Recently, RIM released an update to the BlackBerry Desktop Manager, version 7, in the Beta Zone. While not explicitly stated, it seems the most recent update adds support for BlackBerry 10. Since BlackBerry Jam is around the corner, RIM probably needs Desktop Manager support for BlackBerry 10 out there, so devs can plug in their alpha devices. But should Desktop Manager be a part of the BlackBerry Platform? Or should it be phased out? So far, RIM has told us that BlackBerry 10 includes over the air OS updates, along with a host of cloud services. This would suggest that there’s actually no need for Desktop Manager.
Continue reading ‘Desktop Manager 7 in Beta Zone But Do We Really Need It?’
Editorials
There’s a trend we’ve noticed at festivals lately where BlackBerry support is being dropped. This hasn’t always been the case. For some festivals, there was a previous app and for the most recent year it’s completely absent. It’s not enough to say “well BlackBerry is on the downward swing in North America” because that doesn’t address the current market share. Many of these festivals have enourmous BlackBerry support. For example, Bluesfest happens in Ottawa, Canada, where there’s probably a larger BlackBerry userbase than iPhone. For some reason, the organizers of the festival have a misconception about BlackBerry and don’t feel like investing the resources. Why do we say it’s the organizers? Because the companies that make these apps have the resources and the developers to address the platform, so it seems the client isn’t requesting it (to their own detriment).
The Calgary Stampede is a great example of this. PurpleForge is the development company behind the Calgary Stampede iPhone app but there is no BlackBerry version available. It’s not like PurpleForge can’t do BlackBerry, its App World vendor account has 14 apps in App World, one of which is for the City of Calgary. The only explanation is that the client simply didn’t want it.
Continue reading ‘Why Are Some Major Canadian Festivals Ignoring Its BlackBerry Fans?’
It’s pretty amazing to think BlackBerryCool has been writing about RIM’s products for 7 years with over 10,000 posts on the subject. The readers have been incredibly active as well, logging over 65,000 comments on the site. I thought a great birthday gift to us all would be to hand pick some articles over the past 7 years that give an idea of how the company has changed and bring back some of that great BlackBerry nostalgia. This isn’t about “the good ol days”, in fact, I’d gladly use my 9900 over the old 8700, but it’s about the evolution of a technology product. It’s rare that anything lasts 7 years on the web, let alone the 28 years since RIM was founded. Click through and read some of the blog posts we’ve done over the past 7 years.
Continue reading ‘BlackBerryCool Celebrates 7 Years, Over 10,000 Blog Posts and 65,000+ Comments’
SXSW (South By Southwest) Interactive is notorious for giving everything away free t-shirts, free food, free drinks, free apps, free, free, free. It’s practically your “right” as a show attendee that you shouldn’t have to spend money on anything; except maybe a pedal-cab ride. This year, however, it’s not the big new free app that’s capturing everyone’s attention, it’s money.
Everywhere you turn in Austin there’s another way to buy, sell, get a deal or somehow exchange payment. There have even been more than a handful of sessions on mobile payments. The speakers are claiming that “now” is the time for mobile payments to really take off. With options from gamified payments to payment within well-known apps to NFC, it could make your head spin. I haven’t honestly seen one super-standout app, but I’ve downloaded quite a few options to give them a try. And I’ve spoken to the others to find out what makes them tick.
Continue reading ‘In A World Of “Free”, Money Takes Center Stage At SXSW’
The latest version of the BlackBerry PlayBook OS is pretty awesome isn’t it? One of the best things about the update is that it makes you feel good about the upcoming BlackBerry 10 smartphones. As far as we can tell, the upcoming BlackBerry 10 smartphones will be a smaller version of the tablet OS. This means that all the awesome games that you’ve been seeing, as well as the beautiful user interfaces, unified inbox, social integration and more, will all be a part of the next-generation BlackBerrys. There are some great new features in PlayBook OS 2.0, but there are 10 features that stand out above all.
Continue reading ’10 Best Features of the Latest BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2′
Sometimes it’s nice to get a break from the startup world. It seems Silicon Valley churns out the next “game changing” startup about once a month and the vast majority of these companies are a waste of everybody’s time. Take Kevin Rose’s Oink for example. It’s not a bad a idea, it’s just a waste of your time. No offence to Rose because Oink would be awesome if everyone in your city used it, but that’s incredibly unlikely. What’s more likely is that this idea will pivot about six times until it’s something very different than what it started, or the idea will simply fade into oblivion. In the meantime, if you’re an iPhone user and your friends are into trying every free app that hits the App Store, you will likely get bombarded with friend requests for each of these startups.
Continue reading ‘Sometimes It’s Great That Startups Ignore BlackBerry’
