BBM coming to iOS, Android

BlackBerry unveils lower-cost Q5 QWERTY smartphone, says BBM coming to iOS, Android

Reuters, May 15, 2013

BlackBerry announced plans on Tuesday to offer its popular instant messaging system on rival devices and introduced a new mid-tier smartphone targeted at countries where its faded brand remains strong.

Tapping into its still robust popularity outside North America, BlackBerry said the new Q5 smartphone would be available starting in July in selected markets in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The Q5 includes the tiny qwerty keyboard that still sets BlackBerry apart from most rivals.

It gave no prices, but as BlackBerry opens the latest chapter of its turnaround attempt, it will clearly target a younger, more price-sensitive crowd with the device, which will be available in colors including pink, red and white.

"BlackBerry is clearly aiming to replicate the success of the BlackBerry Curve in emerging markets," Ovum analyst Adam Leach said, referring to the company's Curve smartphone, which has been popular in India and other developing countries.

But other manufacturers are also seeking a foothold in those markets with low-cost devices, Leach noted.

BlackBerry, under its old name Research In Motion, virtually invented the concept of on-your-hip email with a series of blocky devices with tiny thumb-operated keyboards.

But in recent years it has bled market share to Apple Inc's iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co's popular line of Galaxy devices powered by Google's Android operating system, forcing it into big job cuts and a huge rethink of its products and priorities.

"You know it hasn't been that easy and you also know there is still a lot of work to do, but man, we have reached solid ground with this company," Heins told delegates at the BlackBerry Live conference in Orlando, Florida.

To those who ask if the company can survive the drastic changes he brought in, Heins said: "We are not only still here, we are firing on all cylinders as a company."

Shares in BlackBerry were about 4 percent lower early on Tuesday afternoon as analysts wondered what the Q5's price tag would be. They also questioned if the move to open up BBM, as the BlackBerry Messaging service is popularly known, was too little, too late.

Former co-CEO Jim Balsillie had sought to offer BBM on iPhones and other rivals in a broad strategy shift before he was overruled. He cut all ties to the company early last year.

Heins said BlackBerry Messaging will be offered free of charge to consumers using rival phones.

"This is such a great experience, it is just too good to keep it only to ourselves. It's time to bring BBM to a greater audience," he said, noting that BBM is used for 10 billion messages a day.

BlackBerry long relied on BBM to keep customers tied to its own devices, so the shift recognizes a new reality where many customers have already fled.

"The guy on the iPhone is gone already, he's lost," said Colin Gillis, a technology analyst at BGC Partners in New York. "The point is the guy on the BlackBerry can at least now talk to his friends."

Once a unique tool to send messages without running up SMS charges, BBM now competes with mobile instant messaging products from Facebook, Apple and others, and less directly with the micro-blogging service Twitter.

Heins said he is confident that BlackBerry can offer the service more broadly without losing its own customers.

BlackBerry has gambled its future on new devices using its new BlackBerry 10 operating system ), and Heins said the two new BB10 smartphones that BlackBerry has already started selling have given it its most successful launch year.

The touchscreen Z10 ) device is now available in many countries, including the United States, and Heins said the keyboard Q10 ) phone will be launched in the United States next month.

BlackBerry's volatile shares were down 3.7 percent at $15.29 in New York early on Tuesday afternoon.

BlackBerry R10

BlackBerry R10 pictures and specifications leak online

Surbhi Chawla, May 07, 2013

BlackBerry seems to be gearing up to add more devices in its BlackBerry 10 portfolio. Earlier we heard rumours regarding affordable BlackBerry 10 smartphones being in the works, and there's more buzz around the same.

A few purported pictures of this affordable BlackBerry 10 smartphone have been posted online courtesy Chinese website, DGtle. The past rumours suggest that this smartphone will be dubbed BlackBerry R10 and will be an affordable Curve smartphone.

MobileSyrup via DGtle is reporting that the BlackBerry R10 will come with a 3.1-inch display with a 720X720 pixel resolution. The smartphone is expected to pack in 2GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and a 5-megapixel rear camera.

In the past, we have spotted the BlackBerry R10 in White and even Red colours but this is the first time that images of a Black R10 have surfaced online. From the pictures it seems that the BlackBerry R10 has borrowed its looks from the iPhone 3G/ 3GS. The smartphone seems to have a curved, glossy rear panel with the camera lens situated on the top left.

BlackBerry R10 will allegedly be the first BlackBerry smartphone to come with a non-removable battery. It is likely to have a 1800 mAh battery. The BlackBerry R10 will run on BlackBerry 10.1 OS.

The past speculations have hinted a Q3 release for this smartphone and also pegged that BlackBerry R10 is likely to be priced between $300 to $400 without any contract.

BlackBerry is already offering its flagship Z10 smartphone in the market. This smartphone was launched in January 2013 and has been followed by a touch-QWERTY smartphone Q10.

BlackBerry Q10  comes with the brand new BlackBerry 10 operating system. It sports a 3.1-inch super AMOLED touchscreen.

There is an 8-megapixel camera on-board. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G and NFC. BlackBerry Q10 also packs in 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and a 2100mAh battery. The Canadian smartphone maker has already started selling Q10 in some parts of the world like Canada and UK but it is not available in India yet.

no one will use tablets

BlackBerry CEO says no one will use tablets five years from now

Anupam Saxena, May 01, 2013

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins is in the news again. After firing salvos at Apple and Samsung, he has come out in the open against the business case for tablets.

During an interview at the Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles, Heins said that he does't think there'll be a reason to have a tablet in five years and that tablets were not a good business model. The interview was reported by Bloomberg. 

 "In five years I don't think there'll be a reason to have a tablet anymore," said Heins. "Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business model."

It's not the first time that Heins has questioned the tablet business. However, the new comment indicates that the company is not looking at tablets, at all.

In a previous interview Heins had talked about the company's stand on introducing a new tablet and had said that the business case for re-entering the tablets market was not compelling at least in the near term. 

Heins had also admitted that with the PlayBook, which did not turn out to be a success, the company took the plunge a little too early as it was excited to show off its new operating system and majorly missed out on the app ecosystem. 

"I wouldn't want to do it the same way again, if I do something around tablets, I want it to be really substantial and meaningful, and quite frankly it would need to be profitable as well," he had said.

"I think the profit pool is very very thin. Kudos to Apple, I think they really managed to own that space, so it doesn't make sense for me to just take this head on. I need to figure out, for my enterprise customers, for my consumers, for my BB10 audience, what can I do that provides them a mobile computing experience in the form factor of a tablet, which goes beyond just the puristic tablet experience." 

So it looks like we're not going to see new tablets based on BlackBerry 10, if you consider the CEO's voice to be the determinant of the company's future strategy. Users are still waiting for a BlackBerry 10 update for the PlayBook, which the company had promised earlier.

BlackBerry Q10

BlackBerry Q10 now up for pre-orders in Canada

Associated Press, April 10, 2013

The maker of the BlackBerry phone said Tuesday that a modern smartphone with a physical keyboard will be available in Canada in the coming weeks as major wireless companies started taking advance orders.

Details on when the BlackBerry Q10 will go on sale elsewhere will be announced soon, Research In Motion Ltd. said. Advance orders are already being accepted in the UK.

The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other consumers before the iPhone debuted in 2007 and showed that phones can handle much more than email and phone calls. RIM faced numerous delays modernizing its operating system with the BlackBerry 10 (Review). During that time, it had to cut more than 5,000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth decline by more than $70 billion.

RIM surprised Wall Street last month by returning to profitability and shipping about 1 million touch-screen BlackBerry Z10  phones in the most recent quarter, which ended March 2. It will take several quarters, though, to know whether RIM is on a path toward a successful turnaround. RIM had just entered the critical U.S. market with the Z10 phone, and the more anticipated Q10 keyboard phone won't be on sale until late May or June because of testing by U.S. wireless companies.

The U.S. delay in selling the new keyboard BlackBerry complicates RIM's efforts to hang on to customers tempted by Apple's iPhone and a range of devices running Google Inc.'s Android operating system. Even as the BlackBerry has fallen behind rivals in recent years, many BlackBerry users have stayed loyal because they prefer a physical keyboard over the touch screen found on the iPhone and most Android devices. The temptations to switch grow with each additional delay, despite favorable reviews for BlackBerry 10 operating system.

Canadian carriers Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. both said Tuesday that advance orders are under way for the keyboard Q10 device, but neither would provide an exact date for when the Q10 would be available. Telus is offering the phone one a $199 with a three-year service agreement or $700 without a contract.

The all-touch-screen Z10 launched in Canada and other markets earlier this year and in the United States last month.

BlackBerry10

Crucial, long-overdue BlackBerry makeover arrives

Associated Press, January 29, 2013

The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedier device, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone. It's the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company.Thorsten Heins, chief executive of Research In Motion Ltd., will show off the first phone with the new BlackBerry 10 system in New York on Wednesday. A marketing campaign that includes a Super Bowl ad will accompany the long-anticipated debut. Repeated delays have left the once-pioneering BlackBerry an afterthought in the shadow of Apple's trend-setting iPhone and Google's Android-driven devices.
Now, there's some optimism. Previews of the software have gotten favorable reviews on blogs. Financial analysts are starting to see some slight room for a comeback. RIM's stock has nearly tripled to $16.18 from a nine-year low in September, though it's still nearly 90 percent below its 2008 peak of $147.
Most analysts consider a BlackBerry 10 success to be crucial for the company's long-term viability.
"The old models are becoming obsolete quickly," BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said. "There is still a big user base but it's going to rotate off. The question is: Where do they rotate to?"
The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, has been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people. Corporate information-technology managers like the phones because they're relatively secure and easy to manage. Many employees loved them because of physical keyboards that were easier to type on than the touch-screen iPhone. President Barack Obama couldn't bear to part with it when he took office. Oprah Winfrey declared it one of her "favorite things." People got so addicted that the device was nicknamed "the CrackBerry."
The BlackBerry began to cross over to consumers. But when the iPhone came out in 2007, it showed that phones can do much more than email and phone calls. They can play games, music and movies. Android came along to offer even more choices. Though IT managers still love BlackBerrys, employees were bringing their own devices to the workplace - a trend Heins acknowledged RIM was slow to adapt to.
Suddenly, the BlackBerry looked ancient.
Even as BlackBerry sales continued to grow in many parts of the world, many BlackBerry users in North America switched to iPhones and Android devices. BlackBerry's worldwide subscriber based peaked at 80 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 1, before dropping to 79 million in the most-recent quarter. In the U.S., according to research firm IDC, shipments of BlackBerry phones plummeted from 46 percent of the market in 2008 to 2 percent in 2012. Most phones in use today are either iPhones or Android devices.
RIM promised a new system to catch up, using technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. RIM initially said BlackBerry 10 would come by early 2012, but then the company changed that to late 2012. A few months later, that date was pushed further, to early 2013, missing the lucrative holiday season. The holdup helped wipe out more than $70 billion in shareholder wealth and 5,000 jobs.
Although executives have been providing a glimpse at some of BlackBerry 10's new features for months, Heins will finally showcase a complete system at Wednesday's event. Devices will go on sale soon after that. The exact date and prices are expected Wednesday.
RIM redesigned the system to embrace the multimedia, apps and touch-screen experience prevalent today.
"Historically there have been areas that have not been our strongest points," Rick Costanzo, RIM's executive vice president of global sales, said in an interview. "Not only have we caught up, but we may even be better than some of the competition now."
Costanzo said "no one else can touch" what RIM's new system offers.
The new operating system promises better multitasking than either the iPhone or Android. Simply swipe a finger across the phone's display screen to switch to another program.
All emails and notifications from such applications as Twitter and Facebook go to the BlackBerry Hub, a nerve center accessible with a finger swipe even if you have another application open. One can peek into it and open an email, or return to the previous application without opening the email.
"You are not going in and out of applications; you're flowing through applications with one simple gesture of your finger," Costanzo said. "You can leave applications running. You can effortlessly flow between them. So that's completely unique to us."
That said, multitasking will still be limited. If you're watching a video, it will still run while you check for email. But it will pause if you decide to open an email and resume when you are done.
The BlackBerry's touch-screen keyboard promises to learn a user's writing style and suggest words and phrases to complete, going beyond typo corrections offered by rivals. See the one you want, and flick it up to the message area. Costanzo said that "BlackBerry offers the best keyboard, period."
Gus Papageorgiou, a Scotiabank financial analyst who has tried it out, agreed with that assessment and said the keyboard even learns and adjusts to your thumb placements.
The first BlackBerry 10 phone will have only a touch screen. RIM has said it will release a version with a physical keyboard soon after that. That's an area RIM has excelled at, and it's one reason many BlackBerry users have remained loyal despite temptations to switch.
Another distinguishing feature will be the BlackBerry Balance, which allows two personas on the same device. Businesses can keep their data secure without forcing employees to get a second device for personal use. For instance, IT managers can prevent personal apps from running inside corporate firewalls, but those managers won't have access to personal data on the device.
With Balance, "you can just switch from work to personal mode," Papageorgiou said. "I think that is something that will attract a lot of people."
RIM is also claiming that the BlackBerry 10's browser will be speedy, even faster than browsers for laptop and desktop computers. According to Papageorgiou, early, independent tests between the BlackBerry 10 and the iPhone support that claim.
Regardless of BlackBerry 10's advances, though, the new system will face a key shortcoming. It won't have as many apps written by outside companies and individuals as the iPhone and Android. RIM has said it plans to launch BlackBerry 10 with more than 70,000 apps, including those developed for RIM's PlayBook tablet, first released in 2011. Even so, that's just a tenth of what the iPhone and Android offer. Papageorgiou said the initial group will include the most popular ones such as Twitter and Facebook. But RIM will have to persuade others to make a BlackBerry version, when they are already struggling to keep up with both the iPhone and Android.
Like many analysts, Papageorgiou recently upgraded RIM's stock, but cautioned that longtime BlackBerry users will have to get used to a whole new operating system.
He said RIM can be successful if about a third of current subscribers upgrade and if the company can get 4 million new users overseas, especially in countries where the BlackBerry has remained popular. IDC said smartphone shipments grew 44 percent in 2012. If those trends continue, it will be possible for the BlackBerry to grow even if iPhone and Android users don't switch.
"This doesn't have to be the best smartphone on the planet to be a success for RIM," he said. "I think the big question though is, if it fails, is it just too late? Are the other two ecosystems just so advanced that no one can catch up? That's a big risk."

BlackBerry 10

BlackBerry 10 will fuel RIM's growth for the next decade: CEO

Reuters, November 15, 2012

A new line of BlackBerry 10 devices will provide Research In Motion with a framework for growth over the next decade, offering long-term value for unhappy shareholders, Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said on Wednesday.In an interview with Reuters, Heins said RIM had identified $800 million of the $1 billion of savings it promised for the financial year ending in early March, and was confident of finding the rest as it gets ready to launch the new phones.
RIM is betting that the new smartphones will help it claw back the market share it has lost to the likes of Apple Inc's iPhone and devices powered by Google's Android operating system.
Both consumers and corporate customers have abandoned the BlackBerry in droves, even though the devices offer security features that rivals have been unable to match.
"There's this high-level security that you cannot walk away from, and then there's 'good enough' security," Heins said in an interview at RIM's Waterloo, Ontario, campus, a sprawl of low-rise buildings.
But analysts remain skeptical, especially after the botched 2011 launch of RIM's PlayBook tablet computer, which the company had hoped would compete with Apple's wildly popular iPad. The PlayBook had top-of-the-line hardware, but its software was far from complete at the launch and needed multiple updates.
RIM delayed the roll-out of the BlackBerry 10 phones to the first quarter of 2013 so as not to repeat the errors that surrounded the PlayBook launch.
Heins said the delay was the correct decision - the way to ensure the BB10 phones are a high-quality product rather than a rushed one that would not meet customer expectations.
"I think it's all lining up. Sometimes you get the feeling that the universe is in disarray, and with BlackBerry 10 coming, I see the stars lining up," Heins said.
Sleek demo models 
Sleek demo models of the new phones look much like the high-end smartphones in the market today, and company executives proudly showed off a touch-screen version and a version with the miniature QWERTY keyboard popular with many BlackBerry users.
Users flick a thumb or finger to maneuver from one program to another and can sneak a look at an incoming email while browsing the Internet or using other applications, a multi-tasking ability that RIM says rival devices lack.
Personal and business profiles can be kept separately, something RIM calls BlackBerry Balance. Corporations can erase only their share of the data on a device if they need to do so for security reasons, leaving personal photos, contacts and emails untouched.
The app library available at launch will not match the vast number available on other devices. Heins said RIM had chosen to focus on providing those apps needed in different regional markets. It expects some 100,000 apps to be ready at launch.
The developer community has been broadly enthusiastic about the devices. But financial analysts have mixed views on their likely reception in an ultra-competitive market.
Pacific Crest analyst James Faucette warned last week that BlackBerry 10 is likely to be dead on arrival - with an operating system that gets "a lukewarm response at best," due to the unfamiliar user interface and a shortage of apps.
Shareholder value 
Heins insisted morale was high at the company, despite 5,000 job cuts and a rapidly sliding market share ahead of the launch of the new phones.
RIM's share price is down more than 90 percent from a 2008 peak of about $148. It has fallen even after Heins, a former Siemens AG executive, took over in January. The shares on Wednesday closed at $8.49 on Nasdaq.
"The message to our shareholders is that we understand this is and has been a difficult time for them and for us," the tall, bespectacled CEO said. "But with the development of the BlackBerry 10 platform we are truly convinced that we will create long-term value for RIM's shareholders and investors."
RIM has already given the demo phones to developers and to carriers, and its new BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10, which runs the devices on corporate networks, is in beta testing with 20 key customers -- both government agencies and corporates.
Next month, the company will give more than 50 top enterprise customers technical previews of both BES 10 and the devices.
Heins said the feedback he is getting from the customer base "is very encouraging."
With the erosion of RIM's base particularly strong in North America, there has been speculation the company could choose to launch the new phones in a region where the phones remain popular. Heins said that would not be the case.
"We cannot launch every carrier and every country on the same day, but what we have defined is a set of waves in the various regions," he said. "It is going to be a global launch. There isn't one preferred region. We are managing and planning it as we speak."

Free BBM for a year

Free BBM for a year on Airtel, Vodafone with BlackBerry Curve 9220, Curve 9320

 November 09, 2012

Research in Motion is trying to sweeten the deal on its BlackBerry Curve 9220 and Curve 9320 smartphones by offering free BlackBerry Messenger Services (BBM) for year. The Canadian handset maker has tied up with two telecom operators - Airtel and Vodafone - for this special offer.To avail this offer, users need to buy a new Airtel or Vodafone connection between November 9 and December 9, 2012 and opt for this plan. For Vodafone subscribers the services will start within 48 hours of inserting the SIM in the smartphone. Airtel users will have to send SMS to 543210 with the message 'BBM' to activate their free service.
Usually these BlackBerry Messenger plans cost Rs. 129 per month and let BlackBerry users share unlimited messages, pictures, music and files (<6MB) for free with other BlackBerry Messenger users.
Apart from this, RIM is also offering free apps for worth Rs. 2000 for its news and existing customers.
The year 2012 has been quite eventful for the BlackBerry maker. On one hand, it has been struggling to keep pace with the rivals Android and iOS, while on the other hand it is looking forward to launching smartphones running on its new operating system - BlackBerry OS 10. According to the company its new BlackBerry 10 smartphones are now being tested by the telecom operators around the globe. The operator testing usually takes 60-90 days, so it is on track to launch these new smartphones in the first quarter of 2013.