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

RIM, the maker of BlackBerry smartphones and devices, had two of its co-CEOs and co-Chairmans step down today, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. Over the last couple of years, the company has been going through some difficult times.

While their phones continue to sell, the likes of Android and iPhone have rose to the top and are commanding the bulk of the smartphone market, while they’ve been pushed further and further to the bottom.

Currently, BlackBerry is just a few percentage points higher than Windows Phone which, according to Nokia and Microsoft, they look to have a very strong year with new phones and may just be able to catch up or surpass.

Via ABC:

“RIM’s U.S. market share of smartphones declined from 44 percent in 2009 to 10 percent in 2011, according to market researcher NPD Group. The company still has 75 million active subscribers, but many analysts believe the company will lose market share internationally as it has in the U.S.”

“Thorsten Heins, a little known chief operating officer who joined RIM four years ago from Siemens AG, replaces RIM’s founders after the company has lost tens of billions in market value. Balsillie acknowledged in December that the last few quarters have been among the most challenging times the company has seen.”

Despite all of that, Heins says that he doesn’t think significant change is needed. Quite surprising to hear from a company that has been on the decline for quite some time. It’s either wake up and smell the coffee, or wake up and it’s too late.

Do you think RIM has a chance of making a comeback?

RIM Co-CEOs Step Down, Not A Seismic Event Says CEO is a post from: The Inquisitr

UPDATE: Samsung came out and said that they never considered acquiring RIM nor had any interest.

While Android and iPhone continue to do incredibly well, RIM has had some issues with growing their BlackBerry line of smartphones. A new report surfaced that Samsung may be interesting in acquiring the company. This announcement led to stock jumping nearly 10 percent.

Via Washington Post:

“An acquisition of RIM, whose stock fell 75 percent last year amid market-share losses, would give Samsung an operating system that would help it differentiate from competition as it seeks to stay ahead of Apple Inc. Samsung now makes phones based on Google Inc.’s Android software and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone, operating systems also used by rivals such as HTC Corp.”

As with any report, it’s not 100% fact and the sources, well, they weren’t identified by Boy Genius Report, the tech blog that originally announced the possible acquisition. The possibility is there and would be interesting to see what Samsung would do with the BlackBerry OS and line of smartphones and more recently, the PlayBook tablet.

RIM needs to make something happen this year as they’ve continued to decline. This acquisition could help with that, that is of course if they’re even willing to sell. If it doesn’t go down, that means they could potentially license out their OS and technology to Samsung.

“The company’s share of U.S. mobile-phone subscribers in the three months through November dropped to 6.5 percent from 7.1 percent in the previous quarter, according to research firm ComScore Inc. Samsung, based in Suwon, South Korea, increased to 25.6 percent from 25.3 percent, and Apple gained 1.4 percentage point to 11.2 percent.”

Do you own a BlackBerry and if not, would you consider buying one?

Samsung May Acquire RIM, Maker Of BlackBerry Says Report 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

RIM (Research In Motion), the company behind BlackBerry, is rolling out the latest version of it’s operating system, 7.1, for BlackBerry smartphones. RIM has been going through problems the last couple years.

Market share continues to decline and while they did introduce a new and updated line of phones, they simply haven’t been able to keep up with the brute force and innovation that is behind giants Android and iOS.

The new version will be rolled out to phones starting today and will be going to carrier partners Worldwide in the following weeks the company said.

New features and enhancements of the OS update:

“BlackBerry 7.1 comes with a number of new features and enhancements, including BlackBerry Tag, a new content sharing tool. BlackBerry Tag uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to allow users to share contacts, media and files, as well as invite friends to BlackBerry Messenger by touching their BlackBerry smartphones together. The new operating system also adds mobile hotspot capabilities and support for Wi-Fi calling.”

It’s taken the company quite some time to bring a mobile hotspot ability to phones, something that’s increasingly needed and requested. With data caps from most wireless carriers, users need to be careful, however, having the ability to use your phone as a mobile hotspot is great and sometimes a godsend in certain instances.

Lastly, for BlackBerry Curve users who prefer to still listen to the radio, FM radio support has been added to the Curve 9360 and 9380. Listening to the radio will not use up your data plan says RIM.

RIM Launches BlackBerry 7.1 OS, But Will It Be Enough? 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

Well this is one in from out in left field but according to Reuters and two trusted inside source at a Wall Street investment house Amazon was in some serious talks to buy beleaguered Research in Motion (RIM) earlier this year.

There was no formal offer made according to the sources but any talks of a buyout was turned away by RIM’s senior management believing that they would be able to turn around the companies recent misfortunes with it soon to be released offering as well as their already extensive product line and their foothold in the enterprise marketplace.

Apparently investment bankers sought Samsung and HTC as other potential buyers but the companies weren’t interested, citing existing relationships with Google and Microsoft. Some analysts have called for a sell-off of RIM’s existing patent portfolio, and have encouraged co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie to split the company into two halves, one focusing on consumer goods like its BlackBerry smartphone line and another catering more to B2B enterprise solutions.

via MobileSyrup

It doesn’t matter what RIM does these days as everything they are trying to do to bring the company back to its former glory isn’t working out for them as they continue to battle setbacks.

Rumor: Amazon apparently looked into buying RIM earlier in the year 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

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

If there ever was a Charlie Brown of the tech world one would have to vote for it to be RIM. No matter which way it turns lately the company seems to be constantly kicking at the football but like Charlie it is forever missing and ending up flat on its back.

As part of its efforts to build back some good press and keep the Blackberry alive in the ever increasingly competitive smartphone world RIM announced its next generation operating system for its smartphones; however no sooner than it breathed the word “BBX” than it found itself being served with a lawsuit from a company that already owns a trademark for ‘BBX’.

Yes it seems that RIM went ahead and named its new smartphone operating system, that was based on QNX,  as well as the developer tools for it, then a company in New Mexico by the name of  Basis International claimed that RIM was infringing on their trademark.

So what does Basis International do?

Well, it just so happens that they develop and market tools for developers which, as Basis points out creates confusion in the market place – one of the needed ingredients for a successful trademark lawsuit. Basis International points out that they have already been fielding calls from concerned customers regarding their BBX product and whether RIM had bought it from them.

RIM is claiming that there is no confusion over the name and that they came up with the BBX name by combining their Blackberry name and their QNX operating system name.

Ya, good luck with that one in court RIM.

via Ars Technica

Poor RIM, just can’t seem to catch a break, is now being sued over BBX trademark 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

2011 is definitely the year of the Smartphone with an estimated 420 million units expected to ship around the world before the end of the fiscal year according to data from IMS Research

The company also predicts that by 2016 one billion Smartphones will be sold annually and will make up more than half of all mobile handsets sold around the world.

Among the industry’s big winners is Samsung which climbed from 3 percent of the market in Q1 2010 to 13 percent in Q1 2011.  Apple as should be expected also witnessed some growth, capturing 19 percent of the global market in Q1, up 3 percent year-over-year. HTC is also a big winner, increasing their market share from 6 percent to 10 percent of the Smartphone market in a 12 month period.

It’s not good news for all Smartphone manufacturers though, Research in Motion, makers of the Blackberry line of devices lost 5 percent of their market reach over the last year, dropping to 15 percent of the global market while firing 2,000 workers this week, while Nokia year-over-year market share dropped by 16% to just 24% of the overall market. Nokia hopes to gain some market share back when their first Windows Phone 7 devices arrive.

While Google doesn’t manufacturer their own devices they also had an excellent year with their Google Android mobile operating system grabbing an astounding 38 percent of the worldwide market and 27 percent of the overall U.S. market, beating out Apple for the number one Smartphone sales record.

Smartphone Sales Skyrocket In 2011, 420 Million Phones Will Go Out The Door 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

Late Thursday, a consortium of tech companies made up of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion and Sony, paid $4.5 billion, five times Google’s opening bid, for Nortel’s portfolio of more than six-thousand patents and patent applications.

The final price tag was roughly three times what had been expected, highlighting the value of intellectual property in the fast-changing telecoms world, where established players are seeking to keep out newer rivals.

“Following a very robust auction, we are pleased at the outcome of the auction of this extensive patent portfolio”, Nortel Chief Strategy Officer George Riedel said in a statement. “The size and dollar value for this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant interest in the portfolio among major companies around the world.”

A joint hearing before courts in the United States and Canada is set to be held on July 11 to formally approve the sale. Google and other parties have until July 6 to file objections to the sale.

Nortel, a one-time cornerstone of the telecom industry, filed for bankruptcy two years ago and since has seemingly been reduced to little more than an estate sale, as all of the valuables of the fallen titan are being auctioned off.

Last year, Nortel sold its optical networking and carrier ethernet business to Ciena for $769 million and its wireless business to Ericsson for $1.3 billion.

Even with the cash haul, Nortel revealed it doesn’t expect to have any remaining value for common shareholders once it completes its bankruptcy protection hearings.

via Yahoo
[img]

Nortel Patents Purchased for $4.5b By Apple, Microsoft Led Group 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