blackberry

RIM Co-CEOs Stepping Down On Shakeup And Still BB10 OS Their Only Focus

January 23, 2012 | By Pradeep

Today RIM announced a new succession plan for its leadership team. As part of it, the current Co-CEO’s Mike Lazaridis & Jim Balsillie will be stepping down to non-operational posts at RIM while the current COO Thorsten Heins will be elected as the new President and CEO of RIM. Thorsten Heins has said that his focus will be on bringing their on going development products to market soon. That includes the Playbook 2.0 OS, new BB10 platform and new Blackberry devices. He also said that RIM is open to license the upcoming QNX based BB10 OS to other companies and Android or any other platforms (Windows Phone) still doesn’t interest him & RIM. He even says that Android OEM’s are struggling to find success ! !

Mr. Heins said that,

“Going forward, we will continue to focus both on short-term and long-term growth, strategic planning, a customer- and market-based product approach, and flawless execution. We are in the process of recruiting a new Chief Marketing Officer to work closely with our product and sales teams to deliver the most compelling products and services.”

Lets see how the new CEO can turn around RIM and its iconic Blackberry brand.

Blackberry putting itself up for sale, will Microsoft nibble?

January 16, 2012 | By Surur

RIM is having a pretty horrible year, with its Blackberry market share plunging in USA, and even upstart Windows Phone looking to overtake it in mind share if not market share (and that’s coming also).

No wonder rumours that the company has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to ‘explore strategic options’ (analyst speak for find us a buyer) has boosted the stock price by nearly 4% last week – the company would be better off under nearly any management than their bumbling dual CEOs.

However the question is if anyone wants to buy RIM – its market cap is already lower than the combination of its cash and assets, making the company a real steal already, but still no-one is taking a bite.

Of course one company which has always been in the running is Microsoft, mainly due to the natural affinity Microsoft has with RIM’s business customers. In fact at a market cap of $8.34 Billion is is in the same ballpark as Skype, which Microsoft purchased in October 2011.

However owning a major OEM like RIM would certainly interfere with Microsoft’s relationship with their other big partner, Nokia. There is however a very simple way around this – a joint venture between Microsoft and Nokia. There have been previous rumours of the two companies investigating such a deal a few weeks ago, and with RIM nearly 30% cheaper than it was 3 months ago the deal must once again be looking attractive.

Of course RIM by itself may not be enough to convince MSokia to buy, but the prospect of the company and its patent trove being scooped up by Google must make the deal seem almost inevitable.

The best deal would see Nokia managing RIMs business while Microsoft works on the back-end integrating Blackberry support into Exchange, and then working on transitioning Blackberry OS to Windows Phone 7 over the course of a few years.

What do our readers think? Is the deal inevitable? Let us know below.

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Dell finally replaces 15,000 Blackberries with Windows Phones

November 17, 2011 | By Surur

Almost exactly a year ago Dell announced they will be replacing 25,000 Blackberries with their own Windows Phone 7 handsets.

Clearly things did not go exactly as planned, but now, a year later, Dell’s plan is coming at least somewhat to fruition, with Dell global chief information officer Robin Johnson claiming to have replaced more than 50 per cent of around 30,000 BlackBerrys worldwide with their own Windows Phones.

Dell used to be a "100 per cent BlackBerry shop", Mr Johnson said, but using their own Windows Phones gave them "best coverage and best rate".

"We’re managing our cost base to drive more innovation," Mr Johnson told The Australian.

The announcement is somewhat ironic, considering Dell’s lack of a follow-up product to the Dell Venue Pro and what appears to be a clear step away from the smartphone market for both Windows Phone and Android handsets.

In the end if Dell was to complete their project they may very well have to look a Windows Phone handsets from a competitive OEM.

BlackBerry’s Future Vision (Videos)

October 27, 2011 | By Pradeep

BlackBerry Future Visions 2 from Evan Blass on Vimeo.

BlackBerry Future Visions 1 from Evan Blass on Vimeo.

We just saw Microsoft’s vision of future hours ago. RIM has released its own vision of future and its more enterprise specific.

What do you think of these?

In case you missed Microsoft’s Future Productivity Vision vision video, find it after the break.

Continue reading →

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Microsoft gives away 25 phones to Blackberry horror story winners, will make it monthly

October 14, 2011 | By Surur

Microsoft has selected the 25 winners of their Blackberry (and iOS) horror story challenge, in which they asked owners of the above phones to say why their mobile OS have failed them and why they need a Windows Phone.

RIM’s Blackberry had a recent service outage which spread world-wide and lasted 3 days, both unprecedented, and Apple’s iOS 5 update also did not go off without a hitch, bricking many devices along the way.

Microsoft received 1500 responses and the winners had this to say:

Jon404: @BenThePCGuy I’m sick of drinking the Apple Kool-aid! I need some Mango to take the taste away
mattymorgs: @BenThePCGuy with #iOS still stuck on its bubbly look from 5 years ago,#windowsphone is the true ‘Think Different’ of UI style today.
jdnorthwest: @BenThePCGuy As a frustrated #DearBlackberry user I was shopping the Bellevue@MicrosoftStore yesterday for a #windowsphone
sweeneyben: @BenThePCGuy #DearBlackberry my Storm2 was great if I went back in time, but is so outdated, with poor service. I want to go back to Windows
joegaus: @BenThePCGuy i want a #windowsphone because only Beyoncé Knowles’ beauty can compare to those DAMN SEXY LIVETILES
jubbing: @BenThePCGuy #dearblackberry I want to use a phone where I can check my emails any time of the.. week. Sincerely, annoyed guy
jacobdfriedman: @benthepcguy I want to switch because even eight years later, iTunes for windows is a clunky, crashy mess.
chrisemmerson: Dear @BenThePCGuy how about u convert a beloved fruity phone lover & user with well world travelled phone from his free upgrade from the 4s?
salamahoy: @BenThePCGuy I got the new BlackBerry 9900. It’s been so problematic, I’ve thrown it against the wall. Now I have no phone. #DearBlackberry
ChamatkariBaba: @BenThePCGuy BB served as a paper weight for last 3 days and from now onwards I plan to use it that way only
~~mattymorgs~~: @BenThePCGuy ~~with #iOS still stuck on its bubbly look from 5 years ago, #windowsphone is the true ‘Think Different’ of UI style today.~~
KTownGMG: @BenThePCGuy My Blackberry has been dropping calls and really, this is it for me…..PLUS METRO…is one word…METRO! SEND ME A PHONE!!!!
jsteig: @BenThePCGuy I would love my BlackBerry if it didn’t crash daily and if I could install applications w/o it dropping to a crawl
TGProof: @BenThePCGuy also, I use my phone for business and school, without proper function it made contact very difficult. #UpgradeMeToWindowsPhone
phonomatik: @BenThePCGuy Hey Guy! Ok, iOS is lame. WP7 is much better. I like the hubs and tiles, they have a good structure. All Apps are good sorted.
mikehc: @BenThePCGuy I don’t have a BB, have a Pre. But I’m equally frustrated… Do I have a chance to win a WP7?
lazejanev: @BenThePCGuy I would like WP7 phone, because I want to transfer my enterprise knowledge on a mobile platform.Android and iOS are not for ERP
Cri5_09: @BenThePCGuy I want a Windows Phone 7.5 because Mango beats Apples, berries, sandwitches or any other fruit/nut available.
ijoostin: @BenThePCGuy I have an iPhone, but I want to see the world! I want to see what others see the future as. Apple’s can’t be the only vision!
qkns: Hi @BenThePCGuy, I’m the BB admin I have 2 give status updates counsel unhappy users & stay const. up 2 date on this mess. I want OFF BB!
erickmagnus: @BenThePCGuy RIM just don’t respect customers. They take 2 days just to inform "we are working on this"! I want a #windowsphone!
Chipstopher: @BenThePCGuy Dunno if you’re still giving away Windows Phones, but Id switch to Windows Phone gladly. At this point I wanna phone that works
MrJoeSterne: @benthepcguy man, updating to iOS 5 was worse than installing windows- by a long shot!
Xadacka: @BenThePCGuy sick of it crashing, rebooting, slowing down… nice wp7 device sure would make things easier on me!
finntannermom: @BenThePCGuy to save a marriage! I cannot reach my husband need a #windowsphone #DearBlackberry>

Microsoft is now looking to make this a regular event, though not at this scale.

Ben Rudolph, the PC Guy, writes:

So here’s what I’ll be doing from now on; send your story about why you want (or need) a Windows Phone to my Ben the PC Guy email address. Do you need it for work, and can’t live without our built-in Office features? Are you a social butterfly and love the fact that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are baked right in? Do you drool over the beauty of live tiles? Whatever the reason is, I want to hear about it.

Every month, I’ll select a story that I think is unique and compelling and I’ll get that person a Windows Phone. A few weeks later, I’ll catch up with the winner and post a blog on how their new Windows Phone has changed their life.

To take him up on the deal, send him an email here at benthepcguy@live.com.

While the promotion is great, I think one phone a month is a bit stingy. How about one a day as a great way to start an internet meme, and on twitter rather than email?

Read the full post at Microsoft here.

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In wake of outage, nearly 20% of Blackberry owners planning to move to other platforms

October 13, 2011 | By Surur

RIM’s US market share has plunged in US over the last 40 weeks of this year.

In an online survey carried out on Wednesday Communication Mobility polled 307 BlackBerry users, surveyed amongst CBR’s senior IT decision-maker audience.

The results indicate that 18% (56 respondents) said they or their company is already in the process of switching from BlackBerry to another platform such as Apple’s iPhone, Android or Windows Phone.

A further 34% (106 respondents) said they or their company should now consider moving to a different mobile platform following the service disruption this week.

Only 37% (115 respondents) of users said they would be remaining with the company as their smartphone provider of choice.

The worldwide service failure crippled Blackberries worldwide and unleashed a storm of criticism on the company. RIM only restored service today.

The company has already seen a massive fall in their market share so far this year, as is illustrated in the above graphic by Statcounter, showing the online presence of Blackberry users in US.

Microsoft is hoping to pick up some of the defectors, and have already offered to give 25 Windows Phones away to Blackberry users with the best outage horror stories.

Blackberry strangling itself with 3rd day of failure

October 12, 2011 | By Surur

Currently Windows Phone 7 is in competition for 3rd play in the smartphone market, with Windows Phone 7 edging upwards slowly, and RIM plunging downwards rather rapidly.

Now the company has decided to accelerate its fate by failing for the 3rd day to fix connectivity issues in its data centre, with problems expanding from the Middle East and Europe to now also enveloping USA.

“It’s a blow upon a bruise. It comes at a bad time,” said Richard Windsor, global technology specialist at Nomura.

“One possibility could be that it encourages client companies to look more at other options such as allowing users to connect their own devices to the corporate server and save themselves the cost of buying everyone a BlackBerry.”

RIM routes all data through its data centres, meaning not only email and BBM is affected, but services as simple as browsing the web is virtually impossible, and users can not even turn to alternative systems such as WhatsApp for their messaging fix.

The failure comes at a crucial time when numerous new smartphones, including the iPhone 4S and new Windows Phone 7.5 handsets with great messaging features, which are not dependent on a centralized and vulnerable data centre, are being released.

Following a dismal set of quarterly results and a plunge in its share price, some investors are now calling for a breakup or sale, with Jaguar investment group saying 8% of investors are called for a change in leadership in the company.

If there is one reassuring element it is that as users leave for other platforms less and less people in the future will be affected by these outages.

Via The Star.com

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Usability Study finds Windows Phone on par with iPhone, ahead of Android and Blackberry

August 8, 2011 | By Surur

Professor Dennis Gallatta at the Harvard Human Factors in Design lab has performed a usability study comparing iPhone, Windows Phone 7, Android and Blackberry, seeing how well novice users were able to complete 3 tasks – make a call, send a text and add a contact.

While Windows Phone 7 did pretty well, I think the study revealed a major weakness in the stylish Metro design – some icons are not as intuitive as the designers of the UI may have imagined, leading to poor discoverability.

Of course how novice users fare is not necessarily a good test of usability – is is how easily one completes tasks once one is over the familiarity bump that is also important, and hopefully that will also be tested in the future.

While Windows Phone 7 did well in this test, I can help but feel it could have done even better with some further design tweaks.

What do our readers think? Let us know below.

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Stuck with a Blackberry? Windows Phone 7 skin now available

July 18, 2011 | By Surur

WP7-op-BlackBerry There are no more out-dated phones that RIM’s Blackberries, with user interfaces which owe more to pagers than anything from the 21st century.

No wonder only 26% of users are very satisfied with their handsets, and only 4% of new buyers intend to get a new RIM phone.

If you are unlucky enough to be stuck with a Blackberry you can still get a small taste of Windows phone 7, with this new skin called Mo7 by drkapprentice designs.

The skin is available in 7 colours,four opacity settings and is suitable for both touch and non-touch devices.

The skin is only $1.99, down from $5.99, but you might just want to do yourself a favour by springing for the real thing for not much from your local carrier.

The app can be found here.

Via allaboutphones.nl.

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Does Windows Phone 7 already have more apps than Blackberry?

July 14, 2011 | By Surur

On two occasions now, including yesterday at WPC 11 Microsoft said Windows Phone 7 already has more apps than RIM’s Blackberry OS, despite the 18 month head start.

Just adding up the numbers on RIM’s App World website, with 28305 apps+ games and 9462 themes, it seems RIM still has the upper hand over the 24352 apps in Marketplace.

However of the 28305 apps in App World 11681 are ebooks, a full 41%. Only 14% of the apps in Marketplace are ebooks.

As can be seen from the graph, in nearly every other category except business and music and audio apps Windows Phone 7 has nearly the same or more apps.

It is likely in the next two months, excluding themes, the absolute number of Windows Phone 7 apps will exceed the number of Blackberry apps, but even now it is probably accurate to say you can find more apps in Marketplace than App World.

See the raw data after the break.

Continue reading →

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CommonWealth Bank releases cross-platform banking app, except for Blackberry

July 12, 2011 | By Surur

Picture via ZDNet.

In what is likely to become an increasing trend, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia has today rolled out a bevy of mobile apps for iPhone, Android and also Windows Phone 7, but not for Blackberry.

The new mobile banking apps consist of three core functions. The NetBank service allows customers to check transactions, transfer money and pay bills, while the app also includes the CommSec Property Guide (iPhone only) and a new foreign exchange tool kit. The latter allows users to check foreign exchange rates for 33 currencies, and also has calculators for cash rates, Travel Money Card and international money transfers. It allows users to set buying and selling currency alerts, and can track a currency’s historical performance over a two year period.

The Commonwealth Bank app also shows you the nearest branch and ATM based on your current GPS location, and includes social media integration with the Bank’s Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts.

As chief marketing and online officer Andy Lark why the Windows Phone 7 app was released before the Blackberry app:

On our radar, Windows Phone 7 is very small at the moment but we’re able to extend our reach by offering another device. We’re certainly looking at all devices on our roadmap. The opportunity came up to work with the WP7 guys through our Microsoft partnership, so we rook it. Long-term we want to be device agnostic.

The Windows Phone 7 Marketplace already feature more real applications than the Blackberry App World, where approximately 25% of the “apps” are themes and 1/3 “ebooks”.

The new Commonwealth Bank apps can be downloaded now from the iOS App Store, the Google Android Market, while the Windows Phone 7 app will be available in the Windows Marketplace from Thursday 14 July.

Via Lifehacker.com

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Windows Phone 7 vs Blackberry speed of development demoed

July 4, 2011 | By Surur

Update: We have been asked to remove the video by the creator.

The Windows Phone 7 Marketplace is set to zoom past the Blackberry App World in the next few months , and the above demo by Max Paulousky by shows exactly why – much better tools on Windows Phone 7.

According to an unnamed Blackberry executive Blackberry’s tools are like “a rundown 1990?s Ford Explorer”, meaning this simple project to create a RSS feed reading app takes 1/3 less time on Windows Phone 7 than Blackberry.

Add to this the huge fragmentation between the large number of Blackberry models, and this means the cost of supporting the Blackberry range is just not worth it for many developers. No wonder some of them are dropping support for the venerable messaging devices.

Seesmic drops support for Blackberry, focussing on popular platforms like Windows Phone 7

June 20, 2011 | By Surur

In a note posted on their website Seesmic has announced that they will be dropping support for RIM’s embattled Blackberry platform.

They write:

Important update for Blackberry users

Blackberry users, we have important news we would like to share:

Effective June 30th, Seesmic will discontinue support for Blackberry in order to focus development efforts on our most popular mobile platforms: Android,iOS and Windows Phone 7.

We encourage those effected by this change to try out Seesmic for Android, iOS and Windows Phone 7, as well as Seesmic Desktop and Web.

Sincerely,

Team Seesmic

RIM, who lost half of its market capitalization over the last 6 months, and which is now worth less that $13.5 billion, is believed to have lost 18% of its US subscribers in the last year, and is one of the most fragmented platforms, with numerous versions of its operating system in circulation, making it one of the most complex and expensive platforms to support.

The withdrawal of support by developers will be seen as another blow against the company, and will do nothing to halt the slide in the share price of the company, already down nearly 30% since last week.

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