News and Rumors

The U.S. Dept of Defense has officially approved all BlackBerry 7 devices. This comes to no surprise as we recently reported that a half a million federal workers, including the President, are still glued to their BlackBerry devices. Also, the United Kingdom, and the land down under, Australia, approved BlackBerry 7 devices in the last couple weeks as well. Perhaps all this hype lately is tied to the fact that BlackBerry 10 is coming soon, and those who thought they may want to change their government device to the iPhone or Android are finally coming to whits end again. Are you a government worker with a BlackBerry?

Instant messaging has become the norm for mobile users. It seems as though texting, instant messaging and email have almost replaced the phone call. BBM has long been the a strong point for RIM, and has proven to be popular among today's youth. Despite its popularity some question its ability to maintain its position as the instant-messaging, due to RIM's recent struggle.

With over 55 million users worldwide BBM is clearly the preferred instant-messaging client, but that has not stopped the competition from moving in on this reach new market. Apple, Samsung, and third party vendors have all jumped on the opportunity to cater to consumers instant messaging fix. Apples iMessage has been slowly gaining popularity among its iPhone users while WhatApp Messenger has been gaining popularity across all platforms.

So what plans does RIM have for BBM? For starters its does plan on making it a part of its next generation BB 10 platform. But what about the competition? Can we expect BBM to run on other platforms in the near future? The answer to the latter may be a solid no.

According to the Wall Street Journal RIM had plans to license out its proprietary network before now CEO Thorsten Heins, came on board. A project formed by former Co-CEO's Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, code-name " SMS 2.0" would open up RIM's network to other smartphone makers. SMS 2.0 would license BBM as a service to these other smartphone makers, and allow RIM to make a profit off of licensing fees and support. RIM even acquired the popular messaging company called LiveProfile. However, the project was quickly squashed when newly appointed CEO Thorsten Heins decided that the company should not go with any licensing deals.

BBM is an important part of the BlackBerry brand, and is one of the things that separates it from other smartphones. RIM will need to concentrate on perfecting the BBM application on its BB 10 line of devices. Consumers will be expecting a BBM client that runs just as smooth as their current BlackBerry device.

via:wsj

Earlier this year Alec Saunders caused quite the stir when he mentioned that RIM was considering removing the ability to side-load. He quickly cleared things up with a blog post regarding the issue, explaining that RIM would be taking some steps to help minimize piracy. Earlier this week RIM's Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog posted some key points regarding the PlayBook OS 2.0.1 and its built-in protection for developers. The constant battle of piracy has plagued just about every developer and have left company's like RIM as their wits-end just trying to figure out how to combat it.

For any company to say that its main goal is to eliminate piracy, is just plain silly. Unfortunately piracy is here to stay. However, they can do things to minimize piracy. RIM like other companies have developed ways that make it harder for users to pirate developers apps.

With the PlayBook's OS 2.0.1 RIM has developed some application protection in hopes that it will slow down the steady stream of piracy. RIM has added a couple new features like the linking of BlackBerry ID's to backup files. This prevents the sharing of backup files between users. RIM has also added the encryption of backup files. RIM is taking the right steps to insure that developers get treated fairly. Make sure you head on over to the Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog for more information.