Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, faces a problem in Europe as businesses look for other smartphone options, including Apple and Android phones.
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In Europe, Some Lovers of the BlackBerry Now Seek A New Flavor
What? Huh? Are you talking to me? Can’t you see that I’m in the middle of a very important e-mail on my BlackBerry? If you stand to the RIGHT side of the escalator, I might pull my earbuds out and roll my eyes while you ask me where the Hope Diamond is. But sorry, I don’t have time to show you how to use your Metro Farecard. Read full article > >
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D.C.: Rude, busy or both?
Says he responded on his Blackberry without reading full message.
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Murdoch: Never Read Hacking Email
Does $199 sound like too much for the BlackBerry Playbook this holiday season? RIM seems to think so, but only for its employees. According to multiple sources, the 16GB 7-inch tablet is now available to RIM employees through a special corporate portal for $99. The 32GB version is $149 and the 64GB model for $199. We have also been told that employees can only order up to eight models. Of course, that means that it’s only a matter of time before we start to see the QNX tablet on eBay, but hey, maybe RIM will just pull an HP and roll out the savings to everyone. Read full article > >
Server problems cause frustration for Blackberry owners across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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Blackberry crashes across Europe
Shares in Research in Motion fall 12% on news the cost of developing its new Blackberry tablet computer will hurt profits.
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Tablet costs hurt Blackberry firm
President Obama may want to keep his BlackBerry in his pocket: He is heading to San Francisco for a meeting with business leaders Thursday night, and ABC News says Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and outgoing Google CEO Steve…
Indian Blackberry users could face a ban after an important government deadline was missed.
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Blackberry faces Indian showdown
An airline passenger has a beef with liberal commentator Arianna Huffington, but it’s her BlackBerry use — not her politics — that’s apparently ticked him off.
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Huffington’s phone use upsets flier
Too bad the TSA pat-downs and body scans can’t detect rudeness. Actor Josh Duhamel was kicked off a flight on Thursday after refusing to turn off his BlackBerry. The Transformers star and husband of Fergie-The Black Eyed Peas’ lead singer-was traveling…
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Josh Duhamel Kicked Off Airplane
RIM, the maker of the Blackberry, announced Thursday that it has purchased The Astonishing Tribe, a highly regarded design and mobile interface company.
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Bits: Blackberry Aims for a Better Look
One of the CEOs of Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has hit back at Apple chief Steve Jobs’ critique of the tablet market.
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RIM counters Apple tablet jibes
Research In Motion, maker of the Blackberry smart phone, announces its answer to Apple’s iPad with a device called the Playbook.
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Blackberry launches rival to iPad
India sends formal notices to mobile operators telling them they must have equipment to monitor Blackberry services by 31 August.
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India orders Blackberry deadline
Last week, Microsoft released tantalising pictures of its latest device which got bloggers talking about a tablet. The division of Microsoft behind the account, however, makes keyboards, webcams and mice so it’s more likely that the flat matt black device in the photos is Microsoft’s rival to Apple’s recently announced trackpad. Also Microsoft has a patchy record when it comes to consumer trends. While the Xbox has taken a valuable place in the games console market, its Zune portable music player is still years behind Apple’s iPod in terms of sales.Last month chief executive Steve Ballmer said developing Windows-based tablet computers is “job one urgency” for the software group. He added “we have got to make things happen with Windows 7 on slates” but while the firm’s latest PC version of its software has touch capabilities, analysts have warned that putting the whole operating system on a tablet will mean manufacturers will have to use a lot of memory and fast processors on the device, which will increase its price. Also they question whether Microsoft still has the tablet market wrong: consumers do not want to do everything they can do on a desktop on a tablet. It is not merely a new form factor, it is a new kind of device. Some manufacturers are looking at whether its Windows Phone software – which also enables touch as well as the viewing of Microsoft Office documents – is not a better system on which to base Microsoft tablets. Either way, Ballmer said Microsoft is working with partners including Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Asus, Dell, Samsung, Toshiba, and Sony on tablets. Many of those firms, however, also have other software in mind.
Google, meanwhile, has long been rumoured to be working on its tablet computer, most recently in conjunction with Verizon (that story, however, may have been a confusion of the recent news that Verizon is actually working with Motorola to produce a tablet device aimed at the home entertainment market and running Google’s Android software). But there are questions as to why Google needs an own-brand tablet while many manufacturers are to produce their devices based on its Android. The company was planning a smartphone called the Nexus One because it feared that the iPhone was running away with the market and the industry needed to be shown what could be done with Android. But now that a plethora of good quality Android devices are appearing, Google has halted the Nexus programme. The real question among technology watchers is whether Google will work closely with one or two tablet manufacturers to create devices based on its Chrome OS software, which is aimed at web-enabled laptops and is due out later this year.
The handset makers
Several mobile phone manufacturers are already working on tablets based on Google’s Android. First out of the blocks will be a tablet from Samsung. The Korean hardware company is expected to give more details today but it will run Android and have a 7 inch screen, making it smaller than the iPad, but including a camera and accept memory cards. There is also talk of a second device with a tablet screen on one side and e-book reader on the other. While its first tablet is likely to use Android, Samsung also seems to want to use its new Bada operating system – which is used by its recently launched Wave mobile phone – for tablets. It remains to be seen whether consumers will want yet another operating system to deal with. Domestic rival, LG, is also working on an Android-based tablet which is scheduled for launch by the end of the year.
RIM, the company behind the BlackBerry, is rumoured to be working on a rival to the iPad, dubbed the BlackPad, which is scheduled for launch in November. Nokia, meanwhile, tried to enter the so-called netbook market with its own 3G Booklet last year. It ran Windows 7 and was hardly a success. Since then, the Finnish mobile phone company has teamed up with Intel to develop software better suited to laptops and tablets, under the MeeGo banner. The first device is likely to be a smartphone which could be out for Christmasand Nokia seems to be in no rush to produce a tablet.
Motorola is working with Verizon on an Android-powered tablet. The question is whether HTC will follow up its success in the Android-powered smartphone market with a tablet.
The PC manufacturers
Tablets running Windows have been in the market for some time from manufacturers such as France’s Archos while Lenovo, HP and others have released laptops – called convertibles – whose screens swivel to turn them into tablets. Taiwan’s Acer and China’s Asus are preparing tablets with Microsoft software. The latter will also release tablets using Android. But many consumers will prefer a household name when they take the plunge into tablets. One of the first was the Streak from Dell, but it is smaller than the iPad and seems more like a smartphone. BT, wants to get in on the tablet act and is developing a touchscreen version of the traditional landline telephone, which raises the unwelcome spectre of Amstrad’s failed eMailer device.
Toshiba has produced a dual-screen tablet running Windows 7 and is working on a single screen tablet called SmartPad, which may run Android. Hewlett-Packard, meanwhile, is believed to have been working on a device called the Zeen which runs Android and looks more like an e-reader. Tech watchers reckon HP’s real push into tablets will come on the back of its recent acquisition of smartphone designer Palm. The e-reader market, of course, already has the Kindle from Amazon – which has just been upgraded – and the Sony e-Reader, although both are likely to be superseded, over time, by tablets.
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In Europe, Some Lovers of the BlackBerry Now Seek A New Flavor
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This article titled “Apple’s iPad bonanza triggers race to launch copycat tablets” was written by Richard Wray, for The Guardian on Wednesday 11th August 2010 06.01 UTC