RIM s Blackberry Fights for Relevance, PCWorld
RIM’s Blackberry Fights for Relevance
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By Jared Newman
PCWorld | May Two, two thousand eleven 9:12 AM PT
Research in Movability rattled off a slew of product updates at its Blackberry World conference Monday, including fresh Bold smartphones, the Blackberry seven OS, and a duo of key apps for the Blackberry Playbook tablet.
These aren’t game-changing announcements. I don’t see anything among RIM’s press releases that will catapult Blackberry over the iPhone and Android in the smartphone and tablet wars, but they should help RIM suspend on to some relevance as it ceases to predominate the smartphone market.
Here’s what’s fresh with RIM’s Blackberry products:
Blackberry seven OS
RIM’s Blackberry seven OS doesn’t merge with QNX, the operating system that runs on the Blackberry tablet. Instead, Blackberry seven OS adds some basic improvements like voice-activated search and a quicker, smoother Web browser with HTML five support.
Engadget reports that only fresh phones will get Blackberry seven OS, leaving the relatively fresh Blackberry Torch out in the cold.
Blackberry Bold nine thousand nine hundred and 9930
The very first smartphones to run Blackberry seven OS will be the Bold nine thousand nine hundred and 9930. Due out this summer, the phones have a physical keyboard on the bottom and a Two.8-inch touchscreen on top.
A 5-megapixel camera in back supports 720p movie capture, and near-field communications support is built-in for the unpreventable brainy tag and mobile payment craze.
Other specs include a 1.Two GHz processor and eight GB of built-in storage.
The GSM/UTMS Blackberry Bold nine thousand nine hundred supports the "4G" that AT&T and T-Mobile are presently touting, while the Bold 9300, a CDMA world phone, is 3G-only.
Facebook and Movie Talk for Playbook
The Blackberry Playbook will soon be getting a duo apps that should’ve been available at launch. Movie Talk, which will be delivered in an over-the-air update on May Trio, lets Playbook owners talk to one another using the tablet’s front- and rear-facing cameras.
Movie talk welcome screen. Credit: Berry Reporter (click to increase)
Still no word on cross-platform movie talk apps, such as Fring and Skype. A Facebook app for Blackberry Playbook will be available through App World some time this month, with the requisite news feeds, wall posts, photos, movies and talk.
Blackberry Balance
Here’s a nice feature for IT pros who worry about the infiltration of consumer tech in the enterprise: Blackberry Balance is a service that attempts to separate business and individual uses on Blackberry smartphones.
When activated, it prevents users from copying, sending or using business data in individual applications, and tells the user when an activity is against IT policy. If the user leaves the company, Balance lets the administrator remotely wipe all business information while leaving private information and apps intact.
iPhone and Android Management
Perhaps the most surprising news out of Blackberry World was the announcement of a Web-based management instrument for IT administrators that supports Android and iPhone in addition to Blackberry phones. This permits administrators to activate, wipe, lock, or otherwise manage phones over the air, while also accessing features that are off the hook to Blackberry, such as the aforementioned Blackberry Balance. Implicit in the announcement is an admission that Blackberry no longer predominates the enterprise, and that providing administrators a way to manage iPhones and Androids is a must.
Go after Jared on Facebook and Twitter as well as Today @ PCWorld for even more tech news and commentary.
RIM s Blackberry Fights for Relevance, PCWorld
RIM’s Blackberry Fights for Relevance
Your message has been sent.
There was an error emailing this page.
By Jared Newman
PCWorld | May Two, two thousand eleven 9:12 AM PT
Research in Mobility rattled off a slew of product updates at its Blackberry World conference Monday, including fresh Bold smartphones, the Blackberry seven OS, and a duo of key apps for the Blackberry Playbook tablet.
These aren’t game-changing announcements. I don’t see anything among RIM’s press releases that will catapult Blackberry over the iPhone and Android in the smartphone and tablet wars, but they should help RIM suspend on to some relevance as it ceases to predominate the smartphone market.
Here’s what’s fresh with RIM’s Blackberry products:
Blackberry seven OS
RIM’s Blackberry seven OS doesn’t merge with QNX, the operating system that runs on the Blackberry tablet. Instead, Blackberry seven OS adds some basic improvements like voice-activated search and a swifter, smoother Web browser with HTML five support.
Engadget reports that only fresh phones will get Blackberry seven OS, leaving the relatively fresh Blackberry Torch out in the cold.
Blackberry Bold nine thousand nine hundred and 9930
The very first smartphones to run Blackberry seven OS will be the Bold nine thousand nine hundred and 9930. Due out this summer, the phones have a physical keyboard on the bottom and a Two.8-inch touchscreen on top.
A 5-megapixel camera in back supports 720p movie capture, and near-field communications support is built-in for the unpreventable wise tag and mobile payment craze.
Other specs include a 1.Two GHz processor and eight GB of built-in storage.
The GSM/UTMS Blackberry Bold nine thousand nine hundred supports the "4G" that AT&T and T-Mobile are presently touting, while the Bold 9300, a CDMA world phone, is 3G-only.
Facebook and Movie Talk for Playbook
The Blackberry Playbook will soon be getting a duo apps that should’ve been available at launch. Movie Talk, which will be delivered in an over-the-air update on May Trio, lets Playbook owners talk to one another using the tablet’s front- and rear-facing cameras.
Movie talk welcome screen. Credit: Berry Reporter (click to enhance)
Still no word on cross-platform movie talk apps, such as Fring and Skype. A Facebook app for Blackberry Playbook will be available through App World some time this month, with the requisite news feeds, wall posts, photos, movies and talk.
Blackberry Balance
Here’s a nice feature for IT pros who worry about the infiltration of consumer tech in the enterprise: Blackberry Balance is a service that attempts to separate business and individual uses on Blackberry smartphones.
When activated, it prevents users from copying, sending or using business data in private applications, and tells the user when an activity is against IT policy. If the user leaves the company, Balance lets the administrator remotely wipe all business information while leaving private information and apps intact.
iPhone and Android Management
Perhaps the most surprising news out of Blackberry World was the announcement of a Web-based management device for IT administrators that supports Android and iPhone in addition to Blackberry phones. This permits administrators to activate, wipe, lock, or otherwise manage phones over the air, while also accessing features that are off the hook to Blackberry, such as the aforementioned Blackberry Balance. Implicit in the announcement is an admission that Blackberry no longer predominates the enterprise, and that providing administrators a way to manage iPhones and Androids is a must.
Go after Jared on Facebook and Twitter as well as Today @ PCWorld for even more tech news and commentary.