Posted on August 15, 2008, at 8:43 am .
Mac users rejoice! Entourage 2008, designed to emulate much of Microsoft Office, can now support syncing for BlackBerrys released as of May through PocketMac. Devices running OS 4.5 reportedly work like a charm for getting contacts, tasks, and calendar items off your Mac and onto your BlackBerry via Entourage. iTunes support is also in there, although it’s kind of funny that PC users got the iTunes Media Sync first. This is pretty awesome for Mac users everywhere, considering the complete lack of love they tend to get from RIM. Hopefully this will keep enough of them from going with the iPhone instead… Hey, you can always make your BlackBerry look like an iPhone with themes like iBerry in Today, Icon and Zen styles. Head on over to the PocketMac site to download version 4.1.25.
(via TUAW)
Posted on August 14, 2008, at 8:02 am .
HSBC, the gigantor multinational banking firm, is considering making the jump from BlackBerry to iPhone for upwards of 200,000 of their employees.
“We are actually reviewing iPhones from a HSBC Group perspective … and when I say that, I mean globally… You know, it’s a big decision, especially when you have an existing fleet out there,” [HSBC's Australia and New Zealand chief information officer Brenton Hush] said. “We always explore the potential application of new technologies and this is no different.”
This is not only a big deal for RIM who could be losing a major customer, but could easily set precedent for other major companies who would see that the iPhone works for serious business. Many enterprises are not willing to give up BlackBerry’s rock-solid security, but it’s interesting to see that a financial firm that’s dealing with sensitive numbers all the time are confident enough to consider the iPhone a solution. Of course, no decision has been made yet, and the it’s still a pretty low priority for the HSBC CIO, but we’ll all be watching to see if the change is made. Some remain optimistic that RIM’s push into consumer territory will be more successful than Apple’s move into enterprise, and how this HSBC deal ends up will decide if that’s true.
(via ZDNet)
Posted on August 13, 2008, at 11:47 am .
As bloggers, it’s in our nature to fiddle with the latest and greatest web toys. So you can guess how much time BBCool HQ has spent with Google Insights for Search, the big G’s latest and greatest toy that allows you to view a variety of metrics surrounding different search terms. We thought it would be a good idea to measure the level of interest of “blackberry” vis a vis “iphone”. The results won’t make anyone at RIM sleep easy any time soon.
The numbers on Google Insight graphs reflect how many searches have been done for a particular term, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. As you can see from the graph above, in the past 12 months the iPhone has been handing it to BlackBerry in terms of Google search popularity. In addition, the comparative spikes of interest based around recent launches of marquee devices — i.e., the BlackBerry Bold and iPhone 3G — fall hands-down in favor of the iPhone, demonstrating Apple’s ability to run a well-oiled hype machine.
Click here to see more Google Insights metrics on the iPhone and BlackBerry
Posted on July 31, 2008, at 8:11 am .
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.
(via cellular-news)
Posted on July 30, 2008, at 9:02 am .
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.
(via Stuff.co.nz)
Posted on July 25, 2008, at 6:10 pm .
Opera’s monthly report for June took a look at the popular handsets that folks are using with their mobile browser all around the world and BlackBerry got all kinds of gold stars – being one of the top most popular handsets to feature Opera. Commenter mikedoan said:
“…Do the results that you speak of really point to the BB’s popularity as a handset or is it just another indication/reinforcement of the fact that most BB user’s receive a substandard browsing experience (using the native BB Browser).“
That leaves us to wonder about all the other stuff that has been left out of the BlackBerry experience, like, say, HTML e-mail viewing and how much of an opportunity stuff like that presents for BlackBerry developers. Are third-party developers just being clever in finding the gaps they can fill, or is RIM just doing a poor job of loading up BlackBerrys with all the functionality they have? What are your baseline expectations for a smartphone, and is RIM meeting them? How much does RIM depend on developers to pick up where they left off? Give us your take on what the BlackBerry has to offer and where software developers fit and win five device skins from Decalgirl and six months of service from SugarSync.
See last contest’s winner behind the jump!
Posted on July 25, 2008, at 4:20 pm .
First up, sorry for the lateness. The aforementioned server issues slowed production, but no worries- we still recorded and have a heaping two weeks’ worth of news for you this episode. The BlackBerry Thunder and iPhone 3G were both huge news items last week. There are lots of numbers on the ‘net to refute the iPhone’s hype, while the BlackBerry faithful are sticking to their guns and holding out for the BlackBerry Bold. Some more pictures of the BlackBerry Thunder have also floated up, showing off the on-screen keypad and media player, as well as a massive false start by Expansys. This week a lot of stuff was ramping up to a BlackBerry Bold launch, primarily in the form of OS 4.6 software.
Check out links to all the relevant news after the jump, as wells as options for streaming and downloading the BlackBerry Cool Podcast.
Click here to listen to the BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Episode 34
Posted on July 18, 2008, at 8:46 am .
A survey by UBS Investment Research of 100-odd US iPhone buyers last weekend revealed that of the five BlackBerry owners there, only two would be making the full switch. That number went up slightly in the UK, to 3.6%. This might be good news for RIM, since they’re clearly not losing customers, but it also goes to show how much of the market Apple is penetrating with their recently-launched iPhone 3G. That being said, it could easily be paving the way for the touchscreen BlackBerry Thunder when it comes out later this year. One way or the other, the RIM stance of a mutually exclusive customer base could turn out to be true after all.
“Although our sample size was limited (relative to the global launch), we believe these results give a decent indication for the market share obtained by the iPhone on Day 1…,” [UBS' Jeffrey Fan] said. “As it relates to RIM, the survey results are consistent with our view that the BlackBerry user base today largely differs from the iPhone user base.”
Posted on July 17, 2008, at 1:09 pm .
If you really dug the standard Icon iBerry theme, Bplay just busted out a Today version of the iBerry Blackberry theme, letting you get a better view of your incoming messages, meetings and calls on your home screen. On top of that, you get four of your top apps shown in a bottom dock, just like the classic iPhone style. For the full-blown Macophile, the Finder theme has also returned, featuring a familiar bottom dock and icon set. Of course, the iBerry theme might be admitting some defeat to the iPhone hype, wouldn’t it? You could always scope out the re-released Crossbar theme, or some other fresh Next Gen themes like Reflex Today Plus.
Posted on July 17, 2008, at 8:08 am .
The battle of the titans has commenced, and the first to the fight is Boy Genius who put the iPhone 3G against the soon-to-be-released BlackBerry Bold. Factors such as enterprise functionality, build quality, e-mail, keyboard, design and battery life are taken were taken into account for the review. At the end of the day, it was a pretty locked fight, even when it came to the screen. The review states that the BlackBerry Bold is second even to the 8800’s build quality, which really disconcerts me, having used an 8800 for a good long time and being generally impressed by its sturdiness. The application round went to the iPhone, which RIM should be downright ashamed of. They’ve been in the mobile game for so much longer that they should have gotten it right by now. Of course, Apple has an established relationship with developers for their computer segment, which provided a solid foundation to work with. Regardless, it’s a great review and worth checking out.
(via BGR, image via Slate)
