News and Rumors

Its not to anyone’s surprise that RIM's stock this year has been less than stellar. Rumors of the company selling its self to another tech giant have been circulating for quite some time now. In addition, key personnel have left the company to pursue other endeavors. The results of all this are that shareholders are becoming more restless as they continue to see their shares fall.

Now shareholders are beginning to become more vocal about their investments with BlackBerry maker RIM. In a letter to the board, Vic Albioni head of Jaguar Financial, an investor in RIM, expressed his frustrations with the company, and added some pretty bold suggestions.

Jaguar Financial holds about 5% of RIM, and is getting tired of the of RIM's lack of performance, and strategic delaysSome of these fundamental changes proposed by Jaguar Financial was the urge for RIM to sell, and the consideration of selling of some of their patents. These are some pretty bold statements, and it seems to be what many consider to be the route that RIM should go. Is this really true considering that RIM actually had reported a good financial report last quarter? Only time will tell. However the more important question seems to be. Does this kind of frustration represent the vast majority of RIM shareholders?

The news hasn’t been all negative for RIM this year. Let's not forget that they recently had a successful launch of their new line of OS 7 devices. The PlayBook, despite its critics, is actually one of the highest grade tablets on the market today. The future of RIM looks very promising. RIM is currently working on a new line of QNX based phones that show promise of setting the standards for mobile devices to come. RIM has also embraced Android integration within these QNX based devices, which shows they understand the importance of consumer wants.

What are your thoughts on the current issue? Share with us in the forums.

Good news for BlackBerry users in France. Bouygues Telecom announced they will be carrying the BlackBerry Torch 9860 and Bold 9900.The new devices are to hit the online store early this month.

The BlackBerry Torch 9860 will start at 99€*

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 will start at 199€*

Will you be purchasing one of these phones from Bouygues? Let us know in the forums!

We have all been there, patiently waiting for that OS update from our carrier. With RIM's Java-based OS carriers have had to test, and retest the OS to allow for network compatibility. These long delays caused by carrier testing have always been a contributer to the slow roll out of updates from RIM.
This has all changed with the implementation of RIM's QNX based OS. QNX allows RIM to separate certain parts of code that often times the carrier would have to test. This separation, and elimination of carrier testing allows for faster OTA updates. This type of update can already be seen in how the BlackBerry PlayBook updates itself. A user is alerted that there is a update for the device, and they simply click on install.
This type of quick updating is absolutely crucial with new devices, as bugs are found all the time shortly after a new release. We have seen affects of quick OTA updates within the PlayBook, as many of those updates have quickly resolved issues, and enhanced the user experience.

What do you think of the new approach to updating? Let us know in the forums.

And another one bites the dust. More troubles arise as RIM loses yet another key team member. Alex Ivanovic lead product manager for BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365 has officially left the team. Alex spearheaded integrating BES with Office 365. According to reports Alex apepars to be quite happy with his new job working for nulayer, a company that specialized in developing apps for iPhones and iPads. As more and more personnel continue to part ways with RIM it leaves us wondering whats really going on inside RIM.

What are your thoughts on the frequent departure of RIM personnel? Let us know in the forums.

RIM is making several people smile today. They've announced that BlackBerry App World is now available in Albania, Armenia, Benin, Algeria, Belize, Burkina, Ghana, Bosnia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Morocco, Serbia, Tunisia and Zambia.

If you're in one of these country, we are happy to see you be able to join in on all this App World goodness!

It seems that BBM Music is slowly being prepared for mass market launch, as it has been spotted in App World today. The app is still Beta Zone-only & requires a keycode, but it's quite simple to download now.

With a Period End Date of late September, maybe we are merely weeks away from launch?

It was only yesterday that T-Mobile launched its release of the BlackBerry Bold 9900. Today the mobile carrier has official sold out of these devices.The BlackBerry Bold is one of RIMs most successful phone series, and this new release is an excellent addition. The 9900 is is T-Mobiles first 4G enabled BlackBerry.

Foursquare For BlackBerry received an updated today.

Version 3.2.1 brings:

It seems like every company is involved in some sort of patent infringement legal battle these days, and RIM is certainly no exception. Patents protect a company's intellectual property from other company's that may want to use them. OpenWave Systems, a mobile solution provider announced yesterday that it has sued RIM, in particular baring the import of the BlackBerry PlayBook, and the BlackBerry Curve 9330.
In Short the law suite states RIM along with Apple have infringed on five of its mobile Internet patents. These patents include the following:

• Patent that generally allows a user to use e-mail applications on a mobile device when the network is unavailable – such as when a user is on an airplane.
• Patent that generally allows the mobile device to operate seamlessly, and securely, with a server over a wireless network.
• Patent that generally allows access to updated versions of applications on mobile devices.
• Patent that generally allows consumers to experience an improved user experience in navigating through various pages of information without delay.
• Patent that enables data in the cloud to be accessed or shared by different devices such as mobile handsets or computers.

"We believe that these large companies should pay Openwave to use the technologies that we invented and that have become foundational to the mobile Internet – particularly in light of the substantial revenue these companies have earned from devices that we believe use Openwave's patented technology," Says Ken Denman chief executive of Openwave.

The company stated that they tried to reach out to RIM several times , but their attempts were dismissed.

If Telus is your carrier of choice, you'll be happy to know that the all touchscreen BlackBerry Torch 9860 is now officially available.

Pricing is as follows:

T-Mobile customers, your patient wait for the holy grail is over! You can now grab yourself a BlackBerry Bold 9900 for $299 (after $50 mail-in-rebate) on a 2-year contract with appropriate data package. Suggested retail is $599 if you're looking to buy one outright.

AT&T, where is your 9900 launch?