Posted on April 27, 2009, at 12:46 pm .
CB posted a leaked screenshot of some upcoming collaboration software for BlackBerry. The software is called Groups and it seems to be 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.
This latest project is a great way for RIM to harness the power of their Network Operation Center (NOC) for something more than e-mail. The NOC is RIM’s central hub in Waterloo for all BlackBerry transmissions before they go out to the internet or carriers, and has been the point of contention for a few national securities.
The NOC is a powerful system that does a great job of staying unclogged during times of heavy congestion. For example, during 9/11, BlackBerry Messenger, which uses the NOC, stayed as an open channel of communication.
We should be getting more details about this app soon. Stay tuned during WES.
[ED NOTE: Thanks for the info Simon. Wrong trackback.]
[Via]
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 August 24, 2007, at 7:24 am .
The Globe and Mail just posted about a pretty great product RIM’s working on: the BlackBerry Home Server. The idea is that it would be kind of a mini-BES for your home, which would let RIM’s network operating center to talk with your PC at home, allowing for access to music, photos and files from anywhere with your BlackBerry. The author makes an open comparison to iTunes, and Scotia Capital’s Gus Papageorgiou wasn’t shy about bashing the old model versus the new one RIM is setting up.
“Why do you need this application-specific, expensive piece of hardware that you batch process into your PC every once in a while when you happen to be home, when instead you can just do everything you want to over the air and not have to worry about being at home to sync it with your PC or your laptop?” Mr. Papageorgiou asked.
This is a trend following Microsoft’s Windows Home Server in terms of bringing business functions to home customers, and shows a lot of promise for penetrating the multimedia-crazy consumer market. A few days ago we were talking about advanced features on BlackBerrys, such as music-playing, and how many owners actually use them. If RIM can offer the software which supports those features, we can count on usage (and the value of owning a BlackBerry) going up.
Posted on August 11, 2007, at 10:56 am .
There’s a great, well-explained article on PCAuthority that lays out the broad strokes of BIS, BES, NOCs and push e-mail that’s useful to anyone trying to figure out what’s happening behind the scenes. Winder and Ockenden take the time to explain how to set up a BIS account to receive e-mails as fast as BES, as well as comparing Windows Mobile’s services against RIM’s. Not only is it a read that can give you some practical hints, but for those of us who aren’t entirely in the know, it feels good to have the backend technology demystified a bit.
Posted on July 18, 2007, at 12:41 pm .
Norm Lo’s been pretty good about telling us what’s not going to happen with BlackBerrys, so leave it to the Pacific VP to tell us that RIM has no plans to move operation centres outside of Canada into countries where its services are in higher demand. “Things are working really well right now. Having things centralized really improves the efficiency of the network,” says Lo. He admits to the possibility of a new network centre in the future, but nothing is on the radar yet. Keep in mind this is coming from the Pacific, where huge growth is happening in China, Japan, and elsewhere in the area. RIM could just be playing their usual coy, tight-lipped game, and just drop an Asian centre by the end of the year just for the sake of surprising us, but there’s something to be said for keeping all of those skills and hardware in the same neighborhood. What do you think? Is it in RIM’s best interest to stay efficiently centralized, or could expanded local support anchor their presence elsewhere?
