BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365 announced by RIM

Research In Motion (RIM) today announced the BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365 which is a new RIM-hosted online service for midsized businesses and enterprises that extends Microsoft Exchange Online to BlackBerry smartphones, and allows organizations to self-manage their BlackBerry deployments in the cloud.

Key features include:

• Access to Microsoft Exchange Online email, calendar and organizer data from a BlackBerry smartphone
• BlackBerry Balance technology, which presents a unified view of work and personal content on a BlackBerry smartphone while keeping the content separate and secure
• A web-based console for IT administrators to provision, manage and secure BlackBerry smartphones from anywhere
• Online access to employee self-service smartphone security functions, allowing users to reset a device password or remotely lock or wipe a device in the event of loss or theft 

Microsoft Office 365 customers can sign up for the BlackBerry Business Cloud Services beta over here. The cloud-based service is available for no additional charge in about 30 countries to Microsoft Office 365 Midsized Businesses and Enterprises plan subscribers and works with BlackBerry smartphones on business or consumer data plans.
 
More information is available over here.

This may be the first BBX running smartphone by RIM

RIM had a few days back announced the launch of a new OS platform called the BBX, on which all future RIM mobile and tablets will run. We now have an image of a mobile phone which may probably be the first device to run BBX.

Dubbed as ‘BlackBerry Colt’ the specs of the device may be as follows:

• Single-core 1.2 GHz processor but may finally graduate with a dual-core
• 4.3 inch touchscreen with no physical button
• Front and back facing camera with Flash and auto-focus
• A little thinner than 9900 and 9930
• Similar battery life; may be that like PlayBook
• Thinner than Bold 9900 and 9930.
• A screen resolution of about 900+
• All swipe inner bezel

The BlackBerry Colt is said to arrive in Mid-2012.

All the specs may eventually change as the development takes place. We’ll keep you informed on that.

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BlackBerry 9980, a RIM and Porsche Design combo

Sometime back we had shared with you images and details about a probable Bold 9980, which at that time seemed to be fake given the design of the device. But now RIM and Porsche Design have sent out invitations for the official launch of the device in Dubai on the October 27. This is the first time that we see Porsche and RIM come together and this can surely be seen in the design of the Bold 9980. There are no curves on the device and those have been replaced with edges. The keypad seems to be out of a metallic frame.


As for the specs of the device, it may run on a 1.2GHz QC8655 processor and the screen resolution is said to be at 640x480. There is a 5MP camera at the rear and 8GB storage onboard. The 9980 may also run on the BB OS 7.0. Just a few more hours before the official announcement and we’ll keep you updated on this.

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RIM unveils new OS, dubbed BBX for Mobiles and Tablets

Research In Motion (RIM) has launched a new Operating System for its future mobile devices and tablets. Called the BBX, it would replace the antiquated software that now powers the BlackBerry with a package built around the QNX system, also the engine behind the PlayBook.

BBX will support applications developed using any of the tools available today for the BlackBerry PlayBook including Native SDK, Adobe AIR/Flash and WebWorks/HTML5. BBX will also support BlackBerry runtime for Android Apps on future BBX-based tablets and smartphones. BBX will not support Java, on which all the present BB devices work. It will also include the new BlackBerry Cascades UI Framework for advanced graphics, shown for the first time on Tuesday, and bring "Super App" capabilities to enable many advanced capabilities including deep integration between apps, always-on Push services, the BBM Social Platform, and much more.

Though the BlackBerry PlayBook has not been a hit with the users and developers too, RIM feels that BBX will change everything for it. RIM is also trying its best to make more apps available for the tablet. And for that, RIM said it was giving developers a tool to adapt their Android programs for the Playbook.

"We're doing everything we can to make it easier than ever to submit apps and sign up, we’re removing roadblocks. This is a very exciting time for BlackBerry developers." Mike Lazaridis co-CEO of RIM said.

RIM has not announced a date as to when BBX’s SDK will be available for developers and this has proved as disappointment to the developer world. Let’s wait and watch how BBX will change the way BlackBerry devices work in the future.

RIM offering special BlackBerry PlayBook offer this Diwali

This Diwali RIM is giving us a surprise. The company has a festive offer in which they are offering a free BlackBerry Curve 8520 and a BlackBerry PlayBook accessory when you purchase a BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet.

RIM offers Premium Apps worth $100 for free to compensate the recent outage

In an official press statement, RIM has announced that it’ll offer selected Premium apps to its BlackBerry users free of cost via BlackBerry App World worth more than $100, in a bid to appease its customers following the service disruption last week. RIM said that the premium apps will become available to download at BlackBerry App World  beginning 19th October and will be available till 31st December.

• SIMS 3 - Electronic Arts
• Bejeweled - Electronic Arts
• N.O.V.A. – Gameloft
• Texas Hold’em Poker 2 - Gameloft
• Bubble Bash 2 - Gameloft
• Photo Editor Ultimate - Ice Cold Apps
• DriveSafe.ly Pro - iSpeech.org
• iSpeech Translator Pro - iSpeech.org
• Drive Safe.ly Enterprise - iSpeech.org
• Nobex Radio Premium - Nobex
• Shazam Encore - Shazam
• Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant - Vlingo

BlackBerry Analytics Service 1.0 is now live

If you are a BlackBerry developer then we have some news for you. RIM has launched the BlackBerry Analytics Service 1.0, powered by webtrends.

It enables you to collect and analyze data on how your apps are being used. Reports that are generated can provide insight that can be used to understand how users are engaging your app, enhance user experience in order to drive more downloads, learn how to market your app more effectively, and be better able to detect issues as they arise rather than waiting for feedback. The service is available to any developer of Java-based apps for BlackBerry smartphones at no charge for up to 25,000,000 server calls per month.

The service provides more than 20 interactive reports that can supply useful insights about how your app is being used. Check out the events report that is generated by the service to give you an idea about the usage of a particular feature in your app.


To get started with the BlackBerry Analytics Service register for the service over here. For more information visit here.

BlackBerry service disruption is said to cost RIM $100 million

There was a huge service disruption recently affecting BlackBerry services around the globe and leaving users agitated, annoyed and sad. Thankfully the service has been restored in almost all regions and users now breathe a sigh of relief as there was no data loss.

Now there hasn’t been a clear reason given by RIM for the outage but according to sources there was a malfunction in the data centre in the United Kingdom. It first hit Europe, the Middle East then Asia on Monday and then later spread to America the following day before getting resolved on Thursday. This was the most severe outage and according to the Financial Post, it could cost RIM about $100 million. The costs should include refunds that the company might have to issue carriers for monthly fees it collects for each BlackBerry user. Scotia Capital analyst Gus Papageorgiou has calculated and suggests that the loss should come around $117.7 million, or $0.22 per share.

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BlackBerry Blackout, Are you hit by it? Know why it happened [Update]

You must be surely pissed off if you are a BlackBerry user. In last couple of days, BlackBerry services went down twice. BlackBerry outage in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina was caused by a 'core switch failure' within RIM’s infrastructure.

RIM issued statements regarding the messaging and browsing delays.

11th October 5:18 AM (IST) - We are pleased to report that BlackBerry email services have been restored. Some people may continue to experience delays with instant messaging and browsing services and our technical teams are working to return services to normal as quickly as possible. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience and we’ll continue to update you as new information becomes available.

11th October 9:06 PM (IST) - Some users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina are experiencing messaging and browsing delays. We are working to restore normal service as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

12th October 2:04 PM (IST) - The messaging and browsing delays being experienced by BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure. Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested. As a result, a large backlog of data was generated, and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience, and we will continue to keep you informed.

We will keep on updating this articles, as and when more information will be available.

Are you a BlackBerry user? Any thoughts?

Update 1 : 12:09 PM IST - Some users in India are reporting that the BlackBerry services have started to work for them.
Update 2: 12:28 PM IST - Many users are still not able to access the BlackBerry services.
Update 3 : [Official Statement] We're aware many BlackBerry customers are experiencing intermittent service delays. Restoring full service is our number one priority. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience. We will provide a further update as soon as more information is available.
Update 4 : We continue to work on clearing the message backlog in order to eliminate delays. Thank you for your patience.
Update 5 : [Official Statement] Hoax chain messages have been circulating on BBM asking users to send broadcast messages to all of their contacts. This message did not originate from RIM, and we recommend that you ignore it and please do not forward. Thanks for your support.
Update 6 : RIM CIO Robin Bienfait shares a progress update on BlackBerry service: http://tlk.tc/oEEB