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BlackBerry Colt to be the first BBX superphone, specs leaked alongside an image

Last week, RIM officially announced BBX, its next-gen operating system that will marry the QNX-based OS currently found on the PlayBook with the BlackBerry OS that's powering all of the company's smartphones at the moment. RIM gave no indication of when BBX will be inside shipping devices, but back in August we heard mumblings about the first smartphone running the new platform coming in the first quarter of 2012.

Its name, or codename, is Colt. BlackBerry Colt. This will apparently be the high-end flagship that RIM has needed for a long while. Here's a render of what the Colt might look like:

The phone that ends up being released may not be identical to what you see in the image above, but it will be close. As for specs, we have a whole bunch of them neatly leaked for your convenience.

A single-core 1.2 GHz processor (as seen in the Bold 9900) was used in the first testing phase, but a dual-core CPU is currently inside prototypes, so that may be the chip the Colt ends up shipping with. There will also be a touchscreen (at least 4-inch) with a resolution higher than 900 pixels and two cameras, one at the front and one at the back. The Colt will be thinner than the Bold 9900 and 9930, but will have a similar unibody outer stainless steel frame, no physical buttons, a similar battery to that found in the PlayBook, and new transitions which should make the UI feel fluid.

RIM confirms PlayBook OS 2.0 delayed until February, still no BBM in sight

Well, we hope you weren't expecting to have PlayBook 2.0 up and running on your BlackBerry tablet any time soon, cause it's been officially delayed till at least February. Word has come straight from the mouth (well, keyboard) of David Smith, senior vice president for the PlayBook project. In a blog post Smith announced that RIM would be holding back on the release to ensure many of the new features, including native email and enterprise app deployment, work as advertised. The OS update will be getting a decently long beta test, with it rolling out to some in the Early Adopter Program "shortly." Sadly, it seems that some features have fallen by the wayside with the focus on polish - namely, BBM. Since the messaging service relies on a one-device per-PIN model, getting it on the tablet has proved troublesome. For now users will have to rely on BlackBerry Bridge and their RIM handsets to get their BBM fix. Considering the company's track record, we wouldn't be shocked if the OS update slips even further into the future - remember an email client was promised within 60 days of launch... that was back in April.

Porsche-Designed BlackBerry Is a Sleek Slab of Steel

In the immortal words of Ashford and Simpson, the Porsche-designed Blackberry is h-h-h-h-hot

What would you get if you took a Motorola RAZR (the original), a BlackBerry and a mid-1980s Bang and Olufsen stereo, tossed them in a blender and poured the results to set in a shallow cake tin? You'd get the Porsche Design P'9981 Smartphone you see above.

Specs-wise, the phone doesn't do anything special. It simply checks the boxes required of a modern mobile telephone: 1.2GHz processor, 720p video camera, 8GB storage, 5MP stills camera and a microSD card slot for expansion. It's relatively small 2.8-inch, 640x480 287dpi screen can be explained away by the backlit hardware QWERTY keyboard.

But design-wise, it's a rather hot-looking slab of glass and stainless steel (no silvered plastic here), and even has a leather-coved back panel. It probably won't help BlackBerry pull out of its terrible death spiral, but it will at least make e-mail addicted businessmen look a little less dorky.

Price and availability tba.

Porsche Design P'9981 Smartphone [BlackBerry]

Blackberry Colt Specs Unveiled

The Blackberry Colt has been quite a lot of talk on the internet lately and now its specs have been leaked. Powered by RIM's BBX platform, the smartphone features a 4-inch touchscreen display, a 1.2GHz single core processor, a unibody stainless steel bezel, a front-facing camera and a rear-facing camera. It has a similar form factor to the BlackBerry Bold. The Blackberry Colt will be launched in mid-2012. [Ubergizmo]

Blackberry Porsche P'9881 announced

A week ago we reported that thanks to an invitation, it appears that RIM and Porsche had plans to hold an event to unveil a new product. Unless Porsche was planning on releasing a new Porsche Blackberry sports car, it left little to the imagination at what sort of announcement that both companies were going to make, and now it is official. Both RIM and Porsche have announced the new Blackberry Porsche P'9981.

The device isn't really groundbreaking in terms of technology, and it appears that this is more of a luxury phone. The P'9981 will sport a 1GHz processor under the hood, 8GB of internal storage with a microSD card slot to accommodate an additional 32GB, a 5MP camera capable of recording 720p HD videos, a QWERTY keyboard, NFC capabilities and will run on Blackberry OS 7.

The phone has also been redesigned to give it a more Porsche feel, replacing the fonts on the QWERTY keyboard and operating system with the ones used by Porsche, along with a new set of redesigned icons. If you're a fan of Porsche cars and Blackberry devices, the good news is that the P'9981 is expected to be made available by the end of the year for $2,000 and will be sold in limited quantities.

Additional Blackberry Colt specs revealed

Rendering of the Blackberry Colt

There has been a lot of talk surrounding RIM's new platform – BBX. The new platform is to RIM what Windows Phone is to Nokia, a second chance at reclaiming the market that both companies used to dominate, and along with their new platform, there has been talks about a BBX device called the Blackberry Colt, and thanks to n4bb, more details surrounding the device have emerged, although we'll probably take that information with a grain of salt until RIM actually announces something.

The Blackberry Colt when first rumored didn't really say much about the device, other than the fact that it would run on RIM's BBX (it was known as QNX back then) platform, and would sport a 1.2GHz single core processor (which disappointed many, but then again it's just a rumor) and would feature a 4.x" touch screen display.

New information uncovered by n4bb is now telling us that the Blackberry Colt would be thinner than the Blackberry Bold 9900 and 9930, and would feature the same unibody stainless steel bezel as the Bold 9900 and 9930. It would also be a complete touch screen device, feature the same battery as the Blackberry PlayBook tablet and would sport front and back cameras. This still isn't a lot to go on, but at least a slightly clearer picture is being painted for us, assuming this information is accurate. The Blackberry Colt, if the rumors are to be believed, is expected to see a release mid-2012.

The Blackberry P9981 by Porsche Design officially unveiled

At a special event held in Dubai, Blackberry with cooperation with Porsche Design unveiled the Blackberry Porsche Design P9981. It's essentially a Bold Touch 9900, but with special treatment from the folks at Porsche Design.

As you can notice, although it's based on the Blackberry Bold Touch 9900 it has gone through a major design overhaul. The whole phone is made of stainless steel, while the back tickles your hands with the special leather it's wrapped in.

Although it's based on the BlackBerry Bold 9900, it sports an underclocked 1GHz QC8655 processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. At the back we find a 5MP snapper, capable of shooting 720p HD videos.

Naturally, the P9981 runs BlackBerry OS 7, but has gone through special Porsche Design treatment and as a result features special fonts and customized icons.

Like it? Then expect it to hit Porsche Design stores by the end of the year for the colossal $2,000.

Source | Via

BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981 luxury smartphone announced by RIM

Research in Motion and Porsche have officially unveiled the BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981, a new luxury smartphone that was first seen a few months ago.

The Porsche Design P'9981 runs BlackBerry OS 7 with an "exclusive Porsche Design UI", and is 11.3mm thin. It's build from a forged stainless steel frame, and has a "sculpted QWERTY keyboard", in addition to a hand-wrapped leather back cover.

Other features include a 2.8 inch VGA touchscreen display, HSDPA, NFC, Wi-Fi, GPS, Wikitude World Browser augmented reality app, 5MP rear camera with 720p video recording, 768MB of RAM, 1.2GHz single-core processor, 8GB of internal memory, and "exclusive PINs that help easily identify another P'9981 smartphone user."

The BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981 will be available in Porsche Design stores around the world sometime later this year. There's no word on the smartphone's price yet.

It isn't the first time Porsche ventures into the mobile phone world - the company has also worked with Sagem to make that Porsche Design P'9522 candybar back in 2008.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 sees a change?

The BlackBerry Bold 9790 from Research In Motion (RIM) has yet to be announced officially, but one of the more recent images leaked showed off a change to its external design, where the flat button panel has been removed in favor of individually raised buttons. Said image that showed the modification proved to be blurry in vein with most of the other mysteriously leaked images that we've seen so far regardless of the device, so hopefully when an announcement on the new 9790 is made, things will get clearer – literally.

Interestingly enough, the image that you see above shows off the new button construction in a decent way, where you can even make out Arabic characters on it. Perhaps this has something to do with the Porsche Design's 9890 debut that is happening in Dubai on the 27th. Do you think this will be a Middle East exclusive?

BlackBerry Bod 9900 Shows Up In White Skin, Coming Soon?

But what is surprising is the fact the the BlackBerry 9900 was wearing an elegant shade of white, bringing us to suspect that a BlackBerry Bold 9900 white model is being readied for imminent availability.

Now, we have learned that only the external colors have changed which means all the under-hood mettle will remain the same, and of course, you will find it running the BlackBerry 7 OS under the hood.

Regardless, the specs sheet remains same : a 1.2GHz processor with 768MB of RAM, an unusually large 2.8" capacitive touch screen display joined by a backlit physical keyboard, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, support for HD video recording and built-in NFC sensor.

Other interesting features include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, onboard GPS, dedicated camera button, a 3.5 mm audio jack, 8GB of onboard storage, support for up to 32GB of expandable storage and much more.

As a refresher, Research in Motion released a bunch of BlackBerry OS 7 phones (the BlackBerry 9900 is one of that breed!) in an effort to keep up with the competition but its hardware is still relatively less powerful than other competitors. However, it's greatest strength lies in the BIS and security and very obviously, the BlackBerry Messenger aka BBM.

There is no word from RIM on whether the device will officially be available in white color besides the standard natural black variant we've been used to seeing now. Anyway, the report sure does give users some liberty to pick from their choice of colors, if it were true.

Click here to know more.

AT&T's Blackberry Bold 9900 to be launched “soon”

While T-Mobile USA is selling the BlackBerry Bold 9900 since August, AT&T has yet to announce an official launch date for the new Bold.

However, we now know that the 9900 is "coming soon" to AT&T - or at least that's what one of the carrier's Twitter accounts suggests here.

Most likely, AT&T will launch the Bold 9900 sometime next month, possibly for a bit more than $200 on contract (T-Mobile is offering the handset for $299).

UK: 16 GB BlackBerry PlayBook sees price cut to �249

The BlackBerry PlayBook may be running an entirely new, not-BlackBerry operating system, but that doesn't mean that RIM's first tablet is selling well. Or at least not as well as RIM would have liked it to. It's clear that the PlayBook, at this moment, is more of a niche device than a competitor for Apple's iPad.

In the UK, this interestingly may turn out to be to the advantage of those of you who'd like to purchase a PlayBook, but haven't done so yet. Over there, RIM is doing what every manufacturer thinks of doing when a product isn't selling well: slash the price.

It has to be said that the BlackBerry PlayBook launched in the UK with pricing identical to the iPad, which probably wasn't the best decision RIM ever made. Anyway, they've now rectified that.

The Carphone Warehouse now sells the 16 GB Wi-Fi-only PlayBook for just £249, which is amazingly £150 less than the launch price. If you'd like 32 GB of built-in storage, you'll have to pay £329, and £409 for the 64 GB of storage.

BlackBerry outage could cost RIM $100 million

Research In Motion's recent BlackBerry outage was the worst in the company's history, leaving BlackBerry users in the Middle East, Europe, parts of South America, Canada, Africa and the United States without service for a total of three days. This major outage could cost the Canadian vendor more than $100 million, Financial Post reported on Friday. The costs include refunds RIM may have to issue carriers for monthly fees it collects for each BlackBerry user. “Given a large portion of global traffic looks potentially affected we believe that a 5% impact to service fee revenue is plausible though likely worse case,” JPMorgan Chase analyst Rod Hall said. Read on for more.

Scotia Capital analyst Gus Papageorgiou estimated that lost revenues could be in the ballpark of $117.7 million, or $0.22 per share, but that RIM should have the crisis under control by the weekend. The costs however, do not include the possibility of shaken faith from RIM's top enterprise users, who rely on BlackBerry products and services for day-to-day operations. RIM co-chief Mike Lazaridis issued a public apology on Thursday in which co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said RIM was “working around the clock to fix this,” and the company stated a few hours later that service had been fully restored.

White BlackBerry Curve 9360 coming to Orange UK

Already available in the UK since the end of September in its original black version, the Blackberry Curve 9360 will be released there in white, too.

Orange UK is currently listing the white Curve 9360 as coming soon, saying it will offer it for free on pay monthly plans (but that's not a surprise).

The Curve 9360 runs BlackBerry 7 OS, and features a 2.44 inch display with 480 x 360 pixels, optical trackpad, full QWERTY keyboard, HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS, 3.5mm headset jack, 5MP rear camera with LED flash, VGA front-facing camera, and an 800MHz processor.

RIM: BlackBerry services restored globally

After being down for the past few days, it looks like RIM has finally repaired its BlackBerry services. The company announced in a conference call earlier this morning that all BlackBerry services have been restored globally. RIM will now be closely monitoring and placing safeguards on its networks and servers to make sure that such events never occur again. RIM is also considering how it will be reimbursing carriers and users for the disruptions this week. No word on what or how BlackBerry users will be compensated, but we should expect to find out more pretty soon.

How's your BlackBerry phone? Are you still having trouble with BlackBerry services?

BlackBerry Curve 9350 launched by US Cellular

US Cellular has launched its second RIM smartphone to come with BlackBerry 7 OS (after the Torch 9850): the Curve 9350.

Until November 20, US Cellular is offering the Curve 9350 for free to new customers (on contract, after a $100 mail-in rebate). The smartphone's price on contract without a new activation is $49.99 (also after a $100 mail-in rebate).

The new Curve is available online starting today, and will be in stores, too, starting tomorrow, October 14.

The BlackBerry Curve 9350 (which is the CDMA version of the Curve 9360) features a full QWERTY keyboard,  a 2.44 inch portrait display with 480 x 360 pixels, Wi-Fi, GPS, 3.5mm headset jack, 800MHz processor, and a 5MP rear camera with LED flash.

BlackBerry 9380 and 9790 get officially announced, sort of

RIM has announced the new BlackBerry 9380 and 9790 smartphones. However, this is not your usual announcement, with detailed specs and press images. The announcement comes in the form of a blog post which was addressed towards the developer community, informing them of the new handsets.

There is very little information regarding the two phones available at this time. All that RIM has divulged is that the 9380 will have a full touchscreen interface like the Storm and a 3.2-inch, 480 x 360 resolution display. The 9790 on the other hand will have a 2.44-inch, 480 x 360 resolution display with a full QWERTY keypad. Of course, both the phones will be running the latest BlackBerry OS 7.

BlackBerry has released SDK with built-in simulators for each of these phones. This was actually the main purpose of the blog post. We're guessing the actual announcement will be happening soon enough.

Source

RIM BlackBerry Bold 9790 And Curve 9380 Confirmed

RIM has recently confirmed the availability of the BlackBerry Bold 9790 and Curve 9380. The BlackBerry Bold 9790 features a 2.44-inch (360 x 480) touchscreen display, a 1.2GHz processor, a full QWERTY keyboard and an 8GB of internal memory. The BlackBerry Curve 9380 (Curve Touch) has a 3.2-inch (360 x 480) touchscreen display and an 800MHz processor. Both handsets support NFC and and a 5MP camera with 720p video recording. RIM has also released a simulator for the Bold 9790 and Curve 9380.

RIM confirms new BlackBerry Bold 9790 and Curve 9380

Although they still haven't been properly announced, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 and the BlackBerry Curve 9380 have been recently confirmed by RIM on its developer's blog, where simulators for both devices are now available.

According to the Canadian company, the 9380, which could be launched under the name of BlackBerry Curve Touch, features a 3.2 inch touchscreen display with 360 x 480 pixels. We also know - from previously leaked details - that the 9380 (pictured below) should come with NFC, a 5MP camera with 720p video recording, and an 800 MHz processor.

As for the Bold 9790, this will feature a 2.44 inch touchscreen display with the same 360 x 480 pixels resolution, full QWERTY keyboard, NFC, 5MP camera, 1.2GHz processor, and 8GB of internal memory.

RIM didn't say when the new BlackBerry 9380 and 9790 will be launched, but it should happen before the end of the year. We'll let you know when we have more details on this.

RIM gives tips on extending BlackBerry battery life

Now that some of the BlackBerry devices feature larger displays, they are subjected to the same amount of battery drain that most smartphones face today. We all know there is a price to pay for larger, full-colored displays. Well, the folks over at the official BlackBerry blog have decided to write a primer to help those of you who want to squeeze in an extra few hours of battery life from your BlackBerry phones.

It appears that apps left open (even when they're not in use) can affect the battery life of BlackBerry devices, so close any apps that you aren't using. Another tip (which works on all smartphones) is to turn off connections that aren't in use. Turn off WiFi when you're not in range or not planning to use it, the same thing goes for Bluetooth and 3G. However, if you're in a location with weak 3G coverage but you have WiFi available, turn on WiFi instead.

Other tips include using a holster, enabling auto on/off, and changing the brightness of the display's backlight. While all these tips should be second nature for regular smartphone users, I learnt something new - using a cotton swab or dry cloth to clean the metal contacts of the battery and the phone every few months should help as well. Anyone has tips to share about extending battery life (be it for BlackBerry or any other phone) drop a comment below. Be sure to check out our Android battery life guide as well.

Is BlackBerry More Secure Than Android? Ask Obama and the US Military.

Despite the growth of Android and iOS, corporate types continue to clutch their BlackBerry's on Wall Street and elsewhere, largely pointing to security as the main reason they won't give up on RIM. But how long until that becomes a distant memory? Maybe not long if the National Security Agency, US Army, and other American military branches have anything to say about it.

Word out of Government Computer News says Google, George Mason, and the NSA have teamed up to produce a hardened kernel of Android 3.0 with, “a government plan to create a secure national wireless network for first responders.” According to CGN, the hardened kernel is in the final stages of certification.

President Obama is a notorious Blackberry user, but check out this quote on the reason to go with Android rather than Blackberry in this snippet pulled directly from the article:

In addition to the Army’s plans to provide troops with smart phones, the Obama administration was attracted to the technology to support two of its initiatives. One is an effort by the White House Communications Office to move the executive branch from BlackBerry devices to Android-based phones. The reason is because Android devices with the new kernel can be secured at a higher clearance level than BlackBerry devices, McCarthy said.

You could argue that the type of security the government require and the kind corporations need are totally different, but regardless, I think it says a lot about the widening gap between Android, iOS, and the soon to be distant competitors including RIM.

What do you think about the difference between security – whether for government or business purposes – between Android and Blackberry?

US Cellular Launches BlackBerry Curve 9350

RIM's latest smartphoneBlackBerry Curve 9350′ is now available for purchase via US Cellular. For a limited time only, the handset can be yours for free with a new two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate. This special offer ends on November 20th. Specs-wise, this CDMA smartphone packs a 2.44-inch 480 x 360 display, an 800MHz processor, a 5MP rear-facing camera with LED flash, a full QWERTY keyboard, GPS, WiFi, a 3.5mm headset jack and runs on BlackBerry 7 OS. [Press Release]

BlackBerry outage affects millions for third day

After having initially said the issues were resolved following one day of service interruptions, millions of BlackBerry users across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and even some areas in South America still find themselves without access to the Wen or messaging services for the third consecutive day. Research In Motion confirmed earlier that a bug on a Blackberry server was responsible for knocking millions offline on Monday, and the Waterloo, Ontario-based smartphone maker elaborated on Tuesday that the continued interruption was caused by a core switch failure. RIM now says the outage has caused a large backlog of data that must be cleared before service can return to normal. No firm timeline has been issued.

RIM announces NFC-based BlackBerry Tag tap-to-share service

Research In Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie took the wraps off a new NFC-based BlackBerry service during his keynote presentation at the GITEX conference in Dubai this week. Dubbed BlackBerry Tag, the new feature will allow BlackBerry users to share contact information, documents, URLs, photos and other multimedia files by tapping one handset against another. BlackBerry Tag will also allow users to add each other as BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) contacts with a simple tap. ”BlackBerry Tag is an exciting and innovative feature that makes sharing contact information and multimedia content effortless and seamless,” Balsillie said in a statement. “BlackBerry Tag opens a new dimension to the BlackBerry platform that is powerful, simple and intuitive and we think it will be welcomed by both users and developers.” BlackBerry Tag will be enabled on NFC-equipped handsets in an upcoming BlackBerry 7 OS update. RIM's full press release follows below.

BlackBerry Tag enables effortless ‘tap to share' exchanges of multimedia content and contact info between friends

Friends can also add each other as BBM contacts with a simple ‘tap'

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES–(Marketwire – Oct. 10, 2011) – GITEX -During his keynote presentation at the GITEX conference in Dubai, Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) Co-CEO Jim Balsillie today unveiled a new way for BlackBerry® smartphone users to connect with one another and share multimedia content.

BlackBerry® Tag, which will be incorporated in the next BlackBerry® 7 OS update*, will allow users to share contact information, documents, URLs, photos and other multimedia content by simply tapping their BlackBerry smartphones together. BlackBerry Tag will also enable friends to instantly add one another as contacts on BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger).

“BlackBerry Tag is an exciting and innovative feature that makes sharing contact information and multimedia content effortless and seamless,” said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “BlackBerry Tag opens a new dimension to the BlackBerry platform that is powerful, simple and intuitive and we think it will be welcomed by both users and developers.”

BlackBerry Tag takes advantage of Near Field Communications (NFC) technology included in the recently launched BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900x9930 and BlackBerry® Curve™ 9350x9360x9370 smartphones, and these are the first BlackBerry smartphones that will support BlackBerry Tag.

RIM also announced plans to expose BlackBerry Tag through APIs on the BlackBerry platform, allowing software developers to take advantage of “tap to share” functionality from within their own applications.

* Subject to network operator certifications. Check with your local operator for availability.

Canaccord sees strong global BlackBerry 7 sales in September

Global sales of Research In Motion's latest round of BlackBerry smartphones were solid in September according to checks performed by Canaccord's Mike Walkley. The analyst said in a research note on Monday that initial sales of RIM's new phones such as the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Torch 9810 have been strong, especially among enterprise customers upgrading from older BlackBerry smartphones. ”Our September checks indicated solid global sales of new BlackBerry 7 smartphones, with strong initial enterprise upgrade sales of the Bold at Verizon, strong initial sales of the Bold in certain markets in Europe, and solid sales of the Torch at AT&T with its $49 price,” Walkley wrote, noting that sell-through to consumers has been weak at Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile. Read on for more.

The analyst also stated that demand for entry-level BlackBerry 7 handsets in emerging markets like Latin American and Southeast Asia has weakened due to the onslaught of competitively priced Android smartphones. Looking forward, Walkley does not see RIM as an attractive candidate for a takeover in the near future. ”Given our belief QNX has a low probability of emerging as a viable long-term smartphone ecosystem versus iOS, Android or even Windows, combined with our belief RIM will struggle to grow its subscriber base longer term, we do not believe RIM can sell the company at a large premium to the current valuation,” Walkley noted, reiterating a Hold rating on RIM stock with a price target of $28.

BlackBerry EMEA outage spills over to second day

BlackBerry users across Europe, the Middle East and Africa again find themselves without service on Tuesday as a bug that knocked millions of users offline on Monday has seemingly resurfaced. Research In Motion announced early Tuesday morning that BlackBerry service across the EMEA region had been restored, but the Associated Press later reported that Internet and messaging services for users across the region are again offline. The report was later confirmed by several carriers including T-Mobile UK, Vodafone UK and Etisalat in the United Arab Emirates. The cause of the outage is unclear, however a report on Monday attributed the massive service interruption to a bug on a RIM server in England.

BlackBerry bug knocks millions of users offline in Europe, Middle East and Africa

BlackBerry users in Africa, the Middle East and Europe have been without service since 11:00 a.m. Monday, The Telegraph reports. A bug on Research In Motion's server in Slough, England is to blame and it appears to have impaired all users, independent of carrier or device. RIM has not issued a statement on the matter. “There is an issue with BlackBerry services at present,” a T-Mobile UK representative said on Twitter. “RIM investigating this at present.” Additionally, Batelco, a wireless carrier in Bahrain, issued a statement that confirmed the service was out in the entire country and explained the issue is being “dealt with by BlackBerry providers in Canada.”

Thanks Adam!

BlackBerry outage spreads to US and Canada, continues in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, South America

It's day three of RIM's BlackBerry service outage in much of the world, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil and Chile. But now the problem appears to have spread into Canada - RIM's home turf - and we're even hearing reports of some service issues in the US as well. We've reached out to RIM for comment, but we'd like to hear from you.

BlackBerry outage woes not over yet

Seems like Research In Motion (RIM) is experiencing a roller coaster ride at the moment, taking their users across Europe for the ride as well. We first reported that BlackBerry services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa suffered some downtime, only to have RIM restore it back up within the day – and now there are still outages happening across Europe and the other regions mentioned for a second consecutive day.

Canada-based RIM continued to be on the receiving end of reports of interruptions to various services such as Internet browsing, the ability to roam as well as instant messaging. Pockets of these outages persist in select regions, and according to Everything Everywhere, the UK's biggest mobile operator by revenue, customers continued to experience new problems on Tuesday although they did not mention just which services were affected. As for India carrier Bharti Airtel, Ltd., intermittent outages to services also happened since 6 pm on Tuesday.

All RIM could do was muscle this statement – “Some users in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, India, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina are experiencing messaging and browsing delays. We are working to restore normal service as quickly as possible.”

BlackBerry Torch 9810 and 9860 now available in the UK

Two of the newest BlackBerry smartphones which come with a touchscreen are now finally available to purchase in the UK. The BlackBerry Torch 9810 and Torch 9860 sport very similar names, yet their predecessors couldn't be more different. If the 9810 is, as implied by its model number, the successor to the Torch 9800, even having the same form factor, the Torch 9860 is supposed to follow up the failed Storm series of all-touchscreen BlackBerry devices. We'll have to wait and see if it will manage to outperform its predecessors.

Anyway, regardless of whether you like your BlackBerry to be portrait sliding, or just a big touchscreen, you're in luck. The Torch 9810 is now in stock at both The Smartphone Centre and Clove. The former charges you £474.95 for the handset, shipping included. If you go with the latter, you'll only have to shell out £430.80, although shipping isn't free.

The BlackBerry Torch 9860 can now be yours for £414.95 if you get it from The Smartphone Centre, or £418.80 if you place an order at Clove. Shipping is handled similarly to the Torch 9810.

Android, iOS continue to absorb BlackBerry market share in U.S.

ComScore released its most recent U.S. Mobile Subscriber Report on Wednesday, which suggests that iOS and Android are continuing to absorb share at the expense of RIM's BlackBerry OS in the United States. Android's market share increased 5.6 points to 43.7% during the three month period ending in August. iOS grew 0.7 points to a 27.3% share during the same period. Meanwhile, RIM dropped 5 percentage points to a 19.7% and Microsoft's Windows Phone platform and Symbian both remained relatively flat, losing just 0.1 percentage points and 0.3 percentage points, respectively. Samsung's grip on the overall mobile phone market continued to grow in the U.S. It now has a 25.3% share, up from 24.8% in May, and is followed by LG (21%), Motorola (14%), Apple (9.8%) and RIM (7.1%). 84.5 million U.S. residents now carry a smartphone, up 10% as noted in the comScore's May report. Read on for the full press release.

comScore Reports August 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

comScore Releases Report "iPhone 5: Implications for the Operator Industry"

RESTON, VA, October 5, 2011 - comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending August 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.3 percent market share. Google Android continued to gain ground in the smartphone market reaching 43.7 percent market share.

In light of Apple's new iPhone announcement, comScore has also released a report highlighting the implications of this new device to the mobile operator marketplace. A complimentary copy of the report can be downloaded at the following link: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/iPhone_5_Implications_for_the_Operator_Industry

OEM Market Share

For the three-month average period ending in August, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.5 percentage points from the prior three-month period), followed by LG with 21.0 percent share and Motorola with 14.0 percent share. Apple strengthened its position at #4 with 9.8 percent share of mobile subscribers (up 1.1 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 7.1 percent share.

Smartphone Platform Market Share

84.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in August, up 10 percent from the preceding three month period. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 43.7 percent market share, up 5.6 percentage points from the prior three-month period. Apple strengthened its #2 position, growing 0.7 percentage points to 27.3 percent of the smartphone market. RIM ranked third with 19.7 percent share, followed by Microsoft (5.7 percent) and Symbian (1.8 percent).

Mobile Content Usage

In August, 70 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 1.0 percentage points. Browsers were used by 42.1 percent of subscribers (up 2.3 percentage points), while downloaded applications were used by 41.6 percent (up 3.0 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 2.3 percentage points to 30.9 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 28.5 percent of the mobile audience (up 1.6 percentage points), while 20.7 percent listened to music on their phones (up 2.1 percentage points).

About MobiLens

MobiLens data is derived from an intelligent online survey of a nationally representative sample of mobile subscribers age 13 and above. Data on mobile phone usage refers to a respondent's primary mobile phone and does not include data related to a respondent's secondary device.

BBM caught cheating with Android, CrackBerry epidemic to spread?

RIM's killer BlackBerry feature has always been BBM. So, you'll have to excuse us if we give some side-eye to these leaked shots of the private messaging service two-timing its Canadian maker. The pics over on TechnoBuffalo, supposedly obtained by a RIM employee, show off the BBM for Android app in question running on a crude developer phone. Not much can be glimpsed from the set aside from the application's icon and account interface. It could all be a slick hoax, or maybe the Waterloo-based co. really does plan to release its prized service into greener Android pastures. We'll let you know for sure when we hit up DevCon later this month.

BlackBerry Bold 9900 now available at Orange UK, free from 41 per month

In the UK, so far if you wanted to purchase a BlackBerry Bold 9900 on contract, Vodafone was more or less your only option. So if you didn't favor Big Red or had an ongoing relationship with another operator, there wasn't much you could (inexpensively) do.

That changes today, although it's only good news if you like Orange or it's already your operator of choice. Orange now has the BlackBerry Bold 990 in stock and ready to ship for Pay Monthly customers.

Sprint's LG Marquee, BlackBerry Curve 9350, and Kyocera Duramax now available

Yesterday was a big day for Sprint, as many Sundays are (since the carrier loves to release new handsets on that particular day of the week). Not as big as tomorrow may end up being, but still, three new devices have hit the streets – and Sprint's shelves.

The newly available handsets are the LG Marquee, the BlackBerry Curve 9350, and the Kyocera Duramax. And one of them can already be found heavily discounted at an independent retailer. Read on for more details.

The Kyocera Duramax (seen in the picture above on the left) is a rugged flip phone that comes with support for Sprint's Direct Connect Push-To-Talk service. Suffice to say that its ruggedness is this phone's main feature. Aside from that though, it's also got a 3 MP camera with LED flash and video recording support, a microSD card slot, and a non-slip surface.

Sprint will now give you a Duramax if you part with $69.99 (after a $50 mail-in rebate) and you sign a new two-year contract. If you're interested, here's the link to Sprint's dedicated Web page.

The BlackBerry Curve 9350 (in the center of the picture above) is one of the most affordable devices to come out of RIM, and after being delayed at least once it's finally out at Sprint too. The carrier charges $49.99 (after a $50 mail-in rebate) for the Curve 9350, and again a two-year service agreement is required to get this price. If you want to dive into the BlackBerry world but don't want to spend an arm and a leg, get a 9350 from Sprint now.

The BlackBerry Curve 9350 has a 2.44-inch screen with 480×360 resolution, an 800 MHz processor, 512 MB of built-in storage, a microSD card slot, a 5 MP camera with LED flash and VGA (640×480) video recording, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 1,000 mAh battery.

Finally, Sprint has also made the LG Marquee (seen on the right side of the image above) available for purchase. This is the carrier's very own version of the internationally-launched LG Optimus Black. It's an Android smartphone running Gingerbread, and coming with a 4-inch 480×800 touchscreen, a 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, a 2 MP front-facing camera, a 1 GHz processor, 2 GB of built-in storage, Wi-Fi, GPS, a 3.5 mm headset jack, and it's only 9.2 mm thin.

Images of BBM on Android reportedly surface [updated]

BGR exclusively reported in March that Research In Motion was working to bring its popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) platform to Android smartphones and the iPhone. Now, images that purportedly show a beta version of the chat application running on an Android device have been leaked by TechRadar. Reportedly, the app is set to launch on Android before next year and RIM is already in the final stages of testing the solution. The leak lines up with BGR's original report that RIM would develop an Android client before an iOS version. In addition, BGR reported that RIM will likely limit the features of BBM on iOS and Android in an effort to woo users who want a more robust BBM experience back to a BlackBerry. RIM has plenty of stiff competition in the chat space, however. Applications such as Kik, Skype-owned GroupMe, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger all offer similar features and are available across multiple mobile platforms, and Apple's iMessage service will launch this month with iOS 5. Hit the jump for a second image that provides a better look at the UI.

UPDATE: As pointed out by a tweet from Chris Parsons, it appears as though the image used in the screenshot below was pieced together from a marketing shot posted by RIM in August.

Best Buy Now Offering $200 Discount On BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet!

Grief-struck by the falling market shares and loss in demand of the BlackBerry Playbook tablet, Research in Motion has slashed the price of the BlackBerry Playbook tablet PC further.

The first-ever and the only BlackBerry tablet which was earlier available for $499 is now available for just $299, giving you a flat $200 discount through Best Buy. The Best Buy BlackBerry Playbook tablet is listed at $299 for the 16GB variant.

The moves can also be seen as a consequence of newer devices making their way into the market. Amazon Kindle Fire is a prime example and is certainly the most-affordable tablet at just $199, even though it relatively lacks in terms of hardware.

BlackBerry Playbook was announced earlier this year, and debuted with BlackBerry Tablet OS. It has a 7” capacitive multi-touch display, a 5 megapixel primary camera with LED flash, a 3 megapixel front-facing camera for high-quality video calling, and BlackBerry QNX OS.

The device is driven by a 1GHz dual-core processor which is supplemented by 1GB of RAM. It is capable of recording and playing back high-quality video, games and apps. RIM also announced support for Android apps on BlackBerry PlayBook which requires the Android App Player for BlackBerry.

Other interesting features include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, onboard GPS, BlackBerry services, BlackBerry Bridge feature to connect the tablet with the BlackBerry smartphone, 16GB onboard storage for carrying your media with support for up to 32GB using a microSD card, Adobe Flash support and much more.

Click here to know more about BlackBerry Playbook tablet.

Click here to visit the BlackBerry Playbook Best Buy page.

BlackBerry PlayBook now just $299.99 and up from Best Buy

Following news that multiple retailers across North America have begun to offer deep discounts on Research In Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook, retail giant Best Buy is now offering the best deal yet on RIM's troubled tablet. BGR reported on Monday that retailers such as Staples and Office Depot were offering sale pricing on the PlayBook, and Best Buy Canada was among the shops mentioned. Now, Best Buy here in the U.S. is following suit and knocking $200 off of its PlayBook pricing. Unlike other retailers, however, Best Buy is taking off the full $200 at the point of purchase, rather than offering a $100 discount and a $100 gift card like other retailers, including Best Buy Canada, are doing. The discount means RIM's 16GB PlayBook tablet will cost just $299.99, the 32GB model is $399.99 and the 64GB version is $499.99. A Best Buy spokesperson confirmed to BGR that this is a limited-time sale running from now through October 8th.

BlackBerry announces BBM Generation program for youth

In an attempt to promote collaboration and achievement amongst youth, RIM has announced the launch of BBM Generation. An online hub designed for youth to be part of a community that has access to special promotions and contests. To kickstart the launch of BBM Generation, RIM will be having a contest where BBM Generation users will be able to become protégés of selected young celebrities to complete a series of challenges - to win a trip where the protégés can spend time with their celebrity leader.

The contest will kick off on October 3rd, with celebrities filling to role of leaders according to what they're known for. Whitney Port - Fashion, Greyson Chance - Music, Michelle Trachtenberg - Film, Hope Solo - Sports, Jared Eng - Pop Culture, and Lauren Berger - Entrepreneurship. There's a lot more details to the contest not mentioned here, but those of you who are keen on finding out more or entering it, check out BBM Generation website.

BlackBerry Curve 9360 now available in the UK, free from £20.50 per month, £329.95 SIM-free

A bit more than a month has passed since its official announcement, and RIM's new BlackBerry Curve 9360 is now available in the UK. The Curve 9360 is one of the most affordable BlackBerry smartphones, and comes in that classic BlackBerry form factor. So it should appeal to those who want to become a part of RIM's messaging world but don't want to spend too much money in doing so.

Carphone Warehouse, probably the UK's leading independent mobile retailer, now has the device in stock. You can get it either with a contract on Orange, O2, Vodafone, or T-Mobile, or even SIM-free and unlocked if that's your cup of tea.

If you don't mind signing a new two-year contract with an operator, the cheapest plan that will net you the handset for free is at Orange and will set you back £20.50 per month. For that amount of cash you'll get 100 minutes, unlimited texts, and 500 MB of data. For the same price you can also get 200 minutes, unlimited texts, and just 100 MB of data. It's your choice.

Of course, the above is just the cheapest option, and there are many, many more plans available from all the major operators in the UK. And if you'd rather get the BlackBerry Curve 9360 SIM-free and unlocked, it will cost you £329.95.

So if you're interested, head on over to the Carphone Warehouse and place an order.

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