There’s some interesting chatter coming out of RIM HQ in Waterloo recently about the myriad BlackBerry devices they have in development. First off, it seems as though the internal preference is not for RIM’s flagship device, the BlackBerry Bold, but for BlackBerry Curve successor Javelin. The reason? RIM employees care not a rot for the Bold’s 3G because they spend the majority of their day on the company Wi-Fi, giving them leeway to choose the Javelin’s better battery life and slimmer design. It will be interesting to see if this internal trend will continue in the enterprise space once both devices are released.
Secondly, it appears as though our friends in Waterloo are feeling the crunch to get the BlackBerry Thunder (referred to internally as the Storm, or as we like to call it: the HalleBerry - zing!) up to RIM standards. With little time to submit the device to Verizon/Voda for review, our boys in the ‘loo seem cautiously optimistic they can improve the Thunder’s haptic touchscreen from iSuck to iPhone-level quality.
As always, we’ll keep you informed of any more RIM chatter that comes our way.
The latest in Sprint’s downward spiral to oblivion is the conclusion of a class-action lawsuit which ruled that contract early termination fees did not count as rates, and therefor fell under federal, rather than California state law. Using such ETFs as a means to discourage jumping ship is illegal under federal law, and so $18.23 million was rewarded to those who were forced to pay up. On top of that, they’ve got $54.75 million in unpaid ETFs that will be recredited. Ow. Tough break there, Sprint. Some appeals are likely to happen, but things aren’t looking so hot right now.
W3C publications can be downloaded in either .PDF or stone tablet.
Let’s face it, unless you’re rocking the BlackBerry Bold, browsing the web on your BlackBerry is usually a frightening experience: things don’t work, page formatting is often weird and some pages are just too damn big to download. Thankfully, the W3C, which develops guidelines for website standards, has published the details of new standards that will make it easier for people to browse the Web on mobile devices, hopefully ensuring that even low-end BlackBerry users won’t be left in the lurch.
Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 provides steps for content authors to face the challenges of hardware and software diversity, device constraints and bandwidth limitations. In addition, the W3C has also released a XHTML Basic 1.1 Recommendation, providing a convergence in mobile markup languages, including those developed by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA).
Those rumours about 3G coming to T-Mobile are getting a little more traction with this poster announcing October 1st. as the date the switch is thrown. The major American launch cities include New York, Chicago, Orlando, Detroit, Atlanta, Los Angelas, Washington DC and plenty more. While the only new BlackBerry on T-Mobile’s radar in the near future is the 3G-less BlackBerry Kickstart, it does open the door for the next 3G BlackBerry to come along. Maybe the BlackBerry Bold sooner or later…?
Chalk it up to poor forecasts, issues with iPhone pricing, or less than stellar subscriber numbers, but Rogers’ 12% earnings increase last quarter did little to assuage stockholders. Stock price is down to around $34 from $39 last week despite making $CAN 364 million last quarter versus $CAN 299 million last year. Unfortunately, wireless additions were down to 92,000 versus 133,000 last year, but this doesn’t take into account the full punch of the iPhone, and you can bet that the BlackBerry Bold will be pushing Q3 numbers in a good direction as well.
I’m pretty sure this is the first BlackBerry 8330 we’ve seen in red, and it’s due to hit Bell on August 8th alongside a white and titanium BlackBerry 8130. Fresh paint jobs seem like sloppy seconds when compared to the BlackBerry Bold and eventually the BlackBerry Kickstart coming out on GSM carriers in the near future, but if Bell actually makes the GSM switch, maybe they won’t have to settle for less. Still, new paint jobs are always cool, and it’s hard to argue with that colour on the Curve. Keep an eye on the Bell online store for the fresh offers… Right now the Pearl is going for free on a three year contract, and the Curve is $149.95.
During the Hong Kong BlackBerry Bold launch party, RIM’s Pacific-Asia VP Norm Lo made a fairly hefty insinuation that a Chinese BlackBerry factory was in the works. Rollouts in China have experienced their fair share of difficulties in the past, and the advent of their TD-SCDMA standard could further compound issues, but RIM remains optimistic about their future in the country. And hey, why shouldn’t they be? There is a lot of opportunity to be had in China despite all the technological, bureaucratic and cultural challenges.
The latest trick coming out of the new Plazmic developer’s kit is Flowberry. Pretty shiny, huh? Too bad they took out the bottom bar that earlier version was showing. Still, a pretty slick design for those Mac-users in the house who just can’t get enough of the coverflow-style interface. Not bad, but I think I’m going to stick with Crossbar. If Mac is your bag though, go ahead and get your Flowberry on, or if you miss that bottom bar, try out Finder.
In a recent interview regarding the BlackBerry Bold’s launch versus the iPhone 3G, RIM’s Chief Operating Officer Dennis Kavelman is still in line with the attitude that Apple’s just giving BlackBerry more press.
“‘I want to buy them a drink,’ he said, adding he hoped people would walk into shops looking to buy a competing phone but walk out with a Bold. … ‘It’s great to do the glitz; anybody can build toys and just focus solely on the multimedia stuff - and lots of people want to buy toys - but I think what we’re trying to do is say here’s everything that makes a BlackBerry a BlackBerry, and we’ve packaged it in something that looks really fashionable … and you don’t have to give up all the multimedia stuff.’”
This has been the long-standing angle RIM has taken when it comes to Apple, and it’s either stupid or admirable that they continue to shrug off the iPhone as not a big deal, especially when they’re making a full-blown wannabe.
The unreleased flip BlackBerry Kickstart (aka the BlackBerry 8220) just got a nice video tour, showing off all the things to come this September from T-Mobile (hopefully for around $49): a 2 megapixel camera, WiFi, EDGE (sorry, no 3G), and an external LCD screen.
The big frame is striking, and not necessarily cumbersome according to Kevin - more room for the screen and keys makes for a better experience, on the whole. The notification light is in a new spot beside the camera, which is a surprising departure from the slim LED we’re used to seeing on the top-right of BlackBerrys for quite some time. The external display of incoming messages isn’t really new, but it’s cool to see the function in action. As for the the trackball, the previously mentioned recess makes navigation just a little bit trickier. Although many diehard BlackBerry fans have yet to really appreciate the new form factor, is anyone changing their minds on it yet?
Hardware aside, it looks like the Kickstart will be launching with OS 4.6 (same as the BlackBerry Bold) with about 75 megs of internal memory. New accessibility options make navigating a little bit easier on the eyes with high contrast and large icon modes available. The expanded Alarm app, now Clock, is also working like a charm on both internal and external screens.
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Chalk it up to poor forecasts, issues with 
During the Hong Kong BlackBerry Bold launch party, RIM’s Pacific-Asia VP Norm Lo made a fairly hefty insinuation that a Chinese BlackBerry factory was in the works. Rollouts in China have experienced their fair share of 
In a recent interview regarding the BlackBerry Bold’s launch versus the iPhone 3G, RIM’s Chief Operating Officer Dennis Kavelman is still in line with the attitude that Apple’s just giving BlackBerry more press. 
