BlackBerry stems bleeding, sells 1 million Z10s
BlackBerry today reported a return to operating profit for its fourth quarter amid sales of 1 million Z10 smartphones. But there was also a decline of 3 million global subscribers, down to 76 million.
"BlackBerry has gone through a major and exciting transition this year," CEO Thorsten Heins told analysts on a conference call, without making much reference to the subscriber declines. The profit of $94 million came on revenues of $2.7 billion for the quarter that ended March 2.
The 1 million new Z10 smartphones were sold mainly in Canada and the U.K. before the quarter ended, well before sales even started in the U.S. last Friday at AT&T.
Heins told analysts that sales of the Z10 and Q10 qwerty device would be helped by an infusion of 50% more marketing dollars globally in the current quarter, although he didn't provide a dollar amount. Read more...
RIM signs up to Microsoft’s ExFAT file-system standard
Microsoft today announced that Research in Motion (RIM) is licensing Microsoft's ExFAT file system for use in BlackBerry mobile devices.
Microsoft has also been increasingly successful at getting other tech companies to support ExFAT. For example, Apple incorporated ExFAT into Mac OS X "Lion" in 2011, providing interoperability for file storage between the Windows and Mac operating systems. And just over a month ago, Sharp licensed the ExFAT technology for use in its Android smartphones. Read more...
RIM begs devs: Build for BlackBerry 10, we’ll bung you $10K
Developers who get BlackBerry 10 apps in quick will get their income bumped up to $10,000 if they make more than $1,000, as RIM gets in the drinks at the last chance salon.
The "10K Developer Commitment" kicks in this autumn, and applies to applications submitted before BlackBerry World which will be early next year. Applications will have to generate more than $1K in revenue, including in-app purchases, but if they make less than $10K then RIM will make up the difference.
RIM’s dual challenge: Build quality smartphones while boosting management software
BlackBerry 10 smartphones, delayed until early 2013, will have the "best browsers in the industry" and will come in touchscreen-only models as well as those with traditional physical keyboards, a Research in Motion executive said Thursday.
RIM's BlackBerry 10 devices, announced in May, will have an overall focus on communications that "drives efficient communications to a new level," said Peter Devenyi, senior vice president of enterprise software at RIM.
"We must build devices that appeal to everybody -- workers and consumers. That's what BlackBerry 10 is about, to be the most appealing smartphone that also works effectively and seamlessly in a person's work life," Devenyi said in a telephone interview. Read more...
RIM stock plunges after $518M loss and BlackBerry 10 delay
Research in Motion's stock price plunged 19% early Friday following RIM's announcement late yesterday of a $518 million first quarter loss and that its BlackBerry 10 smartphone has been further delayed.
At 11 a.m. EDT today, RIM's share price had dropped to $7.39 as investors reacted to Thursday's financial results that showed sharply lower revenue and a $518 million loss in the quarter ending in May.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported overnight that RIM may be considering a switch from its proprietary mobile operating system to the Windows Phone OS for future smartphones. Read more...
IBM doesn’t just block Siri, it restricts iCloud use too (but likes BlackBerry and Android devices)
IBM may have placed a ban on Apple’s voice-assistant Siri but it has various policies for the use of smartphones accessing and connecting to its networks, ensuring that devices on its internal networks aren’t subject to security issues and don’t disclose company secrets.
Shortly after IBM CIO Jeanette Horan confirmed that Big Blue had imposed the restriction, we were approached by an employee that was able to give us more of an insight into what IBM calls its “Do’s and Dont’s” of smartphone use. Read more...
BlackBerry 10 to feature built-in video editing, screen sharing
RIM recently offered the world a limited peek at what’s coming in BlackBerry 10, but CrackBerry has been abuzz today with images that appear to have leaked out of Waterloo that show off several additional features. Among them: screen sharing during video calls, an integrated video editing app, and a completely redesigned lockscreen with a clever toast notification system.
The video editor is the least surprising revelation. Almost a year ago, RIM acquired JayCut — one of the first online video editing apps to hit the web. At the time, RIM noted that the BlackBerry PlayBook’s high-def cameras were crying out for better video capabilities, and a JayCut-based BlackBerry 10 app will certainly provide that. Read more...
BlackBerry-maker RIM unveils prototype
Research In Motion's new chief executive unveiled a newly-designed BlackBerry smartphone prototype powered by a re-imagined operating system —the very software the company has pinned its future on.
Thorsten Heins, who took the CEO job in January, on Tuesday revealed features of the BlackBerry 10 operating system running on a prototype device at the company's BlackBerry World conference in Orlando. He provided no update on the software's launch date. Read more...
BlackBerry maker to focus on business customers
Struggling BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. said Thursday that it plans to return its focus to its corporate customers after failing to compete with flashier, consumer-oriented phones such as Apple's iPhone and models that run Google's Android software.
The shift in strategy came with a management shakeup that includes longtime executive Jim Balsillie leaving the board and severing ties with a company he helped build and later see decline.
RIM said it will focus its consumer efforts on targeted offerings that tap the company's strengths. That includes devices that employees will want to buy on their own and bring to the corporate environment. The company was exploring partnerships and other opportunities for consumer products that aren't deemed central. Those products could include software and features that are then incorporated into RIM's own offerings. Read more...
RIM pushes BlackBerry 10 kit out to thousands of devs on 1 May
Attendees travelling to Orlando for BlackBerry World will get their hands on alpha-release hardware as RIM seeks to seed the developer community ahead of a commercial launch.
The hardware won't be the finished article, but RIM reckons it's close enough for devs to start making applications. The Canadian firm will be handing out several thousand devices to developers attending BlackBerry World in a move described as "unprecedented". Read more...
Coming soon from BlackBerry: 5 things to look forward to
These are dark days for Research In Motion (RIM) and its BlackBerry brand...or at least dim ones.
The Canadian company is struggling with an increasingly negative market perception, shrinking customer loyalty as long-time BlackBerry users move on, and stiff competition from rivals, including Apple, Google and Microsoft, among other things.
But that doesn't mean it should all be doom and gloom for RIM right now. Here are five reasons why current BlackBerry users and others interested in the brand and its future should remain optimistic in the coming months. Read more...
Halliburton to abandon BlackBerry, turn to iPhone
Oil field services company Halliburton plans to stop issuing BlackBerry smartphones to employees and switch over to Apple's iPhone, which it said was better suited to its needs, marking another setback for Research In Motion.
RIM's BlackBerry smartphones have long dominated corporate mobile communications with on-the-hip email and security credentials, but are increasingly challenged by Apple products and smartphones running Google's Android software.
"We are making this transition in order to better support our mobile applications initiatives," spokeswoman Tara Mullee Agard said in an email on Tuesday. Read more...
Thousands queue in Indonesia to buy new Blackberry
Thousands of Indonesians jammed into a glitzy shopping mall Friday to get hold of the first BlackBerry Bold 9790s being sold worldwide.
Fearing a riot, hundreds of police were deployed outside, tying up traffic in the heart of the capital for hours.
With a 50 percent discount on the $540 phone for the first 1,000 buyers, lines started forming in front of Pacific Place mall on Thursday night. By daybreak, impatient shoppers started rattling the gates. Read more...
iPhone overtakes BlackBerry to become top phone for business users
There was a day not so long ago when the BlackBerry was the phone of choice among members of the business community. But according to the results of a new survey, this is no longer the case.
Questioning 2,300 mobile workers at more than 1,100 enterprises worldwide, the iPass survey found that Apple’s iPhone is now the leader among such users, with 45 percent of respondents saying they use one, compared to 32.2 percent who use a BlackBerry. A year ago, BlackBerry was marginally ahead of the iPhone, with 34.5 percent of the share to the iPhone’s 31.1 percent.
Notably, Android almost doubled its share over the past year, with 21.3 percent of those polled saying they use a phone running Google’s mobile operating system.
When asked about buying intentions over the next 12 months, the iPhone came out on top with 18 percent saying they intended to purchase Apple’s device. Android was the next most popular choice, with 11.2 percent planning to get a phone running the increasingly popular operating system. Read more...
Developers welcome RIM’s BBX roadmap
Developers at the BlackBerry DevCon in San Francisco on Tuesday gave Research In Motion high marks for laying out a clear operating system strategy and standing by its PlayBook tablet.
RIM plans to consolidate its PlayBook, smartphones, and even embedded systems under BBX, a single operating system based on the QNX OS, co-CEO Mike Lazaridis told a packed keynote session at the conference on Tuesday. Though the company gave no details about future QNX-based phones or a new version of the tablet, nor a commercial release date for an updated PlayBook OS that it introduced as a beta, attendees were happy to see a firm technology plan.
The BBX OS will be the foundation of the company's software platforms for the future, along with BlackBerry Cloud Services. Developers will be able to choose RIM's native SDK and open-source tools, or the HTML5 Web standard and RIM's WebWorks, to build apps on top of that foundation. Read more...