Hasta La Gadget!

BlackBerry is currently dealing with some serious, serious issues — no one wanted its first flagship phone, one of its co-founders might be making a dark-horse bid to buy the company back, and the company might just end up being parted out to the highest bidders. So what’s a once-dominant smartphone player to do in light of all this uncertainty and depressing soothsaying? What can it do to bolster the morale of the BlackBerry faithful who watched as friends and colleagues embraced new platforms?

The answer is a complex one but for now BlackBerry plans to reassure people the old-fashioned way — by writing a letter. According to BlackBerry fansite Crackberry, the Waterloo company will publish an impassioned letter to the people in 30 newspapers across nine countries spelling out exactly why they shouldn’t count the company out just yet.

You can find the full text of the letter at the bottom of the post, but if you’ve been following BlackBerry’s current trajectory there’s not going to be any surprises here. The positives? A debt-free balance sheet, plenty of cash holed up in the reserves, and gobs of expertise in delivering productive mobile computing experiences in secure enterprise environments. All valid points, except perhaps for the team’s invocation of BBM’s popularity as a global social messaging platform. The original launch for iOS and Android didn’t exactly go according to plan — it’s been some three weeks since those apps first started popping up in their respective app stores, and there’s still no firm word on when BlackBerry will open the floodgates again.

I find it interesting too that the letter is signed by the BlackBerry team and not by, say, CEO Thorsten Heins. It’s a clear indicator that there’s no one single person to blame for the company’s current shakiness, nor does the future of the company rest solely on one person’s decisions. Of course, that team is only going to grow smaller for the time being, as some 4,500 positions will get the axe by the end of the year. It’s all ostensibly for the greater good, but there’s no guarantee that the company’s cost-cutting measures will be enough to see them to eventual platform victory.

I don’t mean to unduly rag on BlackBerry — I was a member of that BB addict community for a spell, and I still look back on my time with devices like the BlackBerry Pearl and Tour very fondly. And to the extent that we can give BlackBerry credit for it, the company easily has one of the most devoted, vociferous fanbases I’ve ever seen, and those people will continue to support the company.

Here’s the thing though — as optimistic as the letter is, words are cheap and platitudes are unconvincing. BlackBerry needs to prove to its core customers that it’s still a viable horse in a race dominated by nimble giants, and I wish them the best. They’re going to need it.

To our valued customers, partners and fans,

You’ve no doubt seen the headlines about BlackBerry. You’re probably wondering what they mean for you as one of the tens of millions of users who count on BlackBerry every single day.

We have one important message for you:

You can continue to count on BlackBerry.

How do we know? We have substantial cash on hand and a balance sheet that is debt free.

We are restructuring with a goal to cut our expenses by 50 percent in order to run a very efficient, customer-oriented organization.

These are no doubt challenging times for us and we don’t underestimate the situation or ignore the challenges. We are making the difficult changes necessary to strengthen BlackBerry.

One thing we will never change is our commitment to those of you who helped build BlackBerry into the most trusted tool for the world’s business professional.

And speaking of those dramatic headlines, it’s important that we set the record straight on a few things.

Best in class productivity tool.

We have completely revamped our device portfolio this year with the launch of BlackBerry 10. We have four BlackBerry 10 devices – two all touch and two hybrid (touch and QWERTY) – and all are running the third update of our new platform. If what you care about most is getting things done – taking care of your business – we have the best range of devices for you. And we continue to offer the best mobile typing experience – no ifs, ands or buts about it.

Best in class security.

Governments all over the world, global corporations and businesses that simply cannot compromise on security choose and trust BlackBerry. Security is our heritage, and the industry recognizes that BlackBerry is the most secure when it comes to the device, server and, of course, our global data network. Have no doubt that you can continue to trust us to keep your communication safe and private.

Best in class enterprise mobility management.

We changed with the market, embracing BYOD because we understand that as iOS and Android devices become common in the workplace, businesses still need to manage all of these different platforms seamlessly and securely.

This is not a trivial task. While there are a number of startup companies that make bold claims, BlackBerry has more software engineers and the most resources dedicated to developing the most innovative solutions to address this complex challenge.

And our customers know it. Over the past quarter, our BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10 server base grew from 19,000 to more than 25,000. Corporate clients are committed to deploying and testing the latest enterprise technology from BlackBerry. We are committed to evolving with our customers. That will never change.

Best in class mobile social network.

We are bringing the most engaging mobile messaging platform to all, with our BBM launch for Android and iPhone.

There are already around six million customers pre-registered to be notified of our roll out. This number is growing every day, and speaks to the tremendous opportunity we have to expand BBM beyond BlackBerry smartphones to make it the world’s largest mobile social network.

Yes, there is a lot of competition out there and we know that BlackBerry is not for everyone. That’s OK. You have always known that BlackBerry is different, that BlackBerry can set you apart. Countless world-changing decisions have been finalized, deals closed and critical communications made via BlackBerry. And for many of you that created a bond, a connection that goes back more than a decade.

We believe in BlackBerry – our people, our technology and our ability to adapt. More importantly, we believe in you. We focus every day on what it takes to make sure that you can take care of business.

You trust your BlackBerry to deliver your most important messages, so trust us when we deliver one of our own: You can continue to count on us.

Sincerely,
The BlackBerry Team

HTC has revealed its latest smartphone, the 5.9-inch big-screen sibling of the HTC One flagship device. The new HTC One Max is well into phablet territory at nearly 6 inches, but retains the slick aluminum case design of its smaller predecessor, as well as the somewhat dodgy Ultrapixel camera. But its full 1080p screen packs an impressive 349 ppi, and it has a fingerprint sensor on the back with some interesting tricks up its sleeve.

HTC’s fingerprint scanner is programmable for up to three separate fingers, which can instantly launch up to three separate apps without requiring unlocking or a trip to the home screen. That’s a twist on Apple’s iPhone 5s, which uses its built-in fingerprint scanner in place of a passcode, and for authorizing purchases made through the iTunes and App Stores.

The One Max fingerprint sensor can also unlock the phone, and is located on the back of the device just beneath the camera lens. That seems a somewhat awkward placement for it, judging from my experience with the LG G2′s weird back panel sleep/wake button and volume rocker, but given the HTC phone’s nearly edge-to-edge display and lack of a home button, there was really very few other places it could land.

Another key improvement for the HTC One Max is that it has expandable memory – there’s either 16GB or 32GB built-in, but you can take off the rear cover and put in a micro SD card for up to 64GB more, which is a considerable advantage. Other specs include a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor (same as the One) and an IR blaster. It’s set to launch in Europe and Asia in October, and then it’ll make its way to the U.S. shortly after that, likely in early November.

HTC’s strategy with smartphone releases is evidently to take its core One device and tweak it to suit the tastes of multiple consumers; the One Max offers a big-screen experience, with the flash addition of the fingerprint scanner but with a slightly worse-off camera since it lacks optical image stabilization. The expandable memory is an interesting change, and could reflect an attempt by HTC to iterate based on customer feedback it has received from previous launches, but all told I’d still suspect the One Max has a hard time doing much to reverse HTC’s recent misfortunes.

Woojer is a wearable mobile accessory designed to allow its wearer to feel what they’re listening to on their mobile device — via the medium of haptic feedback — rather than simply having banging tunes inserted into their earholes. It’s also being aimed at gamers who want a more immersive in-game experience, or for watching movies or other audiovisual content on a mobile device.

The Israel-based startup behind Woojer, which closed a $600,000 angel round earlier this year, has been developing the product since the start of 2011. It currently has a working prototype — and plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign next month to raise funding for an initial production run. If that’s successful, they hope to ship to backers in early Spring 2014.

How exactly does Woojer work? Its creators describe it as a “tactile transducer” that reproduces sound as a polyphonic vibration, allowing a haptic, noiseless element to augment the standard stereo audio the user hears via their own headphones (which plug into the Woojer box via a 3.5mm headphone jack).

Unlike some of the rival offerings in this space, such as subpac and bassAware Holster, Woojer doesn’t require the user to strap on some form of backpack or wear a special headset. (Or look like they buy all their clothes at Cyberdog.) Instead, the roughly matchbox-sized box is clipped to clothing so it rests against the body. Its low frequency vibrations then create a physical bass sensation — similar to hearing live music at a concert or cinema surround sound. Or that’s the theory.

Here’s how Woojer explains the tech — which it will be showing off next week at Pepcom in San Francisco:

The key Woojer know-how lies in the novel tactile transducer that reproduces sound as a polyphonic vibration. The device has accurate frequency response throughout the sonic and subsonic ranges. Clipped to the clothing along strategic meridian bodylines, the signal synergy convinces the brain that the whole body is exposed to high acoustic energy by the principle of “Perceptual Inference”. The device is compact, low cost, energy efficient and scalable. We have demonstrated both corded and wireless configurations.

“When playing games on smartphones or tablets with headsets the audio experience is two dimensional. With our device you ‘feel the sound’ in a similar manner when in the presence of strong speakers. Users claim it feels like being at a club or in a cinema with surround sound,” adds Woojer founder Neal Naimer.

“The Woojer device can be used in many ways — to give some simple examples: simulators, in games to provide subsonic sensation — unaudible feelings of people walking behind you, earthquakes [etc].”

Advantages over rival offerings in this space include its small size and portability; lower price (final retail price is still being decided but Naimer suggests a ballpark figure of $70 for two devices vs $300 for some rival offerings); polyphonic sound; improved latency over rivals’ so that the tactile sensation doesn’t lag the audiovisuals; and a longer play time (Woojer will be good for more than four hours of use), according to Naimer.

The startup is taking to Kickstarter to push production forward rather than attempting to partner with games or headset makers as a faster way to get to market.

“We can partner with any of the OEMs (both games and headsets) and are in touch with a number, but their decision cycle is proving to be too long for us,” Naimer told TechCrunch earlier this year, adding: “There is no real need for a formal relationship at the outset as we are backwardly compatible with all headsets and all consoles that have a standard audio jack.”

Here’s a video of Woojer’s Naimer pitching the concept earlier this year:

Android plays host to some impressive tablet apps — I’m partial to IMDb and Flipboard to name just a few — but I’ve all too often downloaded an app only to discover that it’s a regular phone app scaled to fit a larger display. Needless to say, the experience was less than ideal. Now Google is pushing to shine more light on Android apps that are optimized for tablets with a pair of modifications that will go live starting on November 21.

The first change may be the more visually shocking of the two — Android apps that don’t fit Google’s tablet criteria will be marked as “Designed for phones” so users know exactly what they’re getting into before they download.

Meanwhile, the second deals with a feature Google rolled out earlier this year, a “Designed for Tablets” view that highlights (what else?) apps that have been crafted with specific tablet experiences in mind. Users will who scour the Play Store on their tablets will soon discover that those top app lists — think Top Paid, Top Free, Top Grossing, etc. — will show off those tablet-tailored apps by default (though users can reconfigure it to show all apps just like before).

Those Play Store modifications won’t go live for a few weeks yet, but the timing has me wondering whether or not Google is planning to push a new tablet at around the same time. I know, I know, past performance isn’t a guarantee of future results, but the Nexus 10 was originally revealed back in October 2012 and started hitting the Play Store’s digital shelves in November. And now that we’re hearing Google is preparing to officially out the Nexus 5 and Android KitKat and a revamped Nexus 10 sometime next week, it’s starting to seem like we’ll see a similar timeline unfold shortly.

And really, what better way to welcome a new raft of Android tablet owners than by showing them apps that really allow those devices to strut their stuff? It’s a win-win too — while those users get easier access to the best Android tablet apps, developers who spend the extra time to make sure their tablet experiences are more than just stretched-out phone interfaces can score some much-needed exposure.

Samsung and Apple stand firmly at the stop of the smartphone heap, and players like HTC and LG continue ride their way up the market share rankings. But what of Sony? You know, the Japanese stalwart that occupies a significantly strong (if not dominant) position when it comes to other sorts of consumer tech?

It’s still gunning for that vaunted number three spot behind the folks in Seoul and Cupertino, but it’s preparing to tighten its focus a bit. Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai confirmed to Reuters (among other news outlets) that the company will focus building its smartphone business in Europe and its native Japan before attempting to crack the massive Chinese and U.S. markets in earnest.

It may seem like a surprising concession — Sony is a globally-known brand after all — but it isn’t exactly a stranger to abandoning tough-to-crack market segments. Earlier this year Sony Xperia Product Manager Stephen Sneeden remarked to CNET that the company was considering getting out of the low-end Android smartphone racket entirely because thanks to some especially fierce competition. The (then-tentative) new plan? To focus squarely on pushing premium smartphones that are truly representative of Sony’s mobile vision.

Hirai also added that future expansion in the U.S. would start “gradually”, which is no surprise — that’s basically the tack Sony’s already been taking for the past few years. Sony was arguably more prominent in the U.S. mobile market before it very publicly split with joint venture partner Ericsson back in 2011. Since then, Sony Mobile has released only a handful of smartphones into the U.S. by via of carrier tie-ups — there was the Xperia X10 and Xperia ion on AT&T, the reasonably new Xperia Z on T-Mobile, and the immensely curious Xperia Play on Verizon. In fairness, Sony also sold its share of unlocked gadgets through its own online portal but I’d wager the domestic demand for pricey non-contract phones has never knocked Sony’s socks off.

Still, this whole thing does seem shrouded in question marks. Sony is surely waiting on the right time to push back into China and the U.S., but its more nimble, financially oblivious rivals aren’t going to sit idly by and wait for them to construct a viable expansion plan. There’s a very real chance that Sony will get out-innovated or out-marketed no matter when they decide to enter the fray, which is really a shame. From my perch, it looks like Sony is finally hitting its stride with smartphones — the Xperia Z was an awfully impressive piece of kit when it debuted, and more recent efforts like the Z1 prove that the company is willing and able to compete on specs with the best of them.