Hasta La Gadget!

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

Comments

Source: The Globe and Mail

One cannot overstate the importance of this phone. This, the BlackBerry Z10, is the device upon which the fate of BlackBerry (formerly Research in Motion) hangs. That’s not to say that the company will disappear if the Z10 — and the BlackBerry 10 OS that it contains — is not a mass-market success. But if this phone does not do its job of extending the reach of the ‘Berry OS beyond those die-hard loyalists who have clung on to their Bolds and Torches and Storms, it’s safe to say that BlackBerry is in for some very hard times.

The company hasn’t exactly bet the proverbial farm on this BB10 release, but with massive financial losses tempered only by job cuts, plus an absolutely tectonic shift among the executive leadership and corporate culture architected by CEO and President Thorsten Heins, the phrase “make or break” feels pretty apt. So, then, is this the phone that’s good enough to woo buyers away from the Galaxy S III or the iPhone 5 or any of the other delicious devices on the other platforms? The short answer is that no, as of now it isn’t quite — but of course it’s a lot more complicated than that. Join us as we explore.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM

Comments

Thinking about beefing up your IP profile? Try giving IBM a call. For twenty consecutive years, it’s been awarded more patents than any other company. According to IFI Claims Patent Services, IBM was issued 6,478 patents in 2012. To put things into perspective, its closest competitor, Samsung, trailed Big Blue by nearly 1,500 patents. No small wonder the company is the tech world’s intellectual property broker.

Some of the year’s biggest patent warriors made the top 50 list too. Both Apple and Google’s patent awards grew significantly over previous years, surpassing 2011’s numbers by 68 and 170 percent, respectively. The house that T.J. Waston built, on the other hand, grew only a meager 4.8 percent. Still, with patents in health, banking, defense, social networking, cloud computing and beyond, IBM probably has a few years left at the top. Ever onward, IBM. Ever onward.

Continue reading IBM caps two decades as heavyweight champion of the patent world

Filed under: Misc

Comments

Via: CNET, NYT

Source: IFI Claims

While RIM has already taken to directly rewarding developers who write for BlackBerry 10 in order to stock up its app catalog, it’s about to offer a slightly stronger incentive for the gaming crowd. An upcoming Got Game Port-a-Thon starting November 16th will give producers $100 for every game successfully ported to the upcoming platform, with the perks climbing the more titles make the leap. Three or more ports net a BlackBerry PlayBook, and the first handful who port five or more get a Dev Alpha device to test their creations in a truly native environment; particularly avid developers porting 10 or more games will even score a trip to the Game Developers Conference this March. The catch, as you’d imagine from the telethon-inspired label, comes from the fixed timeframe. There’s just 36 hours open for submissions once the event starts, which will have most developers scrambling to get their code ready in advance. If RIM gets all its developer ducks in a row, however, we’ll have no shortage of fun (or distractions from work) when the first BlackBerry 10 devices hit the shelves.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Mobile, RIM

RIM plans 36-hour event giving away cash, PlayBooks to game developers porting to BlackBerry 10 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Nov 2012 19:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MobileSyrup  |  Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog  | Email this | Comments

Rogers and its banking partner CIBC have been making much ado over bringing NFC mobile payments to Canada since the spring, but the companies have been mostly silent on actual availability and let a rumored October 15th launch date pass by without fanfare. The two partners are at last ready to swing into action, at least symbolically — a photo-op at a Tim Hortons in Toronto on Friday will officially represent the first instance of their payment system being used in the wild. What we’ve seen officially and otherwise hasn’t changed, which means that event star and triathlete Simon Whitfield will be using one of two NFC-equipped BlackBerry phones with a special SIM card while he buys a meal that we imagine involves coffee and maple-glazed donuts. Rogers hasn’t said how soon the less sporty among us will be making payments, although the limited choices of phones (two) and carriers (one) will only give a handful of Canucks a chance to join in.

Update: Just as Whitfield’s coffee is cooling off, Rogers has given out full details: the CIBC mobile payment option will roll out later in the month to at least 2,300 Tim Hortons restaurants across Canada, with 3,000 more joining in by December. It’s called Suretap, as the earlier leak confirmed, and there’s no surprise support for Android, Windows Phone or other platforms.

Continue reading Rogers and CIBC kick off Canadian NFC-based mobile payments with mini event (update: full details)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM

Rogers and CIBC kick off Canadian NFC-based mobile payments with mini event (update: full details) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CrackBerry, MobileSyrup  |  Canada Newswire, Rogers  | Email this | Comments