Bye bye BBX – RIM dumps name of next OS after court ruling

By Trevor Mogg December 7, 2011

The year 2011 will undoubtedly be one that Research In Motion (RIM) will be glad to see the back of. Today the Ontario-based company suffered yet another setback, this time over the use of the name of its next mobile operating system, which was to be called BBX.

A federal court in Albuquerque on Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order against RIM using BBX to describe its new software. However, soon after the order was granted, RIM announced on its Twitter feed that its forthcoming operating system would now be called BlackBerry 10.

The court ruling was the result of a trademark dispute with Albuquerque-based software company Basis International, which is already using the BBX name for its own software product.

The BlackBerry and PlayBook maker would have used the BBX name at its Asia DevCon conference in Singapore later this week, but the court decision meant it would no longer be able to do so. In a statement, Basis said it had asked RIM not to use the BBX name at the conference, but RIM had refused to comply. As a result, Basis felt it had no choice but to file for the court order.

RIM’s new BBX BlackBerry 10 operating system, which is supposed to be rolled out for all of its mobile devices early next year, will reportedly bring together the best of its two existing operating systems – BlackBerry OS (used to power its smartphones) and QNX (used to power its PlayBook tablet).

It’s been a dire 12 months for RIM. Its attempt at producing an iPad killer with the PlayBook has been nothing short of a disaster, with the company losing half a billion dollars in the last three months thanks to unsold and discounted tablets.

In October a three-day service outage affected millions of BlackBerry users around the world, while shares in the company have fallen by around 65 percent over the course of 2011.

Next year will be crucial for RIM with the company desperately hoping BlackBerry 10 will turn things around for it.

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Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Mobile

BB 10 buzz: RIM says 1600 companies have signed up for its BlackBerry 10 training program

holster wearers rejoice blackberry 10 is actually pretty awesome main

In an effort to increase the buzz surrounding the imminent launch of its next-generation BlackBerry 10 handsets and mobile operating system, Research In Motion has in recent months been feeding the media with various updates about the new platform.
The marketing drive continued Wednesday with Bryan Lee – RIM’s senior enterprise accounts director – announcing that 1600 businesses in North America have signed up for the company’s recently launched BlackBerry 10 Ready Program, with over a 1000 already using it.
The training program is designed to familiarize BB10 users with the new OS and help them “discover tools, resources and special offers” so they’ll be all set when the first handsets hit the market some time next month.
Lee told Reuters he was “very enthused by the engagement and response of our customer base.” Although he declined to reveal the names of any of the companies who had signed up, Lee told Bloomberg that among them were “Fortune 500 companies, law firms, schools, universities, retailers and government agencies.” If the majority of businesses that have so far signed up fall into these categories, then it surely augurs well for the mobile maker.
RIM, once the darling of the business community with its range of BlackBerry devices, has seen a sharp decline in its North American customer base in recent years, with customers turning to competing offerings such as the iPhone and Android-powered handsets. With so many firms and government agencies dumping the BlackBerry in recent months in favor of rival handsets, last year wasn't only grim for RIM, it was downright catastrophic. BB10 is RIM’s last throw of the dice – it has to win back these contracts. or at least make some lucrative new ones, in order to survive.
“Don’t underestimate the dynamic this platform is going to create in the market,” RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said in an interview in October. The man tasked with turning around the fortunes of RIM carries a heavy weight on his shoulders, for sure. Will he, and RIM, be able to deliver?
We managed to get our hands on a near-final build of BB10 at CES last week and, while not perfect (we did say “near” final, after all), we were pretty impressed with what we saw.
RIM will unveil BB10 at a special event set to take place simultaneously in several countries on January 30.

Mobile

BlackBerry 10 app frenzy: Developers submit 15,000 BB10 apps in single weekend

developers submit 15000 bb10 apps in single weekend blackberry app world

Research In Motion is now just a couple of weeks away from unveiling its next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform, a platform it hopes will grab the attention of consumers and business users alike and propel the mobile company back to success.
As it gears up for the January 30 event, it’s pulling out all the stops to get everything ready, including bolstering the number of apps offered by its BlackBerry World store. Over the weekend the company held a virtual Port-A-Thon event encouraging BlackBerry and Android developers to port their apps to the BB10 platform.
It seems like the event was a big success for RIM, with an impressive 15,000 apps submitted in just 37.5 hours. Of course, we don’t know if any of them are actually any good, or how many will be accepted into the BlackBerry World store, but surely there has to be at least some quality work in amongst so many submissions.
To focus the developers’ minds during the event, RIM offered a few incentives. For starters, it promised to pay out $100 to every approved app (20 apps max per developer), meaning it could potentially be $1.5 million down by the time it’s finished assessing them all.
On top of that, the first 200 to have between 5 and 10 apps approved will receive a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device as well as “other rewards”, the Ontario-based company said on a webpage about the Port-A-Thon event.
More than 10 app approvals gets a developer a Dev Alpha device and, for the first 10, an all-expenses-paid trip to BlackBerry Jam Europe to celebrate the launch of BlackBerry 10.
RIM’s chief marketing officer Frank Boulben told Fierce Wireless at CES last week that the new BB10 platform will launch with around 70,000 apps.
He also said at least six BB10 handsets would hit the market during this year. Though the first two phones are set to be unveiled on January 30, their exact launch date is still unknown, though RIM’s chief operating officer Kristian Tear said a couple months ago it’d be some time in February. A report over the weekend suggested the expected touchscreen model – possibly called the Z10 – may go on sale on February 28 for $800.

Mobile

RIM plans to launch at least six BB10 phones in 2013

research-in-motion

Research In Motion is gearing up for its life-saving BlackBerry 10 launch at the end of this month, with its chief marketing officer announcing the company's intention to launch at least six handsets for the new platform before year-end.
Speaking to Fierce Wireless at this week's CES, Frank Boulben said the phones will hit a range of price points, encompassing the high, middle and lower segments of the market.
First up will be a touchscreen device as well as one featuring a Qwerty keyboard. These two handsets will be unveiled at an event set to take place simultaneously in a number of countries around the world on January 30 and become available to consumers by the end of February.
Boulben confirmed that some 150 carriers around the world are currently testing BB10 devices. With a subscriber base of 79 million and lengthy experience in the mobile business, the CMO said carriers “very much believe” BB10 has the potential to become the third platform after iOS and Android, beating off competition from Windows Phone and others.
The new platform will launch with 70,000 apps, Fierce Wireless reported. This of course pales in comparison with the iOS and Android app stores, both of which are speeding towards the million mark, but if developer support for BB10 is as strong as Boulben claims it is, the virtual shelves of BlackBerry App World will fill up steadily over time.
The future of RIM rests on the success of BB10. Once the king of the smartphone market, the Ontario-based mobile company has fallen out of favor with consumers in recent years. Accused of resting on its laurels and failing to innovate, users have flocked to Apple’s iPhone and Android handsets instead, perceived by many to be more user-friendly, feature-rich devices – and, as already mentioned, supported by huge app stores.
However, while RIM has seen BlackBerry's share of the smartphone market decline in North America and Europe, the devices are still popular among teens and also sell well in developing markets. RIM will be eager to exploit these areas with its new platform while attempting to win back many of those who have turned their back on the company in the last few years.