Posted on September 29, 2008, at 8:37 am .
Word coming straight out of Tokyo is that RIM is looking to release the BlackBerry Bold in Japan by early 2009. While the average Japanese person has smartphones that are lightyears beyond ours, with cold fusion and laser support, RIM’s COO Donald Morrison sees a huge opportunity in the enterprise space:
“The challenge for us is to get our products localised,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of a briefing to introduce the Bold in Japan. “Once they are localised and pass the certification, the opportunity, particularly in the enterprise base, is an essentially still wide open market.”
NTT DoCoMo is already selling BlackBerry in Japan and in addition to the BlackBerry Bold, plans to almost double its smartphone line-up to 10 by next year to tap growing demand for phones with computer-like capabilities. For our friends in the land of the rising sun who just can’t wait, check out our full BlackBerry Bold review below.
The Ultimate BlackBerry Bold Review (with full device specs)
BlackBerry Bolds Around the World map
(via Reuters)
Posted on September 24, 2008, at 11:13 am .
Yesterday we published a map of all the countries that had launched the BlackBerry Bold — or so we thought. It turns out we missed a few (how could we forget the Swiss?). Thankfully, the BlackBerry Nation pitched in to dot our i’s and cross our t’s. It’s really great to see that we have a readership that spans the globe. Here’s the updated list:
North America Canada, Mexico
South America Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela
Europe Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales)
Asia Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore
Australia Australia
Caribbean Dominican Republic, Jamaica
The grand total is now up to 31 countries! I wonder if the U.S. is waiting to be the 50th country because they think they’ll win a prize…
Posted on August 12, 2008, at 11:19 am .
Previously available in only North America, BlackBerry Unite! has now been localized for all around the globe. Central American, Italian, German, French, Asia Pacific and Spanish versions of the software is available for small groups of up to 5 to share media, contacts, and take care of management tasks. There are plenty of small and medium businesses out there that could use some extra functionality from their BlackBerrys, and when the software is free, it’s hard to go wrong.
(BlackBerry Support Community Forums via BerryReview)
Download sites for BlackBerry Unite! behind the jump…
Posted on August 8, 2008, at 9:14 am .
The Opera Mini survey awhile back went to show just how popular BlackBerry is here in North America, but another survey by Springboard Research has revealed that BlackBerry devices are getting drastically outsold in Asia-Pacific. Windows Mobile devices racked up 6 million sales last year, versus RIM’s paltry 1 million. One of the main reasons for this, according to the researchers, is the high cost of push e-mail service for people in that region, making it a poor option for small and medium businesses. BlackBerry Unite! is helping a bit, since it’s free and can keep companies of up to 5 users linked together, but really it seems like a local NOC would go a long ways to increasing adoption in Asia-Pacific. There’s been talk about a factory opening up in China, and some kind of data centre in India to get around that whole security issue, but surely the biggest end result would be lowered costs for everyone in the neighbourhood. Still, with ad campaigns like this, how can you resist WinMo?
(via Windows Mobile Cool)
Posted on July 10, 2008, at 8:04 am .
If there are any Windows Mobile lovers out there outside of that one cricket in the corner, you’ll be happy to hear that BlackBerry Connect will be supporting the Motorola Q9h in Asia-Pacific. The Windows Mobile 6 device has enjoyed BlackBerry services abroad since December, but clearly there were some localization issues to iron out. With BlackBerry Connect, WinMo users can get their push e-mail fix, and access a lot of the standard BlackBerry features – it even plugs into the BES and has all the usual IT policies and security standards in place. Interested? Head on over to the Motorola BlackBerry Connect site for your download.
Posted on January 10, 2008, at 8:48 am .
We’ve talked plenty about India in RIM’s Asian game, but neighbouring Bangladesh has just got its first taste with the BlackBerry 8700 and the BlackBerry 8100. With a population density nearly three times India, you can expect our favourite handhelds to spread nicely over there. No sign of pricing on Grameenphone’s site, but for anyone out in that neck of the woods, you can expect more info before the end of the month.
Posted on November 27, 2007, at 12:28 pm .
Coming shortly behind Ukraine’s release, RIM is set to launch its products in Russia. Security concerns from the KGB’s successor, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, effectively stalled earlier deployment, but a compromise has been reached to everyone’s satisfaction. The FSB wanted the encryption codes that RIM uses for its communications, so it’s a little iffy on where they found middle ground. It’s only a little over a thousand BlackBerry 8700s crossing the border, and there’s only a year-long allowance for the devices, so any Russkies looking to get in on the action will have to be quick to act. Check out your closest MTS or Vimpelkom outlet sometime in the first quarter of 2008.
Posted on November 21, 2007, at 9:15 am .
We just got wind that a whole bunch of countries in Asia-Pacific will be able to get their BlackBerry jollies on the Sony Ericsson P1i. Some might snub their nose at the thought of using a stylus, let alone straying from their beloved ‘Berry, but this Sony Ericsson deal is packing a 3.2 megapixel camera which doubles as a business card scanner. Nice, but worth losing the keypad over?
Posted on November 20, 2007, at 2:05 pm .
Stefano has heard of a potential outage for the Americas and Asia-Pacific on the 25th. for 20 minutes sometime between 12:00 AM EST and 3:00 AM EST due to a firmware update. Not long, but a little warning never hurts. Too bad we have to resort to newsgroups to get this kind of information, huh? Affected services include:
* BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (BES) may be unable to connect to the BlackBerry Infrastructure during the maintenance. I recommend that nobody even log on to any of the 4 BES servers during this time as you may experience issues relating to the maintenance.
* Users may be unable to send or receive any email messages during the maintenance.
* Users may also be unable to register their device, roam in another location, or use other services such as Internet browsing or Blackberry Messenger.
* Devices may not receive new service books during the maintenance.
* Enterprise Activations may not work during this maintenance.
* PIN to PIN messaging may not work during this maintenance.
Stressed out that you’re going to be cut off? Well, if you’re BlackBerrying at 3:00 AM on a Sunday, maybe that’s the first sign you need a break anyway.
UPDATE: New info suggests the outage isn’t going to happen anymore. And this, my friends, is why we have a Rumors file.
Posted on November 12, 2007, at 8:17 am .
Neil just gave us the heads up on a free virtual BlackBerry Technical Seminar this Thursday from 9 AM – 6 PM EST. A separate seminar will be available for anyone in the Asia-Pacific region on November 21st. What do you have to look forward to?
* See the next generation BlackBerry Enterprise Server
* Understand the opportunities in developing applications for the BlackBerry solution
* Learn what the latest updates and tools can do
* Ask tough technical questions and get answers direct from BlackBerry experts
* New Troubleshooting and Developing Tips and Tricks
* Hear from IT professionals and developers world-wide about how they’ve taken the BlackBerry solution far beyond email
* Chat online with select BlackBerry solution partners
