Official OS 7.0.0.400 for BlackBerry Curve 9360 has been released on Orange Spain. If you have a Curve 9360 go ahead and update that device. Then let us know your finding or fixes in the forums.

• How to upgrade your device
• Download OS 7.0.0.400
  

For those of you waiting for the Bold 9900 to finally be released on Mobilicty, you may have to wait until October. According to reports Mobilicity will have the new device at the beginning of October.
There is no word yet on pricing, but based on what other carriers are pricing the device at we could probably expect prices in and around the $599 range.

Will you be getting a Bold 9900? let us know in the forums.

It seems as though the "mystery" phone we have been following over the past few weeks is turning out to be less of a mystery than initially thought. As its turning out it appears as though the mystery device, code named "Knight, is nothing more than a revamped Bold 9900.

Take a look at some of these side by side comparisons.


The 9980 R47 was initially rumored to be a QNX device, however further details on the device are suggesting that it is a Bold revamped exclusively for Porche owners.

What do you think of this new BlackBerry device? Would you Purchase one? Let us know in the forums.

Official OS 7.0.0.362 has reached the BlackBerry Curve 9350, Torch 9850 & Bold 9930 on Panhandle Communications. If you have one of these devices, get out that USB cord and give your a device a fresh OS. Don't forget to drop a comment below and let us know how it's working out for you!


Note: The Software Platform and Applications version numbers can be found under Options-About screen on the handheld.

• How to Upgrade your BlackBerry's Operating System
• Download Official OS 7.0.0.362 for BlackBerry Curve 9350 from PTCI
• Download Official OS 7.0.0.362 for BlackBerry Torch 9850 from PTCI
• Download Official OS 7.0.0.362 for BlackBerry Bold 9930 from PTCI
• Discuss Findings/Fixes in our Forums

BlackBerry Bridge received another incremental update to v1.0.6.5 today. No changelog yet, but typically a Bridge update means a PlayBook OS update is coming soon.

We do know that PlayBook OS v2.0 isn't coming out till October, so this will probably be a minor Playbook OS update, if any.

Great news for PlayBook owners. In a conference call to investors RIM released some major details regarding the PlayBook 2.0 update.

Here are the details:

• Built-in native email and PIM
• Robust enterprise features including BlackBerry Balance to allow management of personal liable devices
• Android App Player
• BlackBerry Video Store - 10,000 movies, TV shows to buy, rent, same-day release as DVD and HDMI output to your TV
• New gaming, major media and productivity Apps

All of this will be available sometime in October, as an OTA update. Clearly there are some major changes, and enhancements with this update.

Lots to talk about.Let us know in the forums.

Today RIM has announced their second quarter results for the last three months. The results are not as good as RIM or its investors would have liked.

Here are some highlights taken from the press release on Marketwire:

• Revenue in the second quarter was $4.2 billion and service revenue surpassed $1 billion for the first time
• GAAP net income of $329 million or $0.63 per fully diluted share; adjusted net income of $419 million or $0.80 per fully diluted share
• The BlackBerry subscriber base grew 40% year over year to surpass 70 million
• RIM's largest roll-out of BlackBerry smartphones was initiated with 7 new smartphones launched with over 90 carrier and distribution partners in 30 countries during the latter part of Q2
• Approximately $780 million was invested as part of a consortium of companies that successfully bid to acquire intellectual property assets from Nortel
• BlackBerry smartphone shipments in Q3 are estimated to grow between 27-37% over Q2 shipments

Q2 Results:

Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2012 was $4.2 billion, down 15% from $4.9 billion in the previous quarter and down 10% from $4.6 billion in the same quarter of last year. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 73% for hardware, 24% for service, and 3% for software and other revenue. During the quarter, RIM shipped approximately 10.6 million BlackBerry smartphones and approximately 200,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.
"We successfully launched a range of BlackBerry 7 smartphones around the world during the latter part of the second quarter and we are seeing strong sell-through and customer interest for these new products. Overall unit shipments in the quarter were slightly below our forecast due to lower than expected demand for older models," said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at Research In Motion. "We will continue to build on the success of the BlackBerry 7 launch to drive the business as we focus our development efforts on delivering the next generation, QNX-based mobile platform next year."
The Company's GAAP net income for the quarter was $329 million, or $0.63 per share diluted, compared with GAAP net income of $695 million, or $1.33 per share diluted, in the prior quarter and net income of $797 million, or $1.46 per share diluted, in the same quarter last year. Adjusted net income for the second quarter was $419 million, or $0.80 per share diluted. Adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share exclude the impact of a pre-tax one-time charge of $118 million for the Company's cost optimization program that was implemented in the second quarter of fiscal 2012. Details on the cost optimization program are available in the Company's press release dated July 25, 2011 as well as in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for the fiscal period ended August 27, 2011, which will be filed shortly.

Q3 and FY2012 Outlook

Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 ending November 26, 2011 is expected to be in the range of $5.3-$5.6 billion. Gross margin percentage for the third quarter is expected to be approximately 37%. BlackBerry smartphone shipments are expected to be between 13.5 million and 14.5 million units. Adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter, excluding the impact of charges related to the Company's cost optimization program, is expected to be in the range of $1.20-$1.40. Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the full year fiscal 2012, excluding the impact of charges related to the Company's cost optimization program, is expected to be towards the low end of the previously guided range of $5.25-$6.00.

We will be reporting more on this as more information comes in through RIMs official conference call and webcast.

RIM keeps dropping VPs like hotcakes.

Today, John Vandermay (VP of BES Software) announced he was leaving. He will be joining Gemcom Software International Inc., a Vancouver-based mining software company, as vice president of product development.

Although Mr Vandermay had only held his position for 18 months, he is now the fifth senior executive to leave RIM in the last six months.

Is this the foreshadowing of a disaster for RIM?

Many individuals hurried up & purchased the new BlackBerry OS 7 devices when they launched in mid-August. Telus has decided to reward those who have waited patiently to purchase the devices by providing them with a $50 credit on the purchase of their device with a new 3-year term.

The prices are:

This promo is ongoing until October 3rd and is only for new activations “on a 3-year term with any rate plan and eligible feature combination of $50 or more.”

RIM always seems to have something new up their sleeves. The latest is what seems to be a patent for rotating keys on a physical keyboard. This could be an updated patent to the rotating keyboard patent that was seen in August 2010. The patent explains the ability to set custom keyboard designs for specific variations and scenarios.

The abstract of the patent:

The BlackBerry PlayBook seems to be conquering every area within enterprise computing. Today RIM has introduced the availability of the Citrix receiver for the BlackBerry PlayBook.

The Citrix reliever allows users to access applications and desktops hosted by their company's Citrix server. Now applications like Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Word will be able to run directly from the PlayBook. If available, users can also access their Citrix desktop with a couple of simple touches. You could look at the Citrix receiver as an extension of your desktop at work.




Some Key features include:

• Multitasking – similar to the PlayBook’s multi-tab browsing experience, the Citrix Receiver allows for multitasking between virtualized apps and desktops, and between multiple desktops themselves – all on the tablet’s seven-inch screen
• Single “Sign On” Access – one single sign on access point provides full access to virtual apps and desktops
• IT Controlled Built-in Enterprise App Hosting – IT managers can give self-service access to enterprise apps, much like you select apps from BlackBerry App World
• Security – the unique FIPS-certified BlackBerry PlayBook tablet security protocols protect your data when using the Citrix Receiver
• Peripheral Integration in High Definition – by pairing a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, you’ll gain full access to your remote desktop and apps on the PlayBook’s brilliant HD screen

This is a really big step in a positive direction for RIM's PlayBook as it now opens the doors to communicate with one of the most effective application hosting systems in the market today.

Download it here

Let us know what you think in the forums.

Back in July we wrote about some new features that that were to be included in RIM's new BIS 4.1. We were never sure whether or not these features would make it into the final release. Now thanks to a KB( Knowledge Base) article we now see that all of the features initially reported will be included.

Here is a recap of some of the key features included in BIS 4.1.

Improved large email and native attachment support
Subscribers using BlackBerry smartphones with BlackBerry® 7 installed can:
receive email messages that are up to 11MB in size
download attachments in their original format that are up to 8MB in size
view up to 300KB in an HTML email message

No interruption to email flow on SIM swap
Subscribers who insert a new SIM card in to their BlackBerry smartphone, including SIM cards from a different wireless service provider, no longer experience email flow interruptions. The BlackBerry Internet Service only stops sending email to a smartphone when the subscriber deletes all data from the smartphone, not when a new SIM card is inserted in to the smartphone.

Due to this change, before selling a smartphone, subscribers must delete all data from the smartphone (security wipe) to protect personal information, including email messages and synchronized contacts and calendar events. For more information on performing a security wipe, please see KB28225.

Note: This functionality will be available when BlackBerry Internet Service 4.1 is released in all regions.

Inbox priming for new account integrations
When a subscriber adds an email address to a smartphone, the inbox on the subscriber’s smartphone is pre-populated with up to 20 existing email messages from the email account.

Additional language support
Latvian and Lithuanian are supported by the BlackBerry Internet Service. Emails received in these languages can now be viewed on BlackBerry smartphones.

As you can see there are some significant changes. One thing to note here is that the message receive size has increased to 11MB for OS 7 devices. This will reduce the amount "Truncated Due To Size Messages".

Let us know what you think in the forums.