We’ve given Dipdive some pretty negative reviews here on BlackBerryCool because the social network just didn’t seem to offer much compared to the plethora of other networks any given person has already signed up for. The social network is geared towards artists, musicians and entertainers, who “share a socially conscious mentality.” You have to wonder who that excludes, Charles Manson?
Dipdive has recently announced “Love Stories” in partnership with BlackBerry, so that users can celebrate what they love to do. To create your own Love Story, head over to Dipdive and give it a shot.
Maybe if they keep getting money from RIM, Dipdive will become the new MySpace.
I just got off the phone with my friend Ted, a former expat who has lived in South Korea for a couple years and he gave me an update of what it was like owning a BlackBerry in the country. South Korea is an interesting market – known as one of the more protectionist, yet tech savvy countries, Koreans love mobile culture and BlackBerry has been a tremendous success in the region. Ted got his first BlackBerry in August of 2009, owned one right up to a Bold 9700 in August of 2010, and he has a few interesting anecdotes about the state of BlackBerry in Korea.
While we don’t have specific numbers on unit sales, from a purely observational standpoint, BlackBerry blew up in South Korea shortly after launch. You can always find a young Korean in a nightclub with a BlackBerry in hand these days, and the form factor seems to be a big hit with both male and female demographics. According to Ted, “it’s all about the form factor”; so much so that the feature set isn’t of much importance. Koreans were willing to give up some of their most prized mobile phone features, such as DMB, in order to own a BlackBerry. Continue reading ‘An Interview with a BlackBerry User from South Korea’
Rumor has it that a cell-enabled 3G PlayBook is coming in late March or early April. The source of the rumor also expects an LTE PlayBook “some time soon” after the release of the 3G PlayBook. These rumors seem plausible as we’ve already seen Sprint officially announce a 4G PlayBook. It’s not a stretch to think other carriers will offer a 3G and LTE version.
It’s not clear what version of the PlayBook will be the right one to purchase. Do you hold out for cellular connectivity? Or do you grab the WiFi version because it means you won’t need another dataplan? Either way, we’re getting one.
Christophe Coenraets, an Adobe Technical Evangelist, wrote a cool tutorial on the BlackBerry Support Forums, showing how easy it is to make a company directory app for the PlayBook using Adobe Flex Hero. In 90 minutes, Christophe says you should be able to build a company directory app that lets you:
RIM has been touting the fact that BlackBerrys are efficient with data for years and it looks like they’ve finally given it a name: DataSmart Technology. The fact that BlackBerrys compress your data, means that for a fixed data plan, you can get more bang for your buck. According to a new study by Rysavy Research, a BlackBerry will get you 2x more web browsing, 4x more email and 2x more social networking.
But there are drawbacks to RIM’s obsession with data compression as well. The Facebook app is extremely limited in what it can do and is nearly useless. Granted, many of its problems are not RIM’s fault, and many of its limitations can be blamed on Facebook, but it seems data usage is sometimes a greater priority than user experience. Also, it has taken RIM ages to come up with a decent VoIP solution over 3G. Only Verizon provides its BlackBerry users VoIP and many 3rd party solutions aren’t true VoIP. Only recently RIM came out with a YouTube app for BlackBerry, and it’s also very limited. Sometimes this obsessions with DataSmart Technology and their relationship with the carrier seems more important than RIM’s relationship with the end user.
Wavefront is a not-for-profit organization that provides training, mobile industry advisory services, incubation office space and testing resources to developers in Canada. The goal of the organization is to accelerate the growth of Canada’s wireless and new media companies and help companies with speed-to-market. Some of the benefits of membership include: Continue reading ‘Wavefront Community Offers Canadian Mobile Developers Support’
