Posted on July 16, 2010, at 10:35 AM .
There is a rumor that RIM tried to purchase Palm alongside Apple, Nokia, Google and of course HP. HP eventually won the deal for $1.2 billion. According to the SF Gate, RIM basically had the deal in its hands and “had to work incredibly hard to blow it,” says their source. source recalls. RIM initially came in higher than HP, but HP upped its bid, our source says.
While Palm may have had some patents that would be beneficial to RIM, the idea of acquiring the company for the WebOS or integrating the WebOS on a BlackBerry seems highly unlikely. WebOS lacks the security that is fundamental to RIM’s business, although from a consumer perspective it may be cool.
In terms of improving on the OS, it’s better to look at the QNX acquisition. QNX is a company based in Ottawa (BlackBerryCool.com HQ) and there are several people close to the company who say the acquisition has little to do with automotive integration, and more to do with developing a next-generation OS. Remember, QNX’s core business is “middleware, development tools, realtime operating system software and services for superior embedded design.” Lets hope that they can help RIM develop an OS that puts many of the developer and consumer frustrations to rest.
Posted on June 3, 2010, at 10:43 AM .
The latest Distimo report shows the highest ranked paid and free applications in BlackBerry App World, as well as other smartphone platforms such as Nokia’s Ovi, Google Android, Apple iPhone and Windows Mobile. In the May Distimo report, BlackBerry didn’t really have a presence in the “news and noteworthy” section. When it comes to applications, it seems themes are really dominating the lists. Themes are great for customizing your BlackBerry, but it would be good to see more rich applications in App World to demonstrate the power of the platform. Also, the utilities that come are in the top ranked lists seem as though they should be part of the OS and not third party apps. Applications such as QuickPull and MemoryBooster shouldn’t be something the user needs to download.
Continue reading ‘Highest Paid and Free Applications in BlackBerry App World’
Posted on May 20, 2010, at 1:46 PM .
According to the latest research from Gartner, the number of smartphones sold worldwide has jumped 49 percent from a year earlier to 54.3 million units. BlackBerry is now the world’s 4th largest manufacturer of mobile devices and the 2nd most popular smartphone after Symbian.
Android has leap-frogged Windows Mobile and Linux now represents 10 percent of smartphones shipped. Nokia has declined by 4.5 percentage points to 44.3 percent as sales rose by one-third, lagging behind the market’s growth. The iPhone is the third most popular smartphone after Symbian and RIM, with a 15.4 percent share of handsets that are open to third-party applications.
Smartphones now account for 17.3 percent of the industry’s phone sales, and Nokia reported last month that smartphones accounted for about 20 percent of its volume in the first quarter.
Posted on April 30, 2010, at 8:42 PM .
IDC’s latest report shows Research in Motion in the in the top 5 of all mobile handset makers in the world. RIM has been in the Top 10 Smartphone Manufactuers list for some time and now, but making the top 5 handset makers in the world is a really significant benchmark. RIM is the only company on this list that manufacturers only smartphones, making the numbers all the more impressive. The smartphone market is growing at a pretty incredible rate, and it looks like RIM is well positioned to take on the growth.
Here are some quick facts about RIM from the report:
- RIM shipped 10.6 million units in Q1.
- Total shipments surpassing those of Motorola by nearly 2 million units.
- Highest average selling prices within the group.
- Key to its success in the first quarter was the popularity of its BlackBerry Curve 8520 and BlackBerry Bold 9700 across multiple markets as well as its global prepaid offerings.
- Strong consumer adoption, particularly among text-crazy teens, has also fuelled demand for BlackBerry devices.
Read the press release after the jump.
Continue reading ‘Research in Motion in the Top 5 Handset Manufacturers in the World’
Posted on February 25, 2010, at 2:24 PM .
Distimo have released their latest report based on 2010 data that compares games in the Apple App Store, BlackBerry App World, Google Android Market, Nokia Ovi Store and Windows Marketplace. The major findings of the report include:
- Games on the Windows Marketplace and BlackBerry App World are most expensive at $4.91 and $4.60 (on average) respectively.
- The Games category on the Apple App Store with the most titles available is Puzzle.
- Games published in the Role Playing category on the Apple App Store are most expensive, averaging $7.96 per game. Most other game categories average between $1.30 and $2.60.
- 22% of the most grossing game titles in the Apple App Store were published in the Action category. The Arcade and Adventure categories were second and third with 12% and 9%, respectively. Interestingly enough, although the Puzzle category is the largest games category in the Apple App Store, relatively few of these games generate enough revenue to be ranked among the top grossing game titles.
To download the report yourself, grab it from the Distimo site.
Click through to continue reading this article and to see the results
Posted on February 9, 2010, at 11:01 AM .
IDC have announced the top selling smartphones in America and BlackBerry accounted for 5 of the top 10. While this is pretty significant, I’m sure RIM isn’t too happy about growth rates. RIM was significantly stronger than its competitors in terms of pure sales, but Apple’s growth far outpaced all others, with a unit sales increase of 97.7% in Q4 of 2009. Overall in 2009, Apple still dominates in terms of growth by 81.9% compared to RIM’s 46.2%.
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