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 May 15, 2008, at 6:32 am .
With each passing day of WES 2008, my eyes become more bloodshot. However, our podcasts keep getting better and better. For example, today we have for your listening pleasure a two on one interview between Simon, myself and Irv Witte, Rogers VP of Business Marketing. Join us as we discuss Rogers relationship with RIM, the coming BlackBerry Bold, iPhone how mobile devices get made, and the growth of the BlackBerry ecosystem.
Listen to the podcast via MP3, RSS/XML, or iTunes.
Or stream the podcast after the jump
Posted on March 12, 2008, at 1:12 pm .
Australia’s Department of Defence has put BlackBerry and Windows Mobile through the hoops, and they’ve both made it through the common criteria accreditation process faster than any others on record. The key? Working closely with government IT to fix flaws, and undergo rigorous testing before applying.
“Security flaws slow down evaluation because the product solutions have to be sent back to be fixed,” [Defence Signals Directorate assistant secretary for information security Robert Campbell] said. “[Vendors] should work as closely as possible with the DSD and the laboratories assessing the product to get accreditation as soon as possible.”
Getting cleared with the government has proven to be a hassle pretty much everywhere else for BlackBerry, so getting through quickly is a welcome change of pace. As for Australia’s Common Criteria security standards, they’re working on nailing down biometrics, another element which we’re already seeing glimpses of in BlackBerry land.
Posted on January 24, 2008, at 11:44 am .
Josep recently posted some screenshots of the upcoming DataViz Documents to Go announced at Lotusphere. Documents to Go has been letting Palm, Windows Mobile and Symbian users edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files for awhile now – about time it comes to BlackBerry, eh? After this first step, maybe we can look forward to wireless syncing to desktop documents sometime soon. Still, we can look forward to Documents to Go being bundled in with OS 4.5 due mid-’08.
Posted on December 18, 2007, at 9:44 am .
The handheld database manager, HanDBase, just got bumped up to version 4, with a few new bells and whistles, including Vista support. The UI has gotten a bit of a facelift, the OS X client now has searching and sorting functions (which seem pretty vital for database work), 5-way navigation for Palm and Windows Mobile, and a few other things. As ever, HanDBase syncs with Microsoft Access through a bundled utility, although it’s wired only. If you’ve got a boatload of information that you want to keep an eye on from your BlackBerry, you can pick HanDBase up for $39.95 over here.
Posted on December 17, 2007, at 11:44 am .
Although RIM’s third quarter numbers aren’t being released for another 3 days, Canalys’ shipping data has revealed that the iPhone has already beaten Windows Mobile’s market share in North America, but BlackBerry still holds on to the top dog status. The iPhone’s 27% capture of the smartphone market is especially surprising considering it’s still not in Canada or Mexico, and is limited to only AT&T. While North America’s a huge market, it’s a big world, and if the numbers included international results, the picture would look just a little different. It’ll be interesting to see what Q4 looks like after the Christmas sales have all been tallied up…
Posted on December 14, 2007, at 8:44 am .
Although the BlackBerry version is penciled in for a Q2 ‘08 beta release, Zumobi has released a beta for Windows Mobile today, available for free download over here. Zumobi’s a kind of web-based content delivery platform that lets users set up tiles of their favourite stuff and share them with other users. Developers can make their own tiles for whatever product they want to get on there. Family Guy, the Associated Press, MTV and Amazon are just some of the big names already set up. The interface is pretty cool, letting you zoom in and out of sections of tiles. This hip little video shows the goods.
Continue reading ‘Zumobi launches beta’
Posted on November 28, 2007, at 12:52 pm .
Password-keeping software SplashID has been updated to version 4 for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry platforms, packing a couple of new features: links which open directly into the browser, four more fields, an upgraded password generator, secure record e-mailing, and some updates to the desktop client. We poked around at SplashID awhile back, but compared to DataVault, the decision should be clear. Regardless, if you’re looking for an alternative, you can pick up SplashID over here.
If you’ve been keeping an eye on Pinstack and 
