RIM sells all BlackBerry PlayBook versions for just $299 until February 4

If you're in the US, now may be the time to buy a BlackBerry PlayBook. Especially if you've been craving one of the SKUs with more integrated storage (like 32 or 64 GB). That's because all PlayBook versions can now be bought for just $299 from the BlackBerry online store. So no matter if you go for the one with 16 GB, 32 GB, or 64 GB of built-in storage, the price is the same. That makes the amount of money you save on, say, the 64 GB unit be $400. It's $300 for the 32 GB version, and ‘just' $200 if you go for the 16 GB variant – but why would you? At this price, it's clearly a bad idea to buy anything else than the 64 GB PlayBook. This sale does feel like it's a desperate attempt from RIM to rack up some PlayBook sales. But it may just work, despite the fact that you could find the 16 GB unit even $100 cheaper than this over the past few weeks. After all, what HP's sales for the TouchPad proved was that people will buy cheap tablets, if they're made by a well-known brand.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 coming to Three UK

Three is the latest UK mobile network to confirm that it's going to sell the BlackBerry Bold 9790 (after O2, Vodafone and Orange).

The 9790 has appeared over at Three's coming soon webpage (next to Nokia's Lumia 710), and should become available sometime later this month.

Introduced as a cheaper alternative to the Bold 9900, the Bold 9790 features a 2.4 inch touchscreen display with 480 x 360 pixels, full QWERTY keyboard, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, 1GHz single core processor, 768MB of RAM, 8GB of internal memory, 5MP camera, and BlackBerry OS 7.

If you're in the UK and don't want to get the Bold 9790 on contract, you'll be able to buy it SIM-free, too, reportedly starting January 9, for £399.

Rooted BlackBerry PlayBook tablets now have access to Android apps

Research In Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook tablet became the first BlackBerry device to be rooted this past November, granting users access to the device's file system and allowing a level of customization that BlackBerry users have not had in the past. As RIM enters into the cat and mouse game Apple knows all too well, PlayBook owners willing to root their devices now have access to the Android Market as well as the apps contained within. CrackBerry has published a complete how-to guide that details all of the software and steps required in order to install Google's Android Market on a PlayBook tablet. While an upcoming PlayBook software update will soon bring official Android app support to the tablet, apps will need to be repackaged and made available in BlackBerry App World in order to function in RIM's app player. Using the guide linked below, no such tweaks are necessary from developers, and users can have Android apps running on the PlayBook immediately.

Desperate for Users, RIM Slashes PlayBook Prices — Again

The BlackBerry PlayBook is now available at 60 percent of its original price. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com When in doubt, hold a fire sale. Research in Motion is slashing prices on its BlackBerry PlayBook tablets yet again, dropping the bill to 60 percent of the PlayBook's original asking price. From the first of the year through February 4, PlayBooks ordered directly from RIM's online store front will cost $300 for any version, regardless of storage capacity. If you're able to score a high-capacity version, it's not a bad deal. 64GB PlayBooks sell for $700 retail, while the 32GB versions go for a cool $600. Saving three or four hundred bucks on new hardware with premium specs could prove attractive to bargain hunters. The new promotion represents yet another effort to push PlayBooks into consumer hands. When RIM dropped tablet prices by $300 on Black Friday, demand surged, and third-party retailers like Best Buy and Staples were unprepared for the rush. In fact, the discount tablets were on back-order before the end of the day. This time around, however, the discounted tablets will only be available from RIM directly. Staples and OfficeMax are still sold out of RIM's tablets, while Best Buy's PlayBooks are still priced at $500. So why is RIM holding a fire sale? Conventional wisdom says it's a business move focused on the long haul. In order to create demand for its App World ecosystem, RIM needs to seed the market with hardware. App World currently hosts somewhere between 5,000 to 10,000 BlackBerry PlayBook apps, a tally that pales in comparison to what's offered by mobile giants Apple and Google, whose app numbers are in the hundreds of thousands. On the other hand, RIM is in a financial mess. The company took a near half-billion dollar hit after deeply discounting PlayBooks for the first fire sale, basically selling the 16GB versions at cost, according to estimates. It's tough to determine whether the company is losing money on its most recent sale, or just reducing its margins. To put it lightly, RIM has had a rough year. After the rocky launch of the PlayBook, stock prices plummeted to nearly a quarter of what they were in 2010. Promises of critical software updates for the tablet went unfulfilled. Rioters in London used RIM's BlackBerry Messenger product as a key tool in organized looting. And, recently, a report suggested that RIM co-CEOs Mike Laziridis and Jim Balsillie could be stripped of their other executive title as chairmen of the company board. Needless to say, the ailing company is desperately in need of a jumpstart. If RIM can get enough devices in the hands of consumers to produce a demand for software, developers could be convinced to start creating apps for the platform. It's a longshot, but what other choice does RIM have?

BlackBerry Torch 10000 apparently in the making, may be headed to AT&T

RIM is apparently looking to take ridiculous smartphone names to a whole new level. And while it won't be the sort of ridiculousness best embodied by the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch (just try saying that out loud ten times in a row), that doesn't make this any less ridiculous. RIM has so far been famous for its name+four digit number model for naming devices. The name (sort of) signifies the class of device, and the digits are the actual model denomination. Fair enough, though quite convoluted for my taste. But now RIM's running out of digits – see, four isn't enough anymore, as the company has already reached the 9900s. What do do next? Well, obviously, add another digit. Hence, the BlackBerry Torch 10000. Don't laugh, for this may become an actual product in 2012. At this point I'm hoping RIM simply won't be around long enough to launch the BlackBerry Whatever 143580. Anyway, the new name comes courtesy of Asurion, which is a company dealing with phone insurance. The Torch 10000 was spotted in a list of current and past AT&T smartphones ripe for being insured. So whenever it launches, the Torch 10000 may make it to AT&T. Because it has such a round model number, you can probably expect the Torch 10000 to be some kind of a flagship device, perhaps sporting a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and 8 MP camera, all in a very thin shell. Since the Torch line now comprises both touch-only as well as touch+sliding QWERTY units, it's unclear what form factor the 10000 will have. But it will almost certainly run BlackBerry OS 10, which will be the next major version of the OS (based on QNX, which is currently powering RIM's PlayBook tablet). As for when you'll be able to buy the BlackBerry 10000, the third quarter of next year seems most likely at the moment. So there's still a hefty amount of waiting to do if for some reason you crave that extra digit.

Spotify for BlackBerry now available… with a catch

Spotify announced on Wednesday that its BlackBerry client is now out of beta and officially available for download. Spotify is a free ad-supported desktop music service that allows its users to listen to any song they want, provided it has been licensed by Spotify. Users who want to take advantage of the service's mobile features, which include offline caching and access to the full Spotify library, must pay a $10 monthly subscription fee. We're fans of Spotify here at BGR so we highly recommend BlackBerry users give it a try. The download is free (remember, you'll need a monthly plan to use it, though) and accessible from the BlackBerry App World now. The catch? You'll need to own one of five BlackBerry models (BlackBerry Bold 9780, Bold 9700, Curve 9300, Bold 9000 or Curve 8520) in order to use the app, which means it looks like CDMA users are being left out in the cold for now.

$199 BlackBerry PlayBook FireSale Returns, Buy Yourself One Until Supplies Last!

A few weeks ago, RIM announced a similar sale where the 16GB Playbook was selling for just $199, 32GB for just $249 and 64GB for just $399 ($300 less than the regular price for each model!). And it quickly sold out on almost every good place we've known on the web.

But, Best Buy and Staples are offering the BlackBook at the aforementioned prices again, and they will be available for purchase "while supplies last". So, what are you waiting for? Head past the break to get yourself one. Now.

As a refresher, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet features a 7" high-resolution multi-touch display, dual HD cameras including a 5 megapixel camera for still shots and video recording and a front-facing 3 megapixel camera for video calling.

In an effort to make some money from the tablet, which despite of its amazing hardware, didn't quite live up to the expectations, RIM has announced quite a few BlackBerry PlayBook offers and deals in the recent past. This, however, is seemingly one of the last before we break into the new year.

Click here to know more about the BlackBerry PlayBook specs and features.

Click one of the following links to avail these BlackBerry PlayBook offers:

• BlackBerry PlayBook at Best Buy
• BlackBerry PlayBook at Staples

RIM responds to claim of BlackBerry 10 software problems

RIM has responded to an exclusive BGR report published on Thursday in which our source claimed BlackBerry 10 was delayed not because the vendor was waiting for a new LTE chip, but because RIM's developers have not yet been able to resolve many of the issues plaguing the new OS. "RIM made a strategic decision to launch BlackBerry 10 devices with a new, LTE-based dual core chip set architecture," RIM told AllThingsD. "As explained on our earnings call, the broad engineering impact of this decision and certain other factors significantly influenced the anticipated timing for the BlackBerry 10 devices. The anonymous claim suggesting otherwise is inaccurate and uninformed. As RIM has previously explained, and as Mike Lazaridis reiterated on the earnings call, we will not launch BlackBerry 10 devices until we know they are ready and we believe this new chip set architecture is required to deliver the world class user experience that our customers will expect. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply false." Contrary to RIM's statement, our source indicated that the company has not yet been able to get core features like email and BlackBerry Messenger working as desired on BlackBerry 10 smartphones, and that it is “pushing this out as long as they can for one reason, they don't have a working product yet.”

Angry Birds For BlackBerry PlayBook Released, All Three Versions Available For Download!

Almost everyone with an Android or an iOS device have this game installed, and we must tell you, it's just as fun always. Anyway, the BlackBerry PlayBook Angry Birds game is available in all the three versions.

These include the original Angry Birds game, the Angry Birds Seasons game with the mighty eagle and the Angry Birds Rio game which has about 135 exciting levels. Head past the break to download Angry Birds for BlackBerry PlayBook and for more details.

It is worth noting that each of these versions is priced at $4.99 and feature different number of levels with exciting game levels and different story lines.

• Angry Birds
• Angry Birds Seasons
• Angry Birds Rio

BlackBerry 10 could be ‘too little, too late'

Research In Motion confirmed part of an exclusive BGR report Thursday night when its co-CEOs announced during an earnings call that its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone would not launch until the “latter part of 2012.” Despite RIM's earlier statement that a QNX-powered smartphone would launch in the first half next year, we reported in November that RIM's first next-generation smartphone would not launch until the third quarter. RIM co-Chief Mike Lazaridis blamed the delay on new dual-core processors that were not yet ready to be manufactured in bulk, but the fact remains that by the time RIM's first QNX-based smartphone launches it will be competing against Apple's sixth-generation iPhone, a horde of new Android phones with next-generation features and specs, a variety of Windows Phones from Nokia, and more. According to one analyst, BlackBerry 10 may be “too little, too late.” Read on for more.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky went out on a limb and continued to see a potential upside for RIM long after other analysts were jumping ship. It now appears as though the Waterloo, Ontario-based vendor failed to capitalize on what little opportunity Abramsky had identified. The analyst recently began dropping his price target on RIM stock and on Friday, he cut it further to $16 from $20, troubled by RIM's weak fourth-quarter guidance and the BlackBerry 10 delays.

“BlackBerry 10 is now pushed out to 2H/CY12 (from 1H/CY12), making RIM significantly late to the high-end smartphone market, risking further share losses and competitive developer momentum,” Abramsky wrote in a note to clients on Friday. He continued, “As visibility continues to decline with BB10 delayed, we see few catalysts over the next six months (valuation volatility may occur on newsflow) and recommend investors remain on the sidelines.”

RBC lowered its estimates for fiscal 2012 to $18.9 billion in revenue with earnings of $4.55 per share, down from earlier estimates of $19.3 billion and $4.40. Abramsky cut fiscal 2013 estimates as well in light of BlackBerry 10 launch delays; he now sees revenue totaling $18.1 billion and EPS coming in at $3.00, down from $20.0 billion and earnings of $4.30 per share.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 shows up at Orange UK

Already confirmed for Vodafone and O2, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 will be also released by Orange in the UK.

The new smartphone is currently listed as "coming soon" over at Orange's website. There's no mention on when exactly the network will launch it, but it's probably going to happen in January (when O2 and Vodafone will release the handset, too).

Running BlackBerry 7 OS, the 9790 features a full QWERTY keyboard, 2.4 inch touchscreen display with 480 x 360 pixels, NFC, Wi-Fi, HSDPA, GPS, 5MP camera, 768MB of RAM, 1GHz single core processor, and 8GB of internal memory.

RIM tells Blackberry owners how to remove Carrier IQ's software

The whole situation with Carrier IQ has gotten carriers and handset manufacturers denying the software's existence left and right. RIM has also been denying that they install Carrier IQ's software on their phones but admitted that carriers could have installed the software after receiving phone shipments from RIM, but the good news is that RIM is now teaching Blackberry owners how to remove the software from their phones if they chose to.

Luckily for Blackberry owners, the process of removal of Carrier IQ's software on Blackberry devices appears rather straightforward, similar to that of removing your run of the mill third party applications. If you'd like a breakdown on Carrier IQ and what it actually does before removing it, head on down to MobileBurn, but if you've already made up your mind regardless what Carrier IQ's explanation is, you will be able to find removal instructions from RIM's website.

RIM delays Blackberry 10 devices until “latter part” of 2012

 

RIM seems to be betting the bank on their new Blackberry 10 platform and its accompanying selection of Blackberry 10 smartphones and tablets as a way of regaining some of their former glory. However it looks like it will only be the later part of 2012 when we can start seeing what RIM has up their sleeves.

According to company executives during RIM's earnings conference call on Thursday, it was revealed that the company's first Blackberry 10 smartphone will only be arriving in the "latter part" of 2012. The reason behind this delay is because RIM was looking to launch their Blackberry 10 series of smartphones and tablets with dual-core processors and 4G LTE connectivity.

However the chip that RIM planned to use will not be available until the middle of next year at the very earliest, hence the delay. This chip is apparently a "highly-integrated" chip with low power consumption that many have come to expect from Blackberry devices. What do you guys think? Is RIM taking a huge risk here by banking on how wonderful their Blackberry 10 devices will be that they're willing to cede market share to their competition for the first half of 2012?

So far we've only seen alleged leaked photos of RIM's Blackberry 10 devices, the Blackberry London and the Blackberry Milan. From a design standpoint they look pretty good, but as to how well they will handle and perform remains a mystery for now.

SIM free BlackBerry Bold 9790 to be out on January 9 in the UK

Already available in Canada and India, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 will be out in the UK soon, too. We've previously reported that the 9790 would be released by O2 UK sometime in January, and now we have a more exact release date for the new smartphone: January 9.

Retailer MobileFun says it will start selling the new Bold on that day. Unlike O2, MobileFun will offer the handset SIM free (it will cost you £399.95; that's about €472 or $624 - rather expensive I'd say).

The Bold 9790 runs BlackBerry OS 7, and features a 2.4 inch touchscreen display with 360 x 480 pixels, QWERTY keyboard, NFC, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS, 3.5mm headset jack, 1GHz single-core processor, 768MB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage space, and a 5MP rear camera.

BlackBerry OS 7.1 leaked

While everyone who still uses the BlackBerry platform are waiting for BlackBerry 10 (no longer called BBX as RIM does not have the right to use that moniker), here is some respite in between – a leaked copy of BlackBerry OS 7.1, where it does pave the way towards native mobile hotspot support. This particular 3G sharing feature that has been a staple on just about any and every Android-powered device does look as though it will finally see integration at the OS level.

The leaked BlackBerry OS 7.1 was caught running on the Torch 9810 platform, and there is also a good chance that this feature will be included in the BlackBerry 10 OS when that is finally released to the masses. Makes sense after all, doesn't it? Bear in mind that this installer is still an unofficial version that was put together, where it will update the 7.0.0.540 ROM with features found in 7.1, so you might want to make a backup before proceeding (with extreme caution).