Verizon is now pushing BlackBerry users to use Bing as the search engine of choice for their smartphone. To do this, Verizon have removed Wikipedia and Google from the BlackBerry browser search bar. While users can still find ways around this, such as downloading the Bing app or bookmarking the search page, it’s still a pain and hurts the end user experience.
In the end, Verizon needs to be giving users options. I often find that Bing doesn’t return the search answers I’m looking for, while Google is almost 100% reliable. Also, considering Verizon is such a large buyer of BlackBerry smartphones, I don’t think this is good for the brand.
Google Apps Connector gives those on a BES, the full Google Apps experience but imbued with power of the BES and RIM’s Push technology. The service has today been updated to version 1.5, and they have included:
Support for more devices. Large businesses can support 500 BlackBerry devices per server, double the previous number.
The Apps Connector now supports BlackBerry Professional Software.
A single BlackBerry Enterprise Server to serve users in multiple Google Apps domains.
Google Voice allows users to make calls and send SMS from your Google Voice number. You can listen to your voicemail and read transcripts of the message too. Like almost everything Google does, they’re helping propel the industry forward and this particular app is going to save you money.
While the BlackBerry app requires a Google Voice account, Google has let everyone know that they are allowing users to invite friends. This means that the app will take a leap in the beta testing phase and make its way to the average consumer in the near future.
If you have Google Voice, you should see the latest update is version 0.1.5.1. Nothing crazy to report but we aren’t sure because a change log is not included. So far the forums are reporting improved compatibility with OS 5 and that the Google Voice access number has changed.
Gartner has released a slightly revised version of their outlook for the 2012 mobile operating system. The latest predictions put Symbian as the top OS, followed by Android, with BlackBerry in third and iPhone in fourth.
The interesting part of this research is the positioning of BlackBerry relative to the iPhone. The advantage of BlackBerry is that it will always have enough devices to cover the entire gamut of potential smartphone users. While you may not love every device that RIM ships, there will always be a device for you.
While Gartner believes that Open Source OS markets are the future, we aren’t seeing much proof of this. Developers aren’t making enough money on either platform for the devices to be of much of use. We have said this countless times on BlackBerry Cool, it’s the software that determines the winner and hardware is fast becoming secondary with regards to the competitiveness of a device.
1. Symbian
2. Android
3. BlackBerry
4. iPhone
5. Windows Mobile
While we may not know the final outcome until 2012, rest assured it’s the developers who will decide the final victor. So if you’re a developer looking to make that killer app, don’t let Gartner become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Go to the brand you trust and ultimately, go to the brand that’s making you money. I guarantee you it’s not Symbian, Android or Windows Mobile.
Our Rogers ninja, RogersDude69, is reporting that Rogers has been giving their employees extra incentives to sell HTC Android devices. Apparently, Rogers is running internal contests where you sell 5 and get 1 free. While this isn’t necessarily news, and Rogers often runs these contests, it comes along with a recent statement from the president of Rogers Communications’ wireless business, Rob Bruce.
Rob Bruce, said he expects that phones with full slideout keyboards, as well as those based on Google’s Android operating system, will chip away at the dominance of RIM’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone.
Speaking at an investor conference, Bruce said the so-called QWERTY slider devices made by manufacturers such as Samsung and LG Electronics “are peeling off the low end of the smartphone market right now and in effect putting pressure on that duopoly.”
He characterized Android-based phones that are making their way to store shelves as the “other major vector” in challenging RIM and Apple for dominance of the lucrative smartphone market.
BlackBerry Cool readers are well educated when it comes to the various operating systems out there. So I put the question to the readers:
Can RIM and BlackBerry learn anything from the Android platform?
One of the downsides of being a BIS user is that you don’t get the ability to archive your deleted BlackBerry emails. Well there is a way to do it and it has changed my life.
If you’re like me, you have drunk the Cool-Aid and you’re using Google Calendar, Reader, Docs (which I’m writing this on right now) etc. Even though you love Google products, you can’t make the jump to Android because, when it comes to communication and getting things done, nothing is better than BlackBerry.
The Google Voice app has launched for BlackBerry today, making quick searches much easier to perform on your device.
The news comes from Google Voice’s Vincent Paquet who has confirmed that users will not only be able to place calls on their devices and have recipients’ calls display the Google Voice number, but it will also make it possible to view voicemail transcripts within the application as opposed to through the mobile web.
Google recently unveiled its latest open source online collaboration software Google Wave. Google Wave is an HTML 5 application that is a fairly evolutionary step in online communication. While on the Wave, you get threaded conversations, drag and drop media sharing, easy blog publishing and relatively seamless communication with others.
The creators, Lars and Jens Rasmussen, were also the creators of Google Maps. The Google Maps software works really well on BlackBerry and Google Wave could just as easily run on BlackBerry as well. According to Lars Rasmussen, the mobile component of Google Wave required only an additional 5% in engineering. Google Wave for mobile is the same software as the desktop component, it is just another layer.
Currently, RIM is developing its own Collaboration software called BlackBerry Groups. The software is a simple way of sharing tasks, messages, location, chat, calendar and contacts. We’ve already seen an attempt at this software when BlackBerry Unite launched but the project had very little success. Continue reading about Google Wave on BlackBerry
Google Apps Connector for BES is a piece of software developed by Google that sits on the BES and pushes your Google services to your BlackBerry. The software allows users to access Gmail, Google Calendar and Contacts using the built-in BlackBerry applications they already know and love.
This latest news from Google is intended to help small to medium sized businesses save costs on email services, while improving the overall BES email experience. Users can now instantly receive Gmail messages within the built-in email client on their Blackberry and they can continue to use the same shortcuts to manage their BlackBerry messages. Continue reading about Google Apps Connector for BES
Google Search for BlackBerry now uses voice search. I put it on my BlackBerry Storm 9530 and it recognizes speech fairly well. On the Storm it brings up the keyboard which you can’t get rid of. This I found slightly annoying. Also, it isn’t obvious how to scroll through the selections. Google Search looks great on my Storm and I’m curious, how does it look on your device?
{ED NOTE: The title said Storm because that is what the author was using. It did not mean to imply a version specifically for the Storm.]
