RIM, Research In Motion, has lost quite a bit of market share over the last few years to Android and the iPhone. The company had it’s Co-CEO’s step down recently and there’s talks of some other changes to help them get back to where they were.

Well, it seems one of those changes is a new marketing campaign. Instead of sticking to something traditional, they decided to go the completely opposite: Cartoon superheroes. Dubbed “The Bold Team”, they’re four superheroes who do, well, we’re not exactly sure at this point.

This is part of CEO Thorsten Heins’ plan to keep the BlackBerry line of smartphones afloat while they wait for the BlackBerry 10 smartphones to arrive.

Via PCMag:

“Oh, right, no – it’s “The Bold Team,” an almost comically uncool smoothie of computer-analyzed audience data blended down into four poorly drawn characters. Never mind – this makes the Computer Whiz Kids look hip.”

“For those of you under the age of 30, by the way, the TRS-80 Computer Whiz Kids was a line of promotional comics released free by Radio Shack stores that featured two kids solving crimes with their TRS-80 PCs.”

You can check out RIM’s infographic about them here.

“Marketing isn’t the company’s main problem, of course. The products are. North American users have very little love for the messaging-focused BlackBerry 7, which looks like a laggard in a smartphone market that’s now all about apps and the Web. Heins knows that, I think. Although he’s careful not to deride the company’s existing product line, he’s made it clear that getting new phones out on time, bug-free and with the features people demand will be a priority.”

Do you think RIM has a good or bad campaign here?

RIM Tries To Make A Comeback With Cartoon Superheroes is a post from: The Inquisitr

A recently leaked memo reveals that American and Canadian based company’s Apple, Research in Motion and Nokia may have helped the government of India spy on U.S. agencies in order to receive larger shares of the overall Indian cell phone market.

Originally reported by Indian blogger Manan Kakkar for ZDNet the report says officials in the country were given backdoor access to mobile device data. While the company’s have not reacted to the claim it was also confirmed by cybersecurity researcher Christopher Soghoian.

While the leaked information was likely used for a variety of reasons one such example surfaced in which the Indian government allegedly used those backdoors to steal emails from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a group who’s main focus is the monitoring and investigating of national security implications within the US-China economic relationship.

According to reports Indian governmental officials were most interested in Chinese cybersecurity threats. Kakkar believes that information obtained through backdoor programs may have in fact given them the information they needed for an earlier hack of Symantec by Indian hacker collective the Lords of Dharamraja.

ComputerWorld goes on to reveal even more inform about the potential hacks and reasoning behind Apple, RIM and Nokia’s decision to move forward with backdoor device access.

Here’s a partial screen grab of the leaked document:

In the meantime representatives from all three tech company’s have denied their involvement in any type of backdoor access program for their mobile devices.

Do you think it is wrong for North American company’s to give backdoor access for mobile data to other countries in exchange for a larger market share in those regions?

Apple, RIM and Nokia Allegedly Helping India Spy On United States is a post from: The Inquisitr

Research in Motion on Monday took a drastic step when the company cut the price of its 64GB BlackBerry PlayBook to just $300.

We’re assuming this is a “while supplies last” type of deal given the sharp decline in pricing and if supplies don’t run out RIM plans to keep the sale going until February 4.

With the price decrease users can now purchase any of the company’s tablets for $300 or less, including the $199 16GB model.

For its part Research in Motion has been slashing prices since October, likely in an effort to make way for PlayBook 2.0 sales which are set to begin in February 2012. With the PlayBook 2.0 users will finally have access to native Blackberry e-mail, an option sorely missing on the original Blackberry PlayBook.

In the meantime the team over at Crackberry on Monday posted a PlayBook hack that allows the Android Market to run in Android Player, a trick that requires DingleBerry root and tools installed for both the PlayBook and in a Windows OS which are used to remotely control and load content.

According to Electronista:

CyanogenMod rounds out the tricks and lets the Android shell run more than the barebones content RIM normally has.

I am personally waiting to see what type of advances the PlayBook 2.0 can make over the first generation of the device before the idea of owning another RIM device in my life even begins to cross my mind.

Do you plan on picking up the modestly priced Blackberry PlayBook or perhaps even hacking your current device for use with Android?

Blackberry PlayBook Tablet Gets Price Cut, Now Just $300 Each is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you were holding out on picking up a new BlackBerry until the BlackBerry 10 line of phones are released, you may want to change your mind – or be prepared to wait somewhere in the range of a full year.

During a conference call held earlier today, RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis explained that a “highly integrated chipset” to be used in BlackBerry 10 phones would not be available until mid-2012 at the earliest, and so the company was forced to delay the phones until late next year.

“We decided we wanted to get a high-efficiency, low-power integrated chipset,” Lazaridis said (via PC Magazine). “We wanted the performance and battery-life expectations that consumers expected on BlackBerry products on LTE.”

While the delay may have been out of RIM’s hands, it’s still a significant setback for the once-thriving manufacturer. BlackBerry 10, which was supposed to launch much earlier in 2012, was supposed to be RIM’s way out of the hole they’ve found themselves in.

According to the latest NPD data, RIM has found success selling their products overseas this year, but overall market share of smartphones in the U.S. is at 10 percent, down significantly from the 44 percent market share it enjoyed back in 2009.

“We ask for your patience and confidence and hope to report further progress in the coming quarters,” Lazaridis said of the delay.

via PC Magazine

BlackBerry 10 smartphones delayed until late next year is a post from: The Inquisitr

Research in Motion just can’t seem to get anything right lately. They’ve been struggling with declining performance of their BlackBerry lineup and, in an attempt to address that, the company planned to launch a new OS dubbed “BBX”. As it happens, they may have forgotten to make sure “BBX” wasn’t already trademarked – because it was.

BASIS International sued the company and the two have been engaging in legal battles ever since, and now it looks like RIM has lost the battle. News got out on Tuesday that a US federal court ruled in favor of BASIS International’s existing trademark, meaning that RIM will have to rename their upcoming OS – and so they have!

The company announced at the BlackBerry DevCon Asia event on Tuesday that the new name for their new OS is “BlackBerry 10″. Despite letting the public know what the (probably) final name of the platform will be, RIM still hasn’t said just when, or in what devices, the new OS will launch.

At this point, the only thing known about the BlackBerry 10 platform is that it boasts the same resolution, 1024 x 600, for both BlackBerry 10 tablets and phones. Additionally, apps developed for the tablet will also work on BlackBerry 10 phones.

Source: BlackBerryDev Twitter (via CrackBerry)

[Image credit: Oliver Lang/AP Photo]

RIM forced to change name of upcoming OS to BlackBerry 10 is a post from: The Inquisitr

The last thing Research in Motion needs at the moment is more bad press for their faltering Blackberry Smartphone line of devices but that’s exactly what the received this week when two executives from the company became so inebriated during a flight from Toronto to Beijing on Monday night that the aircraft had to be turned around.

According to Gawker the plane was just north of Alaska when the flight crew says George Campbell, 45, and Paul Alexander Wilson, 38 wouldn’t listen to orders issued by the crew.

One Air Canadian official told the Toronto Star:

“[both men] simply weren’t listening to any direction that the flight crew was giving them.”

After appearing in court the two men were granted suspended sentences and were placed one year’s probation. The men have also been ordered to pay Air Canada $35,878 each.

Adding insult to injury both men will have a hard time paying that fee as they have been suspended from their jobs and they can not fly during their one-year probationary period.

Also suffering because of their actions were passengers since the plane was originally a direct 13-hour flight, however after turning around a new flight crew was required for the flight under safety regulations which caused the plane to arrive at it’s final destination 18 hours late.

Do you think a one-year suspension from flying and their large fine was enough punishment based on their drunken actions or should the two men have been placed on the no-fly list?

[Image via TOSP Photo / Shutterstock.com]

Drunk Blackberry Executives Cause Fight To Be Grounded is a post from: The Inquisitr

Dropping as low as $18.37 during the day, RIM stock price closed at $18.91 Wednesday, which is just under the book value per share of $18.92 at the end of last quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“The market, at book value, seems to be saying not only is RIM going to not get bigger in the future, but it’s actually going to shrink,” Richard Fogler, of Kingwest & Co. in Toronto, told Bloomberg. He sold his RIM shares in the third quarter. “Everyone’s frightened of what’s going to keep happening tomorrow.”

According to a report by Canalys, RIM’s share of the U.S. market was 9% in the third quarter compared with 24% a year earlier, marking a 58% decline.

“RIM’s market share has fallen below 10 percent for the first time, and the current outlook for it in the U.S. is certainly bleak,” said Tim Shepherd, senior analyst at Canalys.

Globally, the report placed RIM in fifth place among competitors, with 10% market share, compared with 15% a year earlier. It was the latest in a string of data points tracing RIM’s dwindling global market share.

RIM’s humiliating stock performance over the past year – a 66% decline on the year (seen in the chart below) – is evidence that investors have little faith in the company’s turnaround plan, which hinge on the introduction of the new BBX operating system next year. RIM’s image was also severely damaged by a worldwide 3-day outage in October this year.

 ”There’s no disputing that RIM are in a really difficult place at the moment,” said Pete Cunningham, another analyst at Canalys.

via Bloomberg
Image:Shutterstock

RIM Stock Drops Below Book Value on BB Market Share Slump is a post from: The Inquisitr

From October 19th through December 31st Blackberry users will be able to download the free apps – valued at more than $100 – which include:

• SIMS 3 – Electronic Arts
• Bejeweled – Electronic Arts
• N.O.V.A. – Gameloft
• Texas Hold’em Poker 2 – Gameloft
• Bubble Bash 2 – Gameloft
• Photo Editor Ultimate – Ice Cold Apps
• DriveSafe.ly Pro – iSpeech.org
• iSpeech Translator Pro – iSpeech.org
• Drive Safe.ly Enterprise – iSpeech.org
• Nobex Radio™ Premium – Nobex
• Shazam Encore – Shazam
• Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant – Vlingo

“We truly appreciate and value our relationship with our customers,” said RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. “We’ve worked hard to earn their trust over the past 12 years, and we’re committed to providing the high standard of reliability they expect, today and in the future.”

In addition to the the free app bundle, RIM is also offering its corporate customers a free one-month extension of their tech support contract. Customer without existing support plans will receive a free one-month trial of Blackberry’s enhanced support services.

“We are grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers for their patience,” Lazaridis added. “We have apologized to our customers and we will work tirelessly to restore their confidence. We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again.”

For additional information on the free apps bundle Blackberry is offering, head over to the company’s official Facebook page.

via IBTimes

RIM Offers Free Apps, Tech Support in Wake of Outages is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s two days too late but at least Blackberry maker Research in Motion is no longer keeping customers in the dark about their recent network outage.

Speaking with Pocket-lint the company says the outage was triggered by a “core switch failure” and while a backup was available that switch didn’t work properly which triggers a “large backlog” while e-mail and other messages were arriving but couldn’t be processed.

According to Research in Motion officials they are currently working to sort through the backlog as “quickly as possible” although they still don’t have an estimated time for when the outage will be officially resolved.

RIM did not address how the system came back online and was then shut down again shortly afterwards.

While network outages have occurred in the past it’s rare that they last such a longer period of time.

The network outage couldn’t have come at a worst time for RIM as their revenues continue to shrink while the iPhone 4S is getting set to arrive.

As Electronista points out:

By its nature, the BlackBerry ties many basic services like e-mail, messaging, and others to monolithic servers. If RIM encounters a failure, it often reduces users to just basic features. Android and iPhone work more directly and can still be almost fully functional even if they lose a key service.

It’s time like these that make me happy I use an iPhone 4. Are you pissed off about the Blackberry outage?

Research In Motion Finally Addresses Outage Issue is a post from: The Inquisitr

Research in Motion, makers of the Blackberry line of devices will unveil Blackberry App World Version 3.0 on Monday, bringing with it some much needed feature improvements.

The App World’s new interface includes a better layout to make finding apps, games and themes much faster, while the company has also added “My World” a storage folder that places all of a users downloads on the home screen, while allowing them to be wirelessly reinstalled should they accidentally be deleted or if a user buys a new device.

BB Music was also rumored for the version 3.0 however Reuters has reported that RIM is waiting until at least early September to announce that feature officially.

Are you excited to have a new Blackberry App World for your device? At this point RIM needs to be doing everything they can to compete with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android mobile operating systems.

Blackberry App World Version 3.0 Launching On Monday is a post from: The Inquisitr

AT&T Wireless on Monday announced that the Blackberry Torch 9810 with 4G capabilities will officially launch in August. The wireless carrier has given the Research In Motion (RIM) device an official launch date of August 21.

On that date Blackberry fans will be able to pick up the device which features a QWERTY keypad with HSPA+ 4G capabilities, an upgrade from the Torch 9800 which only offers 3G speeds.

The Torch 9810 also comes equipped with a snappy 1.2GHz processor and a 3.2-inch touchscreen display, while users also receive a rather low (by mid-to-high end devices) 8GB  onboard memory, while a microSDHC capable card slot allows users to upgrade their memory to 32GB.

Also featured on the device is the BlackBerry 7 OS which helps power the Smartphones 5 megapixel camera with 720p HD video capabilities.

While not the most powerful Smartphone currently available on the market, AT&T is offering the device for a very low $49.99 when customers sign a two-year-contract with data capabilities.

Are you willing to spend $49.99 for a new Blackberry Torch 8910 Smartphone? I think I’ll stick with my iPhone 4 until Blackberry’s OS gives me some real reasons to switch providers.

Blackberry Torch 9810 Gets AT&T Pricing and Release Date is a post from: The Inquisitr

Research In Motion, manufacturers of the Blackberry phones and tablet line of devices has announced the firing of 2,000 employees, approximately 11% of the company’s overall workforce.

The company has also announced that they will reorganize their executives in order to better compete with Apple (iOS) and Google (Android) based mobile devices.

The company cut their work force to approximately 17,000 employees after their quarterly revenue fell by 12%, however the company says it’s not that revenue fall but rather due to overestimating how many workers they would need to keep the company profitable during their last productivity boom.

In a RIM statement executives said:

“[The layoffs are] believed to be a prudent and necessary step for the long-term success of the company and… [follow] an extended period of rapid growth within the company whereby the workforce had nearly quadrupled in the last five years alone.”

At this time Research in Motion has done very little to lay out a detailed plan of their actions for investors. The company has recently jumped from the Blackberry line of devices to the Playbook Tablet and now they are rumored to be working on a competing TV box which would play off the Apple TV setup. While the company continues to expand their product lines many users still find their Mobile OS and device designs to be stuck in the mid 2000′s, making them a less desirable smartphone for many users. Throw in the fact that Google and Apple have begun offering more robust email options for their devices and the line between business and consumer devices has become thin at best, causing sales slips for Blackberry devices.

Blackberry Maker ‘Research in Motion’ Fires 2,000 Employees is a post from: The Inquisitr

Research In Motion, makers of the Blackberry line of devices is rumored to be preparing a new social music platform called BBM Music.

According to tipsters at Blackberrysync the BBM Music platform is a service that will allow BlackBerry users to share music and their full playlists with their friends, although how the program will work is still not known, although it is expected to be heavily integrated with BlackBerry Messenger which is where the “BBM” name is believed to derive.

News of the new offering comes the same week as reports that Blackberry will launch an Apple TV competitor that is also expected to offer top notch enterprise connectivity support.

If this new rumor is true and a Blackberry TV product arrives in 2011 it could signal a new focus for the company which would add more “consumer friendly” products to their line of enterprise devices and email software.

Would you be willing to give BBM Music a try? With millions of BBM users it could be a big hit for the company if they integrate it in a way that users find appealing.

RIM Preparing To Launch BBM Music Platform [Rumor] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The FCC on Monday became the temporary home of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 when manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM) submitted their newest Smartphone offering for approval consideration. The company has asked the FCC to test their devices short-range wireless capabilities including Bluetooth, NFC and Wi-Fi. In terms of additional connectivity the 9900 also offers GSM connectivity with HSPA+ capabilities.

The phone is RIM’s attempt at making their devices relevant again and bring with it a 1.2GHz processor and 2.8-inch display that outputs at 640×480 pixels of resolution that’s wrapped into a touchscreen which is said to be more responsive thanks to a BlackBerry 7 upgrade that fixes interface issues found on past RIM devices. Users will even discover OpenGL 3D gaming and faster internet browsing.

Along with the FCC filing it has been revealed that RIM is hoping to ship the Bold 9900 by August or September. Either release date would be in-line with RIM’s oddly short request that the FCC agree to a 45-day confidentiality on common details.

With GSM and HSPA+ set for the Smartphones initial release AT&T Wireless would appear to be the best American candidate for the device.

In the meantime here’s an FCC diagram for the device:

Are you excited to get your hands on the Blackberry Bold 9900?

[via WirelessGoodness]

BlackBerry Bold 9900 Arrives At FCC Doorsteps, Could Reach Stores By August is a post from: The Inquisitr

Research In Motion (RIM), makers of the Blackberry line of devices is rumored to be creating a media box to rival Apple TV. According to the rumor the device would be a mixture of a basic BlackBerry Presenter and a media hub along the lines of the Apple device.

It’s also rumored that the box will feature the same hardware as a mobile device, specially the same type of processor, while operating on a QNX-based OS, the same one used in the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Electronista reports that the device will more than likely not be a home-based device, but instead bring third-party media services to the game, much like the Apple AirPlay.

With the OS already supporting WiFi file sharing the system could already be on it’s way to quick integration, allowing business presentations and other office based programs to be synced up and shared more quickly, while giving the company an “in” to the TV arena.

The device could ship by late 2011, however it is not currently listed on any RIM roadmaps.

RIM TV? Blackberry Maker Rumored To Be Developing Apple TV Rival is a post from: The Inquisitr

Research in Motion, the company behind various Blackberry gadgets has announced 500,000 units of their Blackberry Playbooks were sold in Q1, the company also claims $4.9 billion in revenue with $695 million in profit ($1.33 per share).

RIM officials also announced that 13.2 million units shipped in general, a number that spans all of mobile device lines, although exact sales figures have not been released.

While the number of units moved met analyst expectations, overall sales figures and profits for the company failed to meet expectations from investors and the company says that Q2 is also expected to witness slower than forecasted numbers which will force the company to layoff part of their employee base.

Along with the company’s lower than expected earnings RIM announced today that Dan Morrison, one of the company’s three chief operating officers is taking a medical leave of absence for undisclosed reasons. Meanwhile some shareholders are demanding that the roles of CEO and Chairman be divided into two separate roles with an outsider being placed in the Chairman role.

RIM Ships 500,000 Blackberry Playbooks in Q1, Announces Earnings is a post from: The Inquisitr

In an attempt to steal customers away from Research In Motion’s Blackberry devices Apple on Monday announced iMessage, a mobile phone instant messenger meant to lure Blackberry Messenger users to the company’s iOS platform.  Much like it’s competitor the company plans to offer SMS-free messaging, deliver and sending receipts, group messaging capabilities and live typing notifications.

The company is also promising 3G and Wi-Fi use which is not available to Blackberry Messenger users. Users will also be able to push locations with photos, videos and contacts.

The official iMessage program is expected to be unveiled for iOS 5 when it releases in Fall 2011.

RIM at this time is not commenting on Apple’s proposed iMessage system.

Apple Reveals iMessage, Targets Blackberry Messenger Users is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Blackberry PlayBook is barely out the door and the Playbook 4G version hasn’t launched yet however that hasn’t stopped leaked details about the Playbook 2 from surfacing with rumors of a 10-inch display.

According to N4BB the Playbook 2 will come in black and white color options and will offer a thinner design with SIM car slot connectivity and options for WiFi or 4G. The device is also expected to carry BES without the need for a BlackBerry Bridge, a headache for first adopters of the original PlayBook system.

More support is also expected to be added for native Blackberry Apps, calendar support and other software upgrades that were not made available for the original PlayBook setup.

[via N4BB]

Blackberry PlayBook 2 Details Leaked Ahead Of PlayBook 4G Option is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Blackberry Playbook has received plenty of press since it was first announced but that press has not created the type of sales figures maker Research In Motion would have hoped to grab. Scott Sutherland of Wedbush Securities in a research note estimates that the company will move just 450,000 units by the time their Spring quarter ends at the end of May. With that figure Sutherland also expects the company to move 2.3 million PlayBooks by the end of the organizations fiscal year in February 2012.

Along with that prediction his research points to several reasons for the lack of sales including the need to use BlackBerry Bridge to get e-mail and the lack of “carrier support” which has left customers hesitant to pick up the PlayBook. Even after a decent time in wide release AT&T is still working on support while Verizon hasn’t signed onto the device at this time.

If those numbers are correct it could mean that the PlayBook could eclipse the Motorola Xoom which sold 250,000 Xooms in the first month of sales, but still places sales figures lower than hoped for.

The number of sales is hard to predict as Electronista points out:

Analyst checks are difficult to gauge and are only sometimes precise, but they can give an indication of early reactions from the public and confidence in the company’s direction. Officially, RIM has rejected talk of low sales but has declined to quantify data until its quarterly results on June 16.

It will be interesting to see how sales may pick up if Blackberry can get their Playbook to work with their regular email support while gaining carrier acceptance of the device.

Blackberry Playbook To Sell Only 450,000 Units In Spring Quarter [Report] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Blackberry Bold Touch 9930 and Touch 9850 models haven’t been announced yet but that didn’t stop someone from posting videos of the phones to YouTube on Tuesday.

The Smartphones, which apparently violated YouTube’s terms of service were quickly yanked, more than likely at the request of device manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM).

With the devices being pulled so quickly it’s believed they may make an appearance at BlackBerry World in May and could release to market shortly after that time.

Both device have been rumored for months with the video revealing several unknown features, including a large QWERTY keyboard on the Bold Touch with a touchscreen on top, while the Blackberry Touch will feature a full touch screen based device.

Blackberry Bold Touch 9930, 9850 Models Show Up On YouTube, Get Pulled is a post from: The Inquisitr