Blackberry Introduces BBM Channels!!

 

Image Credits: Crackberry

 

Blackberry (formerly RIM) has announced some exciting stuff at their BlackBerry Live 2013 conference. Besides the third phone with BB10 OS, the Q5 specifically targeted towards teens and emerging markets, it also announced anew social platform BBM Channels, targeted towards brands, celebrities and businesses to stay in touch with their followers and give them instant updates and posts securely. Below is the blog post from the official BlackBerry blog:

Tech World's Tinkle

Yes its the time that Tinkle is on in the tech world. Last week at IFA in Berlin we saw some exciting gadgets from Samsung and many others powered by the upcoming Windows Phone 8 (we'll tell you about them in detail soon), then the rumors of iPhone 5 and the iPad mini, Nokia's another attempt to gain its "throne" by launching new devices with Windows Phone 8, leaking of BlackBerry 10 images, Samsung paying Apple $1 Billion in 30 trucks loaded with 25 cent coins (not exactly! they have filled an appeal for now) and much much more.

Advice: If you have got some money, save it, or start saving because in the next few weeks, there will be A LOT of exciting gadgets to get your hands on.

Keep tuned in for more!!!

Congrats RIM | Blackberry Appworld Crosses 3 Billion Downloads

Well well well! With over 90,000 apps "up for sale" (as they like to call it ;) ) App World has finally crossed 3 billion downloads in just over 3 years, and the popularity of app world is growing at a great pace as highlighted in this article. One factor that personally made me very happy was the launch of Appworld in the emerging markets. Read out in more detail here:

Three Billion & Counting...

RIM Delays BB10 | Wait and Watch

Update: I was about to write a detail article about the recent happenings around RIM, its quarterly loss, cutting down of about 5000 jobs and delay of its BB10 phones. Well i have changed my mind for now, and after the recent media appearances by RIM's executives, i think we need to wait and watch instead of giving an opinion at this point. So we will keep you posted and updated!!

Strictly for Developers | Playbook OS 2.1

RIM the maker of BlackBerry smartphones and tablet Playbook has released a developer update for its Playbook OS, numbered up to 2.1.0.560.

If you are a developer or are willing to test this build (and see some better things but also face some issues, ITS A BETA) click Download, register and update.

Change log:

• Improved HTML5 support
• Portrait support for Email, Calendar and Contacts
• Improved folder support including IMAP folder support
• Full device encryption is now supported, so that the whole device and personal partition can be secure.
• Screenshots are now saved in lossless PNG format.
• Each Android app will now run in its own window. This greatly improves the user experience and consistency among the other application runtimes.
• Access to the Camera hardware is now supported for Android apps, allowing many more application types to work on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet.
• In-App Payment is now supported through the BlackBerry Payment SDK, so Android applications can include virtual items for sale in their applications

Query: Updating BlackBerry Curve 9300 to OS 6

head over to the Download page and download the OS installer. Then follow the following instructions:

1. Install the downloaded file
2. Delete Vendor.xml file located here: 
   •64-bit: Computer/C:/Program Files (x86)/Common Files/Research In Motion/AppLoader
   •32-bit: Computer/C:/Program Files/Common Files/Research In Motion/AppLoader
3. In the same folder run Loader.exe and follow the on-screen instructions.

WARNING: REMOVE THE MEMORY CARD BEFORE STARTING THE PROCESS.

Sell RIM | Shareholders Demand

Going through extreme tough times, lowest ever stock price and all the competition it could have, RIM (makers of BlackBerry) is not OK. The management is asking for a chance to give a last try to turn the company around with the launch of BB10 devices later this year, whereas investors and shareholders demand to seek a potential buyer like Microsoft or IBM and sell the company. Lets see what's next for RIM!!

RIM Sale Set When Board Obeys Shareholders - Businessweek

'via Blog this'

RIM to cut at least 2000 jobs!

Research In Motion Ltd (RIM.TO), the company behind BlackBerry is preparing for a major restructuring beginning in the next couple of weeks that will see it eliminate at least 2,000 jobs worldwide.

Canada's RIM to cut at least 2000 jobs: report | Reuters

'via Blog this'

Android and iOS Make Up More Than 80% of all Smartphone Shipments

Android and iOS Make Up More Than 80% of all Smartphone Shipments

'via Blog this'

RIM's 3rd Quarter Fiscal Results.

Well RIM announced its fiscal results for 3rd Quarter and they don't seem as interesting as an investor would expect. Revenue is up from last quarter but still low compared to same time last year. following is the press release that pretty much says it all:

Press Release

Research In Motion Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2012 Results 

WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 15, 2011) - Research In Motion Limited (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM), a world leader in the mobile communications market, today reported third quarter results for the three months ended November 26, 2011 (all figures in U.S. dollars and U.S. GAAP, except where otherwise indicated).

Highlights:

* Revenue of $5.2 billion, up 24% from last quarter
* BlackBerry smartphone shipments of 14.1 million, up 33% from Q2
* GAAP net income of $265 million or $0.51 per share diluted; adjusted net income of $667 million or     $1.27 per share diluted
* Subscribers up 35% year-over-year to almost 75 million
* Cash flow from operations of approximately $895 million
* Total of cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments of $1.5 billion

Q3 Results:

Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 was $5.2 billion, up 24% from $4.2 billion in the previous quarter and down 6% from $5.5 billion in the same quarter of last year. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 79% for hardware, 19% for service and 2% for software and other revenue. During the quarter, RIM shipped approximately 14.1 million BlackBerry smartphones and approximately 150,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

"Despite the challenges faced in the third quarter, the BlackBerry subscriber base grew to almost 75 million customers around the world. In addition, RIM launched a range of new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones globally and introduced holiday promotions that helped drive growth in the installed base of BlackBerry PlayBook users," said Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, Co-CEOs at Research In Motion. "RIM continues to have strong technology, unique service capabilities and a large installed base of customers, and we are more determined than ever to capitalize on our strengths to overcome the recent execution challenges surrounding product launches and the resulting financial performance. As part of our commitment to improving our performance to better meet the expectations of shareholders and customers, we continue to evaluate ways to improve in several areas of the Company's operations. It may take some time to realize the benefits of these efforts and the platform transition that we are undertaking, but we continue to believe that RIM has the right set of strengths and capabilities to maintain a leading role in the mobile communications industry."

The Company's GAAP net income for the quarter was $265 million, or $0.51 per share diluted, compared with GAAP net income of $329 million, or $0.63 per share diluted, in the prior quarter and GAAP net income of $911 million, or $1.74 per share diluted, in the same quarter last year. Adjusted net income for the third quarter was $667 million, or $1.27 per share diluted. Adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share exclude the impact of pre-tax charges of $54 million ($40 million after tax) to revenue related to the service interruption experienced in the third quarter, $485 million ($356 million after tax) for the PlayBook inventory provision taken in the third quarter and $7 million ($6 million after tax) for the Company's cost optimization program that was implemented in the second quarter of fiscal 2012.Q4 Outlook

Revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 ending March 3, 2012 is expected to be in the range of $4.6-$4.9 billion. Gross margin percentage for the fourth quarter is expected to be approximately 38%. BlackBerry smartphone shipments are expected to be between 11 million and 12 million units. Earnings per share for the fourth quarter is expected to be in the range of $0.80-$0.95.

UberSocial for BlackBerry v1.3 now available!

If Twitter for BlackBerry isn't your cup of tea then chances are you're making use of UberSocial to fire off your daily tweets and if so -- you're now able to download the v1.3 update that has plenty of new additions and fixes:

• Integrated with BBM, you can now set your BBM status or personal message to your last tweet, requires BlackBerry OS version 5.0 or higher.
• You can save and restore draft tweets from the compose screen.
• Reworked the login mechanism with Twitter to avoid some issues.
• Added the ability to turn off the global ‘Uber Tweet’ menu item
• Fixed bug in mypict.me upload which could cause the app to lock up.
• Fixed bug in keyword muting where you couldn’t include a ‘#’ at the beginning of the keyword.
• Fixed bug where UberChannel background images were getting their corners rounded.
• Changed the link color in the red and pink themes to be more readable

You can grab the update from their website for now and BlackBerry App World approval is on its way. Looking to ditch the ads? No problem -- you can kill those off by paying the $4.99 for the ad-free version and you're good to go. BlackBerry 7 device? No worries there either -- you're supported across the board.

Download Link

Via CrackBerry