BBMGroupsOnline.com

Today RIM has announced it’s new BlackBerry trade-up program for customers in the US. Through this program, customers who purchase a new, eligible BlackBerry are qualified to receive money back for trading in their existing “eligible” BlackBerry device. According to the site, users can receive up to $120 back when trading in an old device. Of course the device you trade in and your new device will have to be on the eligable list, but the most recent devices including the 9670, 9800, Pearl 3G and 9700/9780 are all there. If you’re looking to trade-up and get a new device, head to blackberrytradeup.com.

C

Popularity: 1% [?]

RIM is hosting BlackBerry Developer Days that feature technical and go-to market sessions for developers of all experience levels. The sessions are designed to take you through some of the intricacies of developing for the BlackBerry platform and feature hints on how to get started. Upcoming dates include:

Dubai – 26 January 2011
Washington – March 8th
New York – March 15th
Toronto – March 24th
Sunnyvale – April 13th

Learn more about BlackBerry Developer Days at this link and see if one is coming to a city near you.

© BlackBerry Cool for BlackBerry Cool, 2011

Popularity: 1% [?]

In a recent post on the official Developer’s Blog, Mike Kirkup sums up the recent announcements surrounding the BlackBerry Platform and Dev Con Asia. The following announcements have been making headlines lately:

PlayBook announcements:

• The BlackBerry WebWorks SDK
• Updated Adobe AIR SDK for the PlayBook
• The free BlackBerry PlayBook tablet offer has been extended.

BlackBerry smartphone announcements:

• In-app payments are now available for beta testing.
• The BlackBerry Push Service SDK has been updated.

One of the more interesting tidbits of information provided in the post includes the fact that the BBM Social Platform, which we discussed back at Dev Con 2010, will have a beta SDK available in Q1 of this year.

The BBM Social Platform makes a lot of sense from an app and especially gaming position. There are a ton of games out there that use an in-game chat system, which would be best served by BBM. Another interesting application of the BBM Social SDK would be a dating platform. There are a ton of dating and PIN sharing sites out there, and they would all kill for a chance to be able to use the BBM Social Platform to connect their users in-app.

Read more about the BBM Social Platform here.

© BlackBerry Cool for BlackBerry Cool, 2011

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mobihand is currently beta testing a new social network that lets people discover their mobile app discoveries called AppVerse. Mobihand has an enormous catalog of apps and accounts of users who purchased apps, and AppVerse adds a social layer to the app discovery process.

This is Mobihand’s second shot at socializing the app discovery process. We wrote about their first attempt, a partnership with Blippy, which lets you connect your Mobihand account and share app discoveries with your friends. AppVerse keeps the process in-house and lets you follow, review and rate your own favorite apps, track expert app reviews, and ask questions about apps that catch your eye. For developers, AppVerse lets you interact with users who buy, rate, and review your products – creating an ongoing, two-way dialog.

To try out AppVerse, head over to this link and give it a try.

© BlackBerry Cool for BlackBerry Cool, 2011

Popularity: 1% [?]

Before we left CES 2011 we again sat down again with Ryan Bidan, the Senior Product Manager on the BlackBerry PlayBook team to work through a bunch of the questions we’ve been seeing here on CrackBerry related to the BlackBerry PlayBook. At the CES BlackBerry booth many of the same questions have been getting asked, so the Inside BlackBerry Blog did a quick interview with Ryan addressing the big questions they too have been hearing.

We’ll follow up with our written BlackBerry PlayBook FAQ soon, and in the meantime you can check out the video above. There’s been a bit of a misconception going around online that in order to use the BlackBerry PlayBook that you’ll need to own a BlackBerry Smartphone, which is not the case. A native email and calendar client may not be there at launch, but it is definitely on the roadmap (likely sooner than later) for the PlayBook and new OS. In the meantime there will be the BlackBerry Bridge for BlackBerry owners that turns the PlayBook into a big screen for your phone’s email, calendar, contacts, tasks, and BBM (no data stored on PlayBook) and access is there via the web browser as well. It’s clear that the QNX-based BlackBerry Tablet OS is still in early days and it’s going to be evolving rapidly. Unlike the phones where carriers dictate OS update releases, with the PlayBook RIM will be able to push them out to consumers quickly, and I’m sure we’ll be in for a lot of updates in the early days. It’s a solid base to begin with, and it’s only going to get better, that’s for sure.

Source: Inside BB

C

Popularity: 1% [?]

Following up on the announcement earlier this week of RIM’s new Built for BlackBerry program, I stopped by the Built for BlackBerry section of the BlackBerry booth where some of the new 3rd party accessories from Built for BlackBerry vendors were on display. Check out the video above for a quick look!

I have to say, I’m really excited for the Built for BlackBerry program. Historically, when a new BlackBerry device model hits the market — especially one with a new form factor — we often have to wait several weeks or even months before we see cases and accessories become available from our favorite 3rd party manufaucturers. With third party manufacturers getting new devices at the same time as consumers do, this delay in availability is inevitable. With the new Built for BlackBerry program, RIM is working with select partners to provide early access to new devices. So when the BlackBerry PlayBook hits the market for example, in addition to OEM BlackBerry brand accessories being available, you’ll also be able to pick up products from other BFB partners including Case-mate, Speck, Incipio, Otterbox, Tru Protection, iGrip, Vaja, Dicota and Trexta. There are lots of good names here and I’m sure we’ll see more companies join the program with time.

Of course, we already stock a number of products from these companies in our ShopCrackBerry.com store, and we’re going to work hard to get any missing ones in stock asap. Now we just need the PlayBook to get released!

C

Popularity: 1% [?]

We’ve been expecting a new BlackBerry App World to be released sometime soon and now it finally has been made available. BlackBerry App World 2.1 beta is now in the BlackBerry Beta Zone. Although it may not be available to all users as of yet. The list of what’s new is rather interesting as Research In Motion seems to be covering a lot of the usability features of BlackBerry App World:

• In-app Payments - App World 2.1 includes support for in-app payments.  How does this change the way you interact with certain paid applications as a developer or as a consumer?
• Filtered Featured Items - Once you open this latest version of App World, you’ll notice that Featured Items are seemingly more relevant to you.  Well, we decided to change this functionality based on the feedback we received from you during the App World 2.0 Beta Program.  Featured Items are now filtered by carrier and country to ensure that you are presented with the most relevant apps as soon as you open App World.
• Extended BBID Login Session - We heard what you had to say during the App World 2.0 Beta Program last summer and decided to make some changes to the BBID functionality in App World.  With this latest release, a single BBID login session lasts for 20 minutes, making it easier for you to download and install as many apps as you’d like in one go.  Please remember that during the 20 minute BBID login session,  you will not be prompted again for your BlackBerry ID to complete a purchase.  If your BlackBerry smartphone gets in the hands of someone else, they could make a purchase that you’re not aware of.

If you have a BlackBerry Beta Zone account you’ll want to login and try the new version out. If you don’t have an account you can try your luck and sign up for one today. Thanks Dave!

Click here to signup for the BlackBerry Beta Zone

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. BlackBerry App World 2.1 beta now available in the BlackBerry Beta Zone

Popularity: 1% [?]

Hi everyone – my name’s Paul. I’ve worked at Research In Motion® (RIM) for over eight years as a Technical Account Manager, and I’m now the Manager of Technical Services for the Enterprise Sales group at RIM. For the past few months, I’ve been making a deliberate effort to conduct all of my work on my BlackBerry® smartphone (a BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone, to be exact). This project started very slowly, but with each week, I learn what I can do to keep my laptop at home.

I started while on a business trip to Chicago, and although I had my laptop present, I tried to keep it in my bag. The next trip was to San Francisco, and once again, I had my laptop with me – but this time it stayed in the hotel room. For all of my meetings, I relied on BlackBerry® Presenter.

Before the holidays I tried my first official week where my laptop didn’t even make it on the plane – I was able to do all my work laptop free! Through January, as I head off to a week-long conference, I plan to leave my laptop at home. Very liberating – and all thanks to my BlackBerry smartphone!

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Popularity: 1% [?]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Have you switched to BlackBerry 6 and miss all those ringtones you had in OS 5.0? Luckily, RIM has heard your cry and has released an OS 5.0 ringtones pack for new OS 6 users to download. The ringtones were found on the BlackBerry mobile site by LaBlackBerry. Let us know how these ringtones sound and if any are still missing!

• Download OS 5.0 ringtones from BlackBerry.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

Just the other day there were reports coming out that the BlackBerry PlayBook would be delayed due to poor battery life of only a “couple hours”. To clear the air, Research In Motion has released an official statement regarding this issue:

“Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented. RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook’s battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.”

It will be interesting to see if RIM makes any big announcements at this year’s CES, the largest consumers electronic show. If RIM is still on point with the release of the PlayBook, that would peg it at releasing no later than March 2011.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tata DOCOMO has announced a new plan for both its pre- and postpaid BlackBerry customers. The new plan, dubbed BlackBerry Unlimited, allows customers to experience their BlackBerry smartphones to the fullest without limitations, i.e. unlimited Internet browsing, unlimited e-mail, unlimited social networking and unlimited access to BlackBerry App World. And that is not all – with the new plan, Tata DOCOMO will also provide customers in select areas an additional quota of 300MB data allowance for free!

Should that not sound convincing yet, the BlackBerry Unlimited plan will cost you a mere Rs 399 (less than 9 USD) per month. Although Tata DOCOMO’s selection of BlackBerry smartphones leaves a lot to be desired, the new plan is a solid, but also an affordable deal. Or at least, I believe it to be an affordable one. Say, how much do you currently pay for the luxury of having a BlackBerry smartphone every month? Please leave a comment, I am eager to see the numbers!

Source: bbin.in

Popularity: 1% [?]

The future of Research In Motion hangs in the balance. It is the early summer of 1997, and Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie stand in a BellSouth conference room. They’ve spent the last few years trying to convince the world that mobile email is the future. They’re almost there. RIM has already produced one device, the Inter@ctive Pager 900; and is developing a second – sometimes called the Leapfrog.

But BellSouth – the one and only customer for RIM’s soon-to-be Leapfrog – isn’t happy. They’ve spent $300 million to buy and build the Mobitex wireless network. But without products to make use of that network, BellSouth finds itself with an unprofitable enterprise. If BellSouth goes through with plans to sell the network, RIM loses its Leapfrog network and the only customer for the device.

RIM Co-CEO’s Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have but one chance to change the minds of the high-level executives in that room. The executives “walked in there thinking they were going to pull the plug,” says Jim Hobbs, VP Operations, BellSouth Mobile Data. As Lazaridis begins the presentation that will decide the future of his fledgling company, he comes to a horrid realization. He and Balsillie had been so nervous about the meeting that they had left the models of the Leapfrog in their taxi. It was a make-it or break-it presentation, and the most important parts were lost.

read more

C A History of Research In Motion – part 1

Popularity: 1% [?]

Trapster, the popular speed trap alert service, has recently been acquired by NAVTEQ. If you haven’t used Trapster before, it’s an application that lets users share tips on conditions and speed traps with others across multiple platforms. Trapster’s user base is already close to 10 million and NAVTEQ is looking to increase this already huge number. NAVTEQ is also on a mission to bring more features (like parking availability) to the application and also to improve and fine tune the core features that made Trapster such a popular app. Combining the Trapster application with NAVTEQ’s map expertise is sure to bring a great app to you, and the other 10 million users out there. Trapster is free of charge and they want it to be known that they have no intention to change this. It is availbable for a variety of BlackBerry devices.

Visit Trapster’s website for more information and download

CrackBerry.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

We kind of saw this one coming, and in an official announcement today RIM has rebranded the Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES) to BlackBerry World. A very fitting title given the history of the conference. It is definitely worldwide and the past few years we’ve seen our fair share of device announcements (maybe a Storm3 this year?!) and more. The conference will still hold the same breakout sessions, hands-on labs and certifications as in the past, while incorporating more from other areas of the BlackBerry platform as well. Attendees of BlackBerry World will be able to:

• Hear the most current information about the BlackBerry solution, new application partners, and roadmaps for the future
• See live demonstrations of the BlackBerry solution at work
• Get answers from BlackBerry experts to develop value-driven wireless solutions, as well as carriers and vendors who can help provide valuable wireless research information
• Meet and connect with key executives who are making the BlackBerry solution part of their business planning, and the industry leaders who are shaping the future of global wireless technology
• Get training on the BlackBerry platform, with additional opportunities for technical certification

The flagship BlackBerry conference will be entering its tenth year and will be held from May 3-5 2011 in Orlando FL. Registration opens in January. For more check out blackberryworld.com.

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. RIM renames WES as BlackBerry World conference

Popularity: 1% [?]

Zenprise is a company we’ve been following for a long time on BlackBerryCool and they have recently launched 6.0 of their MobileManager product. The company’s product is a holistic approach to security for a company with support for multiple smartphones in their environment. In order to keep a company’s data safe, MobileManager offers IT the following security and management capabilities:

• Dynamic Defense provides context aware device security, automatically detecting potential threats and intelligently adjusting security settings to mitigate risk. For example, Dynamic Defense can detect that a credit card scanner is no longer in a retail store and immediately lock down and even wipe the rouge device clean of data.
• Secure Connect provides flexible application security that allows IT to offer mobile users secure, encrypted access to specific business applications from their smartphone. With the rapid expansion of business productivity apps on mobile devices, Secure Connect is a simple and flexible way to open access to these applications, while mitigating the risks involved.
• Mobile Application Gateway brings intelligent security to the network. Used in conjunction with Secure Connect, the Gateway controls access to all corporate applications. and logs all mobile application traffic for compliance and reporting purposes.

Learn more about the company’s latest offerings here.

© BlackBerry Cool for BlackBerry Cool, 2010

Popularity: 1% [?]

We talk a lot about mobile payment systems here at BlackBerryCool because it’s a fast growing industry with some pretty awesome implications for retail and business in general. The BlackBerry, being a secure and ubiquitous device, is the ideal platform for capturing mobile payments and we’ve recently come across a pretty awesome solution called Wireless Merchant.

Wireless Merchant is a two in one application for BlackBerry. The first application is a Credit Card Processing Module which allows merchants to process their clients’ credit cards and receive an authorization almost immediately. The second application is an Order Entry/Billing Module which integrates directly to back office accounting systems (Sage ACCPAC ERP, Sage BusinessVision and QuickBooks). This application brings the customers, items, pricing, taxes etc. into the BlackBerry and allows the merchant to process an Order, Invoice, Credit Note and/or a Quote while automatically updating their accounting system and creating a domino effect. All of this backend updating is done in real time.

If you’re a Wireless Merchant user and your client needs a physical copy, you can print or email the transactions to multiple sources. Wireless Merchant is also compatible with a wide range of Bluetooth scanners and printers.

Wireless Merchant has credit card processing is available in both Canada (TD Canada Trust, Chase Paymentech and Moneris) and in the US (Chase Paymentech, Vital, Fifth 3rd and more). The company let us know that they’re to update full chip and pin (EMV) by summer of 2011 and this will enable full debit and credit card transactions for both Canada and the US.

One of the best features of Wireless Merchant is the pricing. At $20 per user per month for the Accounting Billing Integration and $20 per user for Credit Card Processing, any business can recoup the cost of implementing very quickly.

If you want to demo the Wireless Merchant system, you can download a demo app free OTA and give it a shot. The demo app does not integrate anywhere but it shows off all the features.

Download the Wireless Merchant app OTA from this link.

© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2010

Popularity: 1% [?]

I have fond memories of all the BlackBerry devices I’ve used over the years.  Back in the summer of 1998 my first RIM device was called the ‘interactive messenger’ — it was similar to the BlackBerry device but had a couple of interesting features that were quite popular; “text-to-voice” and “text-to-fax” allowing you to compose a message and have it delivered by fax or by Stephen Hawking via phone.

As with any product that exists the people are never content with what they have and always want more, and I am certainly no exception.  Last week I was having drinks with a friend and was showing off my BlackBerry Torch and all it’s BB6 goodness, and I started thinking about how far RIM has come in the BlackBerry world.

read more

CrackBerry.com

Popularity: 1% [?]