Hasta La Gadget!

All right, so the big news for this evening when it comes to BlackBerry is not that the company has found a suitable suitor to take over, but rather, that BBM for iOS as well as BBM for Android are now available. Have you already downloaded BBM onto your handset? For those who do not have the time to figure things out on your own, how about a “How To” video to get things going? This is exactly what the video above depicts, where it will offer step-by-step instructions on how to set-up and create a group, in addition to knowing just when a message you have sent has been read, apart from how to set up a multi-person chat, how to set up a contacts list using PINs and how to share pictures, amongst others.

Both BBM for iOS and BBM for Android have been delayed for approximately a month, and they are now listed in their respective app stores, which brings another adage to mind – better late than never! Not only that, BlackBerry also figured out that one would appreciate a way to receive the app by heading over to BBM.com using the browser on your handset, and to wait in line after leaving your email address, although there has been a way to skip it.

BlackBerry Releases BBM How To Videos For iOS And Android original content from Ubergizmo.

It is official, the Blackberry Messenger app has been released on Android and iOS (search for “BBM” in the store), and we’re looking forward to telling you more about it. Before you get too excited, you should also be aware that there is a virtual “waiting list” since BlackBerry apparently wants to ramp this up in a somewhat controlled way. Since BBM is one of the most-used BB service, the company may fear that its servers could have a hard time keeping up with the first surge resulting from the launch. (more…)

BBM for Android and iOS Now Available. Get In Line original content from Ubergizmo.

BBM for Android and iOS was meant to be released a few weeks ago, but due to technical reasons, BlackBerry decided to pull the app only hours after it hit the app stores. It was expected that the app would be released shortly after the little hiccup, but a few weeks later and we still have yet to hear word about its release. We had heard that the app was being seeded as a beta to Android beta testers, so presumably a release was imminent, and now according to BlackBerry’s CMO, the app’s release is expected “within days”.

Naturally a specific date was not mention, but hopefully “within days” would mean that the app would be released sometime later this week. According to BlackBerry’s CMO, he expects that the app would be have addressed the issues that plagued the original app prior to its release. As it stands those who were quick enough to download the app prior to it being pulled are able to use it as per normal, but for those who weren’t as quick, we guess you will be able to get your chance later this week. In any case we’ll definitely keep our eyes and ears peeled for more info regarding the release, so be sure to check back with us at a later date for the details.

BBM For iOS And Android To Launch “Within Days” original content from Ubergizmo.

We’re familiar with much of BlackBerry’s history, but there are a few unanswered questions: why did Jim Balsillie resign his board position, for example? And why did the Z10 launch ahead of Q10, to disastrous results? Thankfully, The Globe and Mail has addressed some of these mysteries through a detailed exposé. We now know that Balsillie left the board after BlackBerry axed an “SMS 2.0” plan that would have replaced carriers’ text services with BlackBerry Messenger. Thorsten Heins wanted the company to remain focused on hardware, according to the newspaper. As for the Z10? Heins reportedly prioritized the all-touch phone over the objections of board members like Mike Lazaridis, who saw the Q10’s keyboard as necessary for standing out in a crowded market. There’s even more to the story than these two revelations, so you’ll want to visit the source link if you’re wondering just how BlackBerry ended up in such dire straits.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Blackberry

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Source: The Globe and Mail

Despite its recent acquisition, BlackBerry announced it will be releasing a desktop BBM app at BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 this week. Unfortunately, the long-overdue app leaves much to be desired. BBM will come to desktops, starting with Windows-based PCs. Since the bulk of BlackBerry’s core customers were enterprise clients, these customers spent a lot of time behind their desks. This release should have come way earlier. But even more striking, the desktop implementation of the messaging service is awful.

After installing the app, users will have to link their phones with their computers, probably through Wi-Fi. If you’re in a coffee shop and want to send a quick message from your laptop, you’ll first have to find a way to connect your phone to your computer. It’s the PlayBook nonsense all over again.

Messaging someone should be ubiquitous and effortless. You shouldn’t have to wonder whether your phone is still turned on to send a message from your computer. Some applications allow you to send text messages from your computer. But the point of BBM is that it’s not SMS — it’s supposed to be better. Moreover, BBM messages go through BlackBerry’s servers, just like Facebook messages, iMessages, WhatsApp messages, etc. And these other services don’t reroute all your messages through your phone.

That’s why limiting BBM to one device at a time is a serious flaw that should have been fixed. Many people have a phone, a tablet and a computer and want to use the same services on those three devices. In its current implementation, that’s not possible without a dirty hack for BBM. Due to multitasking limitations, iOS users will even sometimes need to relaunch the app to deliver the desktop messages — that is, if BlackBerry can fix their servers and actually launch BBM for iOS and Android.

There is no release date yet, and the company only showed the Windows version at the conference. WhatsApp doesn’t have a desktop client, so you might say that BBM’s release is better than nothing. But BBM for desktop 2.0 will have to be more than a simple interface that redirects your messages to your phone. For now, it’s just an empty shell.

Update: It turns out that what was demoed on stage is a way to extend BlackBerry 10 to the desktop. Here’s a statement from Chris Smith, Vice President, Handheld Application Platform and Tools at BlackBerry:

“This was a demonstration that showed how applications could be projected from a BlackBerry 10 device onto a computer running Windows or Mac OS. In the demo, the power of BlackBerry 10 is used to sense the connection, over Wifi or USB, then adapt the user interface and mirror the content onto the desktop monitor.

The concept demo was used to demonstrate just one of the possibilities of mobile computing – and to showcase the capabilities built into the BlackBerry 10 platform that our developer community could leverage in their own apps.”