Tag archive: RIM

More woes for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this week that it would be handing out iPhones and iPads to its employees in May, replacing the BlackBerry devices currently used. According to a Bloomberg report, the government agency, which carries out research into weather, oceans and fisheries, currently has about 3,000 of its 20,000 full-time workers and contractors using RIM… Read More

With over 500,000 apps available through Apple’s App Store, it can be daunting for developers to get their apps noticed — let alone downloaded. Enter a recent thread on app developer site Touch Arcade, in which a poster who was recently shopping around for ways to get his app more exposure was contacted by a “marketing” company that promised it could break apps into the top 25 rankings in exchange for a lump sum payment — in this case $5,000.… Read More

Due in part to its popular native email system and effective security measures, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry mobile phones were once the must-have device for those working in business. But since Apple’s iPhone and handsets powered by Google’s Android OS have come on the scene, RIM’s smartphones have been losing ground in the corporate world. RIM’s efforts to hold on to business customers suffered another blow this week when oil field services… Read More

Research in Motion is finding good uses for its stockpile of unsold BlackBerry PlayBook tablets. Yesterday, Alec Saunders, the company's VP of developer relations, announced on Twitter that any Android developer that submits an app by Feb. 13 will get a free BlackBerry PlayBook. This comes as RIM once again slashes the price of the PlayBook to help re-ignite interest in the tablet now that its new BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.0 update is about… Read More

A leaked image of what appears to show Research In Motion’s first next-generation Blackberry 10 phone has been posted online. BlackBerry site CrackBerry.com has come into possession of the information, with the phone, named London, looking like a radical departure from the usual BlackBerry look. According to the photo, the device sports a super-slim, dark design and, as CrackBerry says in its report, “looks much more like a phonified BlackBerry… Read More

It's been a bumpy week for RIM. On Sunday, the Canadian smartphone maker's co-CEOs tried their best to quietly resign and hand over the CEO position to their former Chief Operating Officer, Thorsten Heins. For months, investors and journalists have been calling for Research in Motion's co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis — who have each taken turns running the company since it was founded in 1991 — to step… Read More

After a miserable 2011 in which Research In Motion (RIM) struggled with a myriad of issues, the company’s co-CEOs and co-chairmen, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, have stepped down. In a statement released Sunday evening, Thorsten Heins was named as the new president and chief executive officer. Heins joined the Waterloo, Ontario-based company in 2007. In the statement, Lazaridis said, “There comes a time in the growth of every successful… Read More

This year's Consumer Electronics Show is over. It may be the biggest show of the year, but when it came to smartphones and tablets, most companies seemed to be holding back, perhaps waiting for the Mobile World Congress show in February or CTIA this spring. Whatever the reason, this year's showing was a bit weak. Still, there were a few notable devices. Most of these tablets are predictable upgrades, but there are a couple nice… Read More

The Apple iPhone 4S is a hit, if the new numbers from market research firm Nielsen are any indication. During the final three months of 2011, 44.5 percent of respondents purchased an iPhone 4S. That's up from just 25.1 percent who went with an iPhone in October. This boost in sales helped Apple steal market share from the still-dominant Android during the fourth quarter of 2011. Android sales, as of October, were at about 61.6 percent of… Read More

A roadmap of Research in Motion's plans for new hardware during 2012 has been leaked. Surprisingly, rather than concentrating on BlackBerry 10 handsets, it features not one but two new BlackBerry PlayBook tablets. Yes, it seems one tablet not selling very well isn't enough, as information given to N4bb.com shows a new 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook will be coming in April, with a 10-inch model to follow at the end of the year in… Read More

RIM has been promising the PlayBook 2.0 upgrade since the summer of 2011, and today we finally got our first look at a PlayBook tablet with native email, a calendar app, and and a number of other upgrades. While it's hard to say why it took so long and it may very well be too little, too late for the PlayBook, RIM isn't ready to give up just yet. PlayBook 2.0 enhancements we noticed Email: When the PlayBook shipped in April 2011, it… Read More

Oh dear, RIM may be trying to get us all excited about BlackBerry OS 10, but when reports appear that the company is canceling smartphones set to run it, it doesn't exactly fill us with confidence regarding an expedited arrival. The news comes via BGR.com, who says that not only has the Colt been canned, but the Milan has too. In case you don't recall either of these devices, here's a reminder: The Colt was all set to be the… Read More

Research in Motion has begun sending invitations to what it calls an “intimate event” to be held during CES 2012, where the company will show off version 2.0 of its PlayBook tablet software.  Then, just over a month later at Mobile World Congress, it'll be displaying BB 10, the highly anticipated next-generation smartphone operating system. Now, it's worth noting that RIM hasn't said they'll be releasing… Read More

A new report in the Financial Post claims that Canada's Research in Motion is getting ready to shuffle its corporate structure, potentially stripping its co-CEO's of their de-facto roles as chairmen of the company board and installing an independent director as chair. And the leading candidate appears to be Barbara Stymiest, a current independent director on RIM's board. Stymiest recently retired as chief operating officer and… Read More

In an attempt to drain its tumorous stock of unsold BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, Research In Motion has slashed the price of all models to $299 on its official BlackBerry store website. That means the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB model all cost $299. While $299 is obviously still more expensive than the $199 price (for a refurbished 16GB PlayBook) that we saw during the holiday buying season, this is quite obviously a good deal — if saving money is… Read More