manufacturer RIM (Research in Motion) seems to be in lot of trouble for recent few months. The company failed to produce a feasible smartphone competitor for the market. Also, recent outages further pushed the company to the new lows. To confirm this, Brain Hall recently reveals that Apple’s App Store alone worth more than RIM.

According to Hall, the current share price of RIM stands at $13.44, with total estimated worth stood at $7.04 billion. Moreover, Hall also highlight the fact that Apple worth over $354 billion at the moment. This clearly suggests that the Cupertino Company worth about 50 times more than the Canadian smartphone maker.

If we consider the analytics from Trefis, it gives us a clear picture of iTunes and App Store revenues that hardly make 2% of Apple’s total market, while App Store alone accounts for $7.08 billion to Apple’s entire market – slightly over RIM’s.

Hall describes it as:

Harder to believe is that the App Store is probably worth more than Blackberry. All of Blackberry. Just the App Store. Nothing else. Not the iPhone or iPod. Not Mac. Just the App Store.

It was the last quarter that revealed the real picture of the RIM’s progress. According to RIM, it hardly managed to sell 150,000 BlackBerry Playbooks during the last quarter. The company also announced that its next generation BlackBerry 10-powered smartphones won’t be available until late next year.

Contrary to this, Apple manages to sell over 11 million iPads in last quarter, which forced RIM’s investors to review their investment plans for investing in RIM.

A comparison between the two companies certainly suggests that RIM has to work really hard to gain its lost market. It has to perform well in every quarter to regain the lost trust of users in its product range. However, the survival of the company is at stake and it has to introduce a row of alternative measures before the arrival of the BlackBerry 10 to ensure its presence in the smartphone market.

It is the time to realize that the competition is getting harder and harder with each passing day. Companies which don’t keep face with the changing scenario of the market will certainly be pushed out by the rival manufacturers.

BlackBerry 10 Would Be the Official Name of RIM’s Next Mobile OS

Mikey Mell — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 06:24:18 +0000

The co-founder and CEO of Research In Motion (commonly known as RIM) announced earlier that the next mobile OS of the company will be named as BlackBerry BBX. However, the recent tweet from the company now suggests that the official name of the next generation of RIM’s mobile operating system will be BlackBerry 10 instead of BBX.

BlackBerryDev tweeted, “#BBDevCon Asia Keynote: BlackBerry 10 is the official name of the next generation platform that will power future BlackBerry smartphones!^BZ.”

It is important to note here that BASIS International filed a lawsuit against RIM over BBX name, claiming that the company has already been using this name for its software products. The RIM lost the case and forced to change the name of its next generation mobile operating system.

Back in October, RIM announced its next generation mobile OS under BBX name. But now it is renamed as BlackBerry 10. It is basically a unified OS for RIM’s smartphones, tablets and other devices, combing the remarkable features of BlackBerry OS and QNX, the OS acquired by RIM back in 2010.

RIM Reveals BlackBerry Bold 9790 and Curve 9380

Mikey Mell — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:48:40 +0000

Research in Motion has recently launched two new Blackberry smartphones, i.e. the Bold 9790 and the Curve 9380. Both these smartphones are running Blackberry OS 7.

The new Blackberry Bold 9790 comes with a physical QWERTY keyboard. It features a 2.44-inch screen with a 360 x 480 pixel resolution, 5-megapixel camera on the back, 1GHz CPU, and 8GB of storage memory. The storage memory can be increased through a microSD cards.

Blackberry Curve 9380, on the other hand, features a physical keyboard and a larger 3.2-inch display with 480 x 360 pixel resolution. RIM has not officially disclosed the specifications for this smartphone as yet. However, some rumors suggest that the Curve 9380 will come with 800MHz CPU, 1GB of storage space and 5-megapixel camera.

Although, RIM didn’t reveal the pricing plan for both the devices, both the devices are expected to be available for sale in the coming weeks.

In addition to these two devices, the Verge released an image of Blackberry device which is assumed to be an upcoming Blackberry London. The device will presumably feature a dual-core, 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage space and 2-megapixel camera on the front for video chat and 8-megapixel camera on the back.

If the rumors regarding Blackberry London are true, then it would be the first Blackberry smartphone from RIM that will show off the latest BBX OS.

New Facebook Messenger App is Now Available

Mikey Mell — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 07:11:33 +0000

Facebook has upgraded its social network’s dedicated mobile application, called Facebook Messenger. The app allows member-to-member messaging, texts and picture or location sharing.

It is reported on an official blog post that the social networking giant has upgraded its app so as to offer an enjoyable experience to users. The app is described as “a faster way to message.” The company claims that the updated version is much faster than the previous version.

With new updated version of Facebook Messenger app, users will now able to distinguish between the mobile log in and desktop log in. Users will now able to see whether their friends posting messages or statuses from desktop or a mobile device.

Facebook Messenger was already available on iPhone and Android devices, but now it is made available on Blackberry as well.

The updated Facebook Messenger app now makes it easier for you to see which of your friends are online using mobile device, i.e. iPhone, Android or Blackberry and also the communicating process has also been improved so as to make your communicating experience enjoyable for you.

You might have noticed on iMessage, BBM and Facebook’s web messaging system that when your friend is typing it is displayed on the chat window, the same feature has now introduced on the Facebook Messenger app as well.

The Facebook Messenger app for Android now shows support for over 22 additional languages, while support for 12 additional languages is added in Facebook Messenger for iPhone.

Basically, the Facebook Messenger app is based on the group messaging app Beluga, a startup that Facebook purchased earlier this year. It happened to be a great success among iPhone users. The current update is an attempt from the company to give its users a real-time communication experience across multiple platforms. Facebook with its new messenger app wants to challenge the Apple’s and Blackberry’s single platform messaging system.

Download Facebook Messenger for iPhone [iTunes link]

RIM Launches New OS for Blackberry Smartphones and Tablets

Mikey Mell — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:45:21 +0000

Research In Motion, commonly known as RIM organized a Blackberry developer conference on Tuesday. In the event, the co-founder and CEO Mike Lazardis made some major announcements. In one of his announcements, he introduced the new, unified operating system for Blackberry smartphones, tablets and certain other devices, dubbed Blackberry BBX.

According to RIM, the new BBX will start powering Blackberry smartphones and tablets along with systems available in, say your car by 2012. Mike Lazardis assures that the approaching OS will integrate the best of QNX (OS it purchased last year) with the existing Blackberry OS powering its smartphones.

According to Lazardis, the BBX is designed to support all WebWorks and HTML5 apps which are designed for existing Blackberry devices in addition to software specially designed applying development tools for the Blackberry PlayBook, such as Native SDK, Adobe AIR/Flash and WebWorks.HTML5 as well as Blackberry Runtime for Android applications.

The new platform will also support 2D and 3D gaming. It will be released with ‘Super App’ capacities that will become handy for deeper integration between apps, always-on Push service, the BBM Social Platform and much more.

RIM Launches Blackberry Tag

Mikey Mell — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:29:20 +0000

The Co-CEO of Research In Motion, Jim Balsillie while presenting a keynote at the GITEX conference in Dubai revealed a new social sharing service, known as Blackberry Tag. It is an NFC-based platform enabling Blackberry users to connect, share content and information with other Blackberry users.

The RIM is hoping to integrate the app into the forthcoming Blackberry 7 operating system update so as to allow Blackberry users (Blackberry Curve and Blackberry Bold) a simple way to share information, contacts, documents, photos and media content by bumping handsets together. The service will also feature Blackberry Messenger incorporation that will enable users to add each other on messaging service.

However, it is worth noting here that the feature will be used by only those possessing the latest Blackberry handsets as the new ‘Blackberry Tag’ platform will only support Blackberry Bold 900/9930 and Blackberry Curve 9350/9360/9370 phones.

RIM reportedly will make its APIs public so as to encourage the developers to integrate the service into their own applications. The functionality of the service will be pretty much similar to the ‘Bump’ app on the iPhone and Android-powered devices, though, the Blackberry Tag will step ahead by supporting different Blackberry official apps and services.

Jim Balsillie while detailing the credibility Blackberry Tag said:

“BlackBerry Tag is an exciting and innovative feature that makes sharing contact information and multimedia content effortless and seamless.” He further added, “BlackBerry Tag opens a new dimension to the BlackBerry platform that is powerful, simple and intuitive and we think it will be welcomed by both users and developers.”

US Approves Blackberry Tablet For Federal Workers

Zaheer — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:17:38 +0000

RIM has a reason to smile after US government approved that their PlayBook tablet can be used by workers. It has become the first tablet to have gained such an accolade especially considering its late entry in the segment. It is expected that RIM will offer tablets to federal workers at discounted rates and impose the restriction of only one tablet per worker. RIM is offering close to 3,000 apps to the end users on its dedicated app store. The number will soon scoot up to 10,000 apps and considering the Fed governments recent deeds the gadget maker will be looking to boost the utility through app support on the go.

The Blackberry tablets are already under reeling pressure from the competing offerings of Apple and Samsung. RIM, once a supreme corporate user gadget manufacturer is lagging behind with its products. It has hardly innovated as the times have unfolded and is all set to revamp its damper up image in the market. The booster deal with US federal government will not only give a healthy pump to their bottom-line but will also help it in penetrating the segment on the move.

The 7 inch PlayBook tablet is highly compact and packages supreme support to the end users with its smarter capabilities. It will be interesting to note as to when the first reactions from workers be learnt.

Is This Your Last Blackberry

Zaheer — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:10:10 +0000

Gone were the days when people boasted of having a Blackberry device in their hands. It was a most cherished device amongst the corporate users who were excited about its outlook integration along with other smart features. However, the ear for Blackberry is surely coming to an end at a steady pace. Its lack of innovation in manufacturing smart phones and competitive environment has decreased its phone sales at a rapid pace. The end users are forced to think if this is their last Blackberry after all. The alternative options to Blackberry are superior in quality and offer best breed features too.

The Androids and iPhone devices of the world have emerged as the next gen smart phones which redefine the end user experience. A couple of months back Blackberry announced that it will be releasing its maiden touch phone in 2012. RIM’s approach has been sluggish and they are far behind from the current landscape of designs of mobile devices.

It has recently announced 2,000 job cuts marked by poor sales numbers and attributed to the fact their profitability is getting hit by the day. RIM has become second telecom equipment major to have announced job cuts after Nokia announced massive 20,000 job cuts due to poor financials.

Facebook 2.0 for Blackberry Officially Released

Zaheer — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 12:00:17 +0000

Finally there is good news for Blackberry users the new Facebook 2.0 app has been released for its devices. The new Facebook 2.0 for Blackberry users will enable them in accessing the social streams at ease and the reported glitches have been fixed too.

The platform responds a lot better on the newer version and the users are already expecting better connectivity support from the application. Some of the fine feature enablement such as Page displays, Photo Upload and over all user interfaces has been streamlined to meet the end user expectations. The Facebook 2.0 capability was much awaited amongst the Blackberry loyalists.

The gadget maker is under reeling pressure imposed by bad financials and is expecting to boost up its capabilities in the near future with innovative gadget launch. It has also announced the release of its maiden touch phone by the end of 2011. It’s PlayBook tablet isn’t doing that great as intended in the first place. The only pumping aspect for the company is their recent deal with US federal government. It has become the maiden tablet for being approved by Federal government over the usage within their worker groups. The deal is expected to bring good revenue and uplift their sinking brand image too.

BlackBerry Curve 8300: One of the best Smartphone in the market

Zaheer — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:07:39 +0000

PROS: This phone is made sexy and slim. It has Bluetooth, media player and new spell checker for your emails. A full QWERTY keypad is also part of this Smartphone. Bluetooth and media player has also been integrated into the phone. For easier email and memo check, a new spell checker is available for this phone. When in noisy places, this phone boasts an audio technology that functions as a call volume changer for easier listening to your favorite music.

CONS: This Smartphone lacks an integrated Wi-fi and 3G capability. Its camera does not have a video recording function. The call quality of the phone it produces are quite off a bit as the voices are not that great when speaking.

Conclusion: With the absence of a Wi-Fi and 3G capability, this phone does provide the user an advance design. It has a feature that is attractive for both professional and non professional customers.

This phone is also known as the RIM Blackberry Curve. The phone is quite small. It is the lightest QWERTY Smartphone available in the market today. With its compact design, the keyboard design is very perfect for messaging. However, this Smartphone is considered a remake of the previous RIM Blackberry 8800. But this new Smartphone provides users with new improvements. The spell checker is an example.

The phone is best used for those professional people who rely on the GPS capability of the phone. Though it lacks Wi-Fi and 3G it does provide a complete package of functionality, multimedia fun and rock solid performance. The phone is price at $199.99 for a two year contract.

Specifications: The phone has universal 3.5mm audio jack for easier access to your favorite multimedia functions and likewise you can put your favorite headphones to boost your listening needs. The phone can support MP3, AAC, MIDI and WAV music files. For video formats, and AVI, MP$ and 3GP is available. The flash memory of the phone is 64MB but the phone allows for an extended memory card for those people who are into storing files. The music player of the phone is not quite great but is already sufficient in terms of listening and performance. The phone also features a mode when you are listening to music then there is a phone call, the music shuts down temporarily so that you can receive the call.

The phone has a trackball navigation system. It also has keyboard lighting. The phone is just 3.9 oz. It is very light yet compact.

This Smartphone is compatible with Blackberry Enterprise. It can support and do transaction for Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino and Novell group. Their main function is having a corporate email in real time. This is a major plus for this phone’s performance and functions. The phone can also process Word documents, Excel, Corel. In terms of pictures, PDF’ and Jpeg is available for this phone.

With its sleek design it is very perfect for easy text messaging. Lacking in Wi-Fi and 3G functions, the phone compensates in some other ways.

BlackBerry Pearl: The pearl in the Smartphone industry

Zaheer — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:07:34 +0000

PROS: This Smartphone is also known as the RIM BlackBerry Pearl. It is the first Blackberry phone that has a 1.3 megapixel camera. It also features music and video playback. This Smartphone is superior in terms of email functions and capabilities, EDGE support and Bluetooth. The phone also supports expandable memory and mapping application.

CONS: The phones memory card slot is place in an awkward location in the phone. It is behind the battery. The call quality of the phone is a little off based on user’s test. Its camera could not record a video. The phone also lacks external controls for its music player and Wi-Fi functions.

Conclusion: The phone is solid in terms of performance. It has features that can attract business users and non business users. With its multimedia functions and email capabilities, the phone will be a real competitor in the Smartphone industry.

The phone is also known as the Stealth. It is the first phone for BlackBerry that has a camera, video, music and expandable memory for media functions. These functions are special but it is will not raised the bar for Smartphone companies. The phone in terms of functionality are well within those other Smartphone’s but this unit of BlackBerry lacks a basic and integral function and that is video recording.

This phone can perform email capabilities as this aspect is its main draw towards consumers. The phone is price at $149.99 with a two year contract.

The phone is designed slimmed so that it slipping inside a pocket will not be a problem. The phone is built solidly as it is durable enough to withstand rough handling. This Smartphone can be considered as the sexiest BlackBerry available. It weighs around 3.1 ounces. It can be compared to other phones such as the Motorola Q and Motorola Silver 7.

The Pearl has a 2.25 inch screen that can display a 240×260 resolution. It is not touch screen just like any BlackBerry. The phone provides vibrant colors that are perfect for viewing email images and sites. The phone has integrated light sensing functions that automatically adjust the screen depending on the environment.

Specifications: The BlackBerry Pearl is capable of 3.5 hours talk time and 15 days standby time. It can also last for 21 hours by just using music playback. Its video playback capability is 6 hours. It has a universal 3.5mm audio jack so you can put on your favorite headphones.

The phone can support document viewers such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and portable document format of PDF. The phone has media player, QWERTY keyboard and an organizer. The multimedia functions of the phone can support MPEG4, WMV, MP3, MIDI, AMR-NB, AAC and AAC+.

All in all, the phone can perform Smartphone functions just like any other Smartphone. However, the BlackBerry Pearl was not built to revolutionize the Smartphone industry. This Smartphone can be considered an ordinary phone because of its easy functions and capabilities. You can send text messages and send out calls with ease. The phone can really be considered a gem in the Smartphone competition. BlackBerry once again has made a tough phone and that is the RIM BlackBerry Pearl.

The Blackberry Phone for Everyone

Zaheer — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:52:36 +0000

Pros

The Blackberry Gemini Curve is operated by a 512 MHz processing which is ideal for moderate multitasking. It runs the Blackberry OS. The unit comes with a 320 x 240 pixel 2.64 inch screen with a big QWERTY keyboard making it easier for user to type on it since it’s got spaces within the keys. Not only that, it is enhanced with the innovative touch-sensitive optical trackpad that makes it reliable for navigation and responsive typing. The device is built with a good performing 2 megapixel camera for taking good quality images. It has 256MB internal memory and its external memory is expandable of 16GB. Like other budget smartphones, it is also Wi-Fi so users can surf the web or do social networking by connecting on wireless internet connections. Another good feature of the phone is it’s Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR function for faster wireless transfers and it’s voice activated dialling functions. It is also typical for playing music since it has dedicated music keys on the top and it comes with a 3.55 audio jack input making it very ideal for music lovers out there. It also has the BlackBerry Media Sync feature enabling users to quickly sync their favourite music from Windows Media Player or iTunes. Compared to the Blackberry Bold 9000, it only weighs 106 grams and is known to be user friendly.

Cons

This thing does not have 3G which most users put to consideration when choosing a smartphone primarily for video calling purposes. Its look doesn’t really match how much it’s priced for. It looks cheaper than how much it’s worth for because its casing made out of cheap plastic. Another bad thing about it is camera. It doesn’t have a flash. Unlike most smartphones nowadays, it doesn’t have a GPS tracker. The device also does support desktop charging. Its battery time is not impressive since it can only last up to 4 hours worth of talk time and 400 hours in standby mode.

Conclusion

It is user friendly and easy to carry. It has an excellent browser and is good for emailing and messaging. Although, many users are complaining about the phone having no 3G, it’s short battery life, and it’s camera’s lack of having a flash. Looking into its features and how much it’s worth for, it’s really not a bad idea to buy this phone. Considering its price tag and its heavy feature, it’s definitely not the smartphone that could raise your brows.

Specifications

The package comes with a standard 1150 mAh Li-Ion battery, a Blackberry 3.5mm headset, a micro USB data cable, a user manual, a sync software CD-Rom and AC travel charger. The device is operated by a powerful 512 MHz and runs on the BlackBerry OS. It can support AAC, AAC+ , eAAC+ , MP3,WMA, AMR, WMA Pro Plus audio format and MPEG-4, H.264, AVC video formats. The camera of this phone is somewhat mediocre since it is only 2 megapixels without flash and even autofocus features. Though, it performs well and can take good quality pictures at rate of 1600×1200 pixels and can record videos at 320×240 pixels resolution. It has an external memory slot that is expandable up to 16 GB. It’s dimensions are 4.29 x 2.36 x 0.54. This smartphone has SMS, EMS, MMS and e-mail messaging. It is also capable of receiving and opening e-mail attachments. It has Java MIDP 2.0 and is pre loaded with games. Users can download more apps and games since it supports the BlackBerry World App feature. Other features include a stereo FM radio and a document editor. It only comes in one colour, black.

An In Depth Review of the BlackBerry PlayBook

Tech Readers — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:49:18 +0000

RIM has made an entry into the tablet market with the 7″ BlackBerry PlayBook. For the esteemed mobile manufacturer, this is the first tablet it brings to the market, and is probably the first product from BlackBerry that has been marketed to meet the consumer’s demands and appeal. If the current market evaluations are anything to go by, then the company believes that this is the first BlackBerry product most consumers own, and it is understandable why.

Further, the BlackBerry PlayBook is the first tablet that runs on the company’s new BlackBerry tablet operating system, based on QNX Neutrino. Just a background check on this OS, it is mostly found in embedded applications, international space station and in-car systems inclusive. It is designed in such a way that is it very flexible and has the amazing capability of handling mainly multitasking.

Last but not least, it is the first main, touch-based mobile device to compete with both the Apple iOS and the Google Android while trying to prod in on the Windows 7 OS that seems to dominate the tablet market at the moment. With that being said, the BlackBerry PlayBook is beaming with so much potential in that just like the now famous Xoom that came before it, it features some amazing workhorse processor and great unrivaled hardware.

Not to escape the eye of most tech savvies, just like Xoom, the absence of apps, including basic apps such as messaging clients and emails limits the capability of this device right from its launch, particularly considering the fact that there are over 65,000 iPad apps today in the APP Store.

But, just about the whole lot not missing from the PC tablet works practically well for it. It features a fully integrated and operational browser that supports Office apps and full flash support; this will be the covet of all iPads lovers on the road. While the BlackBerry PlayBook OS is perfect with the current 7″ display screen, should the company think of changing the screen to 8, 9 or 10″, then it will need to integrate active elements such as widgets and stuff. It is also the hope of most consumers that RIM allows for customizable, including the creation of folders, extermination of uninvited bugs and tweaking the management of memory.

The verdict: RIM has done a clean job of providing just enough goodies and features to make this device appealing both for business people and entertainment lovers, and once important apps such as the email client starts to ship; it will be a very practical device for day-to-day use.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server to Support Apple’s iOS, Android Devices

Mahreen — Mon, 02 May 2011 21:56:28 +0000

Research in Motion (RIM) announced on Monday that it will update its BlackBerry Enterprise Server software to support Apple hardware running the iOS operating system, including the iPhone and iPad, as well as devices that run Google Android.

The multi-platform “BlackBerry Enterprise Solution” will support management and securing of both smartphones and tablets, and is designed for enterprises and government organizations. The features will be added to BlackBerry Enterprise Server through RIM’s pending acquisition of ubitexx.

RIM said that the new solution is “expected” to allow secure device management for iOS-based devices, as well as hardware running the Google Android mobile operating system. RIM aims to allow management of those devices from a single Web-based console.

“The multi-platform BlackBerry Enterprise Solution is designed to address a growing market and respond to requests from enterprise customers who want a secure multi-platform device management solution from a company that already delivers the gold standard for enterprise mobility,” said Peter Devenyi, Communications Platform Group VP at RIM. “We recognize the opportunity to continue leading in the enterprise market by providing customers with a common platform to help simplify the management of a variety of mobile devices.”

RIM said the single web-based console is being designed to provide IT administrators with the ability to distribute software and manage policies, inventory, security and services for BlackBerry devices, as well as other mobile devices. IT administrators will be able to manage devices over-the-air, including activating devices, distributing software and applications, locking or wiping devices, enforcing and resetting device passwords, setting IT policies, and managing optional mobile applications for end users.

Via AppleInsider

Pakistan’s Pepper Ranked as Top Selling Blackberry Apps Designer

Abdul Rehman — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 20:06:23 +0000

Pepper.pk has again hit Blackberry Apps store as the best selling Apps designer recently with its captivating and creative application LED Notifier Pro.

Their Photo Editor for BlackBerry Smartphones has occupied the #1 rank on App World twice in the past three months and has received an overwhelming amount of global media coverage.

The new best-seller, LED Notifier Pro, is a clever application that lets you customize the behavior of the Blackberry LED light so that it can blink different colors based on who is calling, texting or e-mailing you.

This useful functionality lets you know exactly who is trying to reach you without needing to even pick up the phone or examining the device’s screen.

For example, LED Notifier Pro can be configured to have your phone’s LED blink blue when your wife calls, red for text messages from your boss and green for email from your mother. The user is provided a host of choices with this cleverly designed application.

Pepper.pk (www.pepper.pk) is the mobile application division of FiveRivers Technologies (www.fiveriverstech.com) and has been operating in Lahore, Pakistan for the past two years.

Pepper already has an application portfolio of over 150 applications across 8 different platforms, including Samsung Bada, iPhone, iPad, Nokia, Blackberry and J2ME. Pepper.pk’s applications range from utilities like The Photo Editor and LED Notifier for BlackBerry phones to games like Skitrix, Cricket World Championship 20 and Word Target for the iPhone and Nokia phones.

The team at Pepper is very excited about this latest achievement and is all set to take the global mobile applications market by storm.

“Once might be luck. But thrice is a trend. We’ve shown that the Pakistan IT industry can consistently produce top quality products for a global audience and not only compete, but come out on top,” Mahe Zehra Husain, the Head of Operations and Product Management said.

With repeat smash-hits, Pepper.pk has now emerged as one of the World’s premier Blackberry developers and we have a brilliant product road map in place. Our strategy is working well and we expect to demonstrate similar successes in future, she added.

45,000 Blackberry Playbooks Sold on Launch

Tasadduq Bashir — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:12:12 +0000

BlackBerry has launched it’s Playbook and it is available on different retailers in United States & Canada. It’s priced similar to Apple iPad and costs $500 for a 16 GB version, $599 for 32 GB and $699 for 64 GB. Playbook is released only in WiFi at the moment but 3G version are schedule to release later. This version is already very late in the market and RIM blamed Apple for the delayed release of Playbook.

Playbook didn’t sell like iPad on the very first day and made around 50,000 sales. 25,000 out of these are sold in pre-orders with 20,000 in store sales unlike Apply iPad which hit 300,000 sales last year on release day. However, comparing Playbook with Android tablet and Samsung GalTab, it made a good solid start. Playbook didn’t get that much of an attention for the time being, but pre-order sales and in-store demand is very promising.

Playbook lacks a variety of features at the moment including but not limited to built in calender, email client and no compatibility for Android apps. It is a very useful device but lacking aforementioned features would definitely effect whether or not to buy Playbook. Most of the people would definitely wait until Research in Motion (RIM) makes it a fully developed model, which could be a while before it’s done.

Seven months ago RIM announced the launch of Playbook and it’s still the same in every aspect like specification, functionality and design but no one expected it to come without an email client. RIM definitely need to work this out if they want to be competitive.

Apple Behind the Delayed Release of BlackBerry Playbook [Report]

Ali — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 09:43:58 +0000

As we all know that RIM has already announced its competitor iPad, the Blackberry Playbook, but for some anonymous reasons this tablet from RIM has been plunged into the mystery for some time. However, finally RIM has given us the official launching date of the Blackberry Playbook as April 19. We have received some reports suggesting that the major reason behind delayed release of the Playbook is somehow Apple.

You might be surprised here that how Apple is accountable for the Blackberry Playback delay. Fine, let us break the mystery for you and come to the point straight away. According to the reports, the company responsible for supplying touch panel for RIM, Foxlink was so engulfed with massive orders by Apple, eventually resulting delay for the Blackberry Playbook launch.

Sources from touch screen panel makers also pointed out that Playbook shipments were postponed for about a month from the original schedule due to a delay in software testing as well as shortage of touch panels because Apple already booked up most of the available capacity.

Certainly, Playbook was able to create some excitement in the people when RIM was announced it but the substantial delays in its release will definitely come into act saying the critics. They think that this delayed release will have its impact on the sales and the tablet may not be able to bring revenue to the company that they were expecting before.

Anyhow, we have to wait till April 19 to see what the Playbook exactly have in it for us and what it features to compete with the iPad and to entice the audience.

Your Indigo Connection Can Be Your Ticket to the Cricket World Cup!

Mahreen — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 09:20:30 +0000

With all the cricket buzz in the air for the upcoming Cricket World Cup 2011, cricket fans all across the country are getting excited and pumped up to follow the matches and see which team take home the 2011 World Cup. Understanding this passion for cricket shared by our valued customers, Mobilink indigo brings a thrilling new offer whereby all indigo customers can get a chance to win an all-expense paid trip to Sri Lanka to watch the World Cup Semi Final live!

Mobilink indigo Lucky Draw will give away 5 Grand Prizes for Sri Lanka, as well as many other exhilarating prizes including BlackBerry® Pearl® handsets with 1 year free indigo services (including Free Minutes, Zero Line Rent, BlackBerry internet services, etc.) as well as Samsung Galaxy Tabs!

Hurry up and get yourself entered in to the Lucky Draw right away. New customers can gain entry into the Lucky Draw simply by purchasing a new indigo connection or converting their existing number to indigo while current indigo users can gain entry by redeeming 200 Rewards points. Club (corporate) customers can enter in the Lucky Draw by adding a line to their account. For more information, visit www.mobilinkgsm.com/indigo

So get ready to enjoy the World Cup like never before, only with Mobilink indigo!

Terms & Conditions:

Redemption of 200 Rewards gains another entry to the Lucky Draw (i.e. if a customer redeems 800 Rewards, they would gain 4 entries)
Offer ends on the 12th of March
Limited time offer
Terms and conditions apply

Mobilink Indigo Brings Unmatched BlackBerry Bundle Offers!

Mahreen — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:55:11 +0000

How often do we get to see amazing value offers on mobile phones and in that also, especially on BlackBerry? Well, Mobilink indigo being the pioneer of introducing BlackBerry smartphones in Pakistan now brings for its customers unmatched value bundles at the beginning of 2011 as a New Year gift!

For the first time in Pakistan, Mobilink indigo is launching an amazing offer whereby all customers can enjoy BlackBerry handsets at amazing prices bundled with various value additions for free!

The classy touchscreen BlackBerry Storm 9500 smartphone is now available for only Rs. 22,999 with the following value additions, FREE for 6 months!

150 minutes per month
Zero line rent
Unlimited BlackBerry Internet Services
Unlimited GPRS / Internet Services
Unlimited SMS every month

This is not all, the sleek and stylish BlackBerry Pearl (8100 or 8120) smartphone is available for Rs. 19,999 only, with the following value additions FREE for 1 whole year!

200 minutes / month
Zero line rent
Unlimited BlackBerry Internet Services
Unlimited GPRS / Internet Services
Unlimited SMS every month

So, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get hold of these amazing value bundle offers right away only from Mobilink indigo. For more information about Mobilink indigo value bundle, visit www.mobilinkworld.com/valuebundle

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