Blackberry

U.S. National Transportation Safety Board drops BlackBerry for iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 21, 2012

Last month, the U.S. Immigration and Customer Enforcement agency and government consultant Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. both announced plans to drop BlackBerry smartphones and deploy iPhones and Android devices instead. The Pentagon is also prepping to deploy Apple's and Google's platform.

The Defense Department is conducting search for a contractor that will build a system to manage and secure a fleet of 162,500 iPhones, iPads and Android devices. And now, rubbing salt into the wound, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board confirms it will be making the switch.

In a document posted last week to a federal website, the agency dissed BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, writing its devices have been “failing both at inopportune times and at an unacceptable rate”. Ouch!

The Pentagon plans to deploy iOS and Android devices

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 29, 2012

In a new report from The Washington Post based on a document by the Defense Department, the Pentagon is reported as tapping contractors as it preps to deploy at least 162,500 iOS and Android devices, potentially expanding to up to eight million devices. It's another blow to Canada-based Research In Motion, which despite its single-digit smartphone share in the United States still enjoys a relatively large, albeit diminishing following amongst governmental agencies. This would mark the first time the Pentagon opened its network to iPhones and Android devices...

Another blunder for RIM as government agencies dump BlackBerries for iPhones

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 22, 2012

Research In Motion's BlackBerry not that long ago was the dominant smartphone platform. Due to its incompetent management all too easily waving off the iPhone threat, which along with Android went on to slaughter the BlackBerry in the consumer space, RIM has now sought a retreat in big corporations and government agencies - its only remaining strongholds.

The problem is, the enterprise market is now dropping BlackBerries in droves and governments around the world are following suit. The latest example: both the U.S. Immigration and Customer Enforcement agency and government consultant Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. are dropping a total of nearly 50,000 BlackBerry handsets in favor of iPhones and devices powered by Google's Android software...

The BlackBerry stigma: folks no longer wield BlackBerries with pride

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 16, 2012

It's just sad that such a great company can become so disillusioned and lost in time. Apparently, as reported by The New York Times, BlackBerry devices have become a magnet for mockery and derision from iPhone and Android owners. Worse, people apparently suffer from shame and public humiliation because their BlackBerry cannot do cool things like iPhones and Android devices.

Now, I use both the iPhone and an Android device and it never even crossed my mind to judge someone by their smartphone, even if that's apparently how some bosses behave these days. As a result, people are becoming increasingly wary pulling their BlackBerries in meetings (I'm not making this up).

Remember, stylish (and mostly black) BlackBerry phones with their clickety-clack keyboards used to be a status symbol of the high-powered and the elite. What a difference a few years make...

iPhone share rising, everyone else looks flat or down

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 2, 2012

Analytics firm comScore is out with new research data concerning the mobile landscape in the United States during August. Good news for Apple: the iOS is on the rise among smartphones, going from 31.9 percent during the three-month period ending in May 2012 to 34.3 percent in June, July and August.

During the same timeframe, Google's Android went from 50.9 percent to 52.6 percent smartphone market share. Better still, Apple grew at a faster clip than Google. Microsoft's Windows Phone, Research In Motion's BlackBerry and Symbian? All losing ground...

RIM confirms new phones, BlackBerry 10 OS is essentially complete

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

Good news for fans of Research In Motion: the embattled BlackBerry maker may soon see some much-needed light at the end of a long tunnel as the company has confirmed putting finishing touches on the way overdue BlackBerry 10 operating system. RIM also has some new phones and they're all done, too.

Yesterday, RIM’s new CEO Thorsten Heins agitated spirits with news that his company is actively seeking partners to license BlackBerry 10 software, which was unveiled three months ago. It would mark a significant departure for RIM as the company never allowed a third-party to make BlackBerry-certified handsets.

Today, Heins reveals a couple more tidbits on the state of the BlackBerry platform...

RIM confirms plans to license BlackBerry 10 OS to others

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 25, 2016

According to Bloomberg, Canada-based maker of BlackBerry handsets, Research In Motion, will be licensing its upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system to a smartphone manufacturer, Bloomberg reports. Apparently the company is evaluating options as we speak, considering how other companies may be able to use it in a range of products. This is the last nail in the coffin of RIM as we used to know it...

Samsung could buy RIM to rival Apple in enterprise

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

Canada-based Research In Motion is declining rapidly. Its ailing BlackBerry platform has been reduced to a single-digit market share, it has a $1 billion backlog of unsold tablets and smartphones, corporations are abandoning their phones in droves and the BlackBerry 10 operating system has been delayed until 2013.

In between staging stupid stunts and fighting Apple over Nano SIM, the embattled company found time to replace its co-CEOs with a new guy, Thorsten Heins, who is shedding jobs left and right as creditors and advisers plot possible scenarios, including selling off its server messaging platform and the BlackBerry hardware biz...

Siri-like voice assistant turns up in latest BlackBerry 10 alpha update

Cody Lee ∙ July 21, 2012

No matter what your opinion of Siri is, you have to admit that it has really sparked an interest in digital assistants. Voice commands and recognition obviously existed long before the feature, but not like this.

And you don't have to look any further than the competition for proof. Shortly after Apple unveiled its Assistant last fall, other manufacturers started beefing up their voice technology. Samsung, for example, now has its S-Voice, LG has Quick Voice, and there are several others bubbling up...

Android is still losing one-third of current users to the iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

A few interesting observations from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster's note to clients (via Fortune), issued this morning. Munster conducted his annual cell phone survey and found out that nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of polled respondents would pick an iPhone as their next handset. Only one in five (19 percent) plan to go with Android and just 2.5 percent, or one in forty, will stay loyal to their BlackBerry, a result of RIM's downturn.

What's more, 51 percent of respondents who planned on making the iPhone their next smartphone (whether current iPhone users or not) said they were waiting for the next iPhone...

The exodus begins: corporate America abandoning BlackBerry for iOS and Android

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

As Research In Motion's woes deepen amid lay offs, outrageous losses five times bigger than projected and news that its long-expected BlackBerry 10 software won't arrive until next year, a significant number of high-profile and profitable corporate customers are readying contingency plans, a tell tale sign that, unfortunately, the window of opportunity for the BlackBerry as we know it is closing fast...

Octopus Keyboard now available on Cydia

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

Ladies and gentlemen, it's here. After much anticipation, Octopus Keyboard is now available on Cydia.

As we first previewed a couple of months ago, Octopus Keyboard imitates the BlackBerry 10 keyboard on iOS. Be sure to check out our video walkthrough for a high level synopsis of how it works.

Once you've done that, head over to Cydia, and add the necessary repo to download Octopus Keyboard now. Or you can wait a while for it to appear on Cydia's default BigBoss repo.

Check inside for our hands-on video walkthrough of the final version of Octopus Keyboard...