Over a decade ago, before becoming a mainstream phenomenon and about when "smartphone" first started to become a word, the BlackBerry was a novel device for those of us who were out of the office a lot but wanted to make it seem that we were at our desks (or in my case, while doing other things for fun, like playing basketball in northern New Jersey, or sailing while pretending to be at work).
Pricing for the new HP TouchPad hasn't been announced, but it looks like Research In Motion's 16GB BlackBerry PlayBook will cost $500. That rumor comes after Twitter user Ben Shipley posted a screenshot that shows what appears to be an internal Office Depot webpage of the PlayBook with a $500 price tag. The page also says the PlayBook is coming to Office Depot stores in Week 17 (presumably of 2011), suggesting a late April launch. Shipley once worked for Office Depot as a Regional Project Specialist, according to his Facebook page. It's not clear whether he is still employed with the big box retailer.
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) released the first BlackBerry smartphone running its "BlackBerry 6" mobile OS just six months ago, but the company is already hard at work on the next major BlackBerry OS device software update, BlackBerry 6.1.
If you've ever wanted to wrestle your phone number away from the carriers, now's your chance.
HTC, the maker of several popular Android smartphones, plans to launch three Android-powered tablets, with the first of the lot arriving as early as March, according to a DigiTimes report. The first tablet from the Taiwan-based manufacturer would be called the Flyer and won't run the tablet-optimized Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the report says, but rather Android 2.3 until Google releases the new OS later this year.
Research in Motion said Monday it will work with Indonesia's carriers to filter out pornography websites as soon as possible for BlackBerry subscribers.
After hearing so much about RIM's PlayBook it was good to get the opportunity to take this one for a spin, and while I certainly see what the fuss is about the device still faces hurdles ahead.
Google's lead Android developer Andy Rubin tweeted that the company is activating more than 300,000 Android phones each day. This equates to more than 9 million Android phones activated per month, despite reports that the platform's activation numbers were plummeting as of late.
'Tis the season for rumors about Apple's next iPad, and it's only going to get worse as the expected release date draws closer.
Research in Motion (RIM) has purchased the Astonishing Tribe (TAT), a Swedish company that by its own admission creates "beautiful user interfaces." Working behind the scenes, TAT's technology has provided custom interfaces for phones produced by Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and others. A small company of around 200 employees, TAT provides a complete software and design stack -- everything from the user-interface framework (which it calls TAT Cascades) to the actual user interface designs.
Research in Motion's attitude toward mobile applications seems to be, "If you can't beat 'em, dismiss 'em."
New BlackBerrys will soon look and feel like BlackBerry's Playbook tablet, co-CEO Jim Balsillie strongly suggested at the Web 2.0 Summit on Tuesday.
Research in Motion is taking shots at Apple with its new Blackberry PlayBook video, in which it shows how the PlayBook's web browser embarrasses the iPad's in speed tests.
Google's Android is now the second most popular mobile operating system in the world - second only to Nokia's Symbian OS, according to Gartner's third quarter report. Apple's iOS comes in third, followed by Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry OS, and Microsoft Windows Mobile.
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) plans to undercut Apple's iPad pricing when its PlayBook tablet launches next year, according to a BusinessWeek report.