In advance of today’s earnings call, RIM announced that co-founder Jim Balsillie is out at the company he built.
Last week we reported that Nokia, Motorola and RIM were squaring up to Apple over a disagreement about the future of nano-SIM cards. Now, Apple is proposing that its patented design could be used for free, by anyone — dependent on one, rather large, condition.
I bet when you’re texting with friends you like to drop a :-) or maybe a ;-). If you’re really up on your game, it’s possible you toss in a (^_^). And because RIM and Samsung decided to include a quick-access key for these wonderful digital creations on their smartphones, some soulless patent trolls got all >:-O about it and are taking the companies to court.
You might not recall, but when the BlackBerry PlayBook came out last year it was close — oh, so close — to being a respectable iPad competitor. But the omission of native email, calendars and contacts was a fatal flaw, both for reviewers and the buying public.
This isn’t the review of the BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 software. That comes tomorrow. Rather, these are just some early impressions and comparisons to the 1.0 software running through my head as I get acclimated with the thing. These opinions that may or may not change with time and familiarity.
To go along with the release of the PlayBook 2.0 update, RIM also included new remote functionality in the BlackBerry Bridge app, so that BB phones can control the PlayBook But as people are finding out, it can control much, much more than just a single tablet.
As predicted, RIM’s attempt to salvage the PlayBook — an updated operating system — is available today. Now, basic tablet functionality can be had by PlayBook users: e-mail, calendar and contacts programs, as well as a scattering of ported Android apps. The update is available now, via the PlayBook’s Software Updates menu. [RIM]
Crackberry came into some supposed BlackBerry 10 OS screenshots from a tipster, which, among other things, shows off a new widget-centric UI.
RIM just put out a series of videos showcasing the durability tests a Blackberry has to withstand prior to its release. Pretty cool!
