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BlackBerry Losing Its Grip On The Market Share?

by Paul Joseph January 31, 2012 Featured

Once, BlackBerry was the default choice of enterprise customers for their communication needs. But, that is changing fast, especially in the established markets like North America and Europe, according to a New York Times report .   Apple has captured a significant market share from Reserach In Motion (the makers of BlackBerry) in North America, where it once was a dominant player. Samsung is slated to do the same in the other established market of RIM i.e. Europe with its Android operating system. BlackBerry is still going strong in developing markets. But, it is finding it difficult to hold on to its market share in more developed countries. While Apple Inc’s iOS and Google Inc’s Android operating systems have captured a lot of imagination, RIM has failed to innovate in recent years. Hence, many enterprise customers are switching from BlackBerry to other platforms. According to a recent global survey on information workers by research firm Forrester, 27% smartphone users have Android, 26% BlackBerry and 24%, an iPhone. “ Android and Apple together are eating BlackBerry’s lunch ,” said Frank Gillett, a Forrester analyst. Last year,  Blackberry Servers had gone down , sending millions of people across the globe into a frenzy. the servers were down for 4days . after the issue was solved to make it up to the customers Blackberry maker RIM offered all the customers 12 premium apps free of cost . And recently it was also reported that both the CEO’s stepped down from their position. Was this a good news ot bad only time can tell? The one asset that RIM can still bank on is security. But, that won’t be for too long, since other players are also addressing this issue. Some of Samsung’s new phones, like the Galaxy S II, include extra security features for enterprise customers. The newest version of Google’s Android operating system, called Ice Cream Sandwich, has built-in encryption. RIM is aware of its problems and is taking a number of steps to address them. It recently brought a new CEO on board in the form of Thorsten Heins. Heins is betting big on BlackBerry’s new operating platform called BlackBerry 10 or BB10. But, this has also received a severe jolt, since the new OS won’t be ready before late 2012. Now, it’s hard to imagine that enterprise customers will be ready to wait for that long. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts Android Captures 40% Of US Smartphone Market If Mobile Apps Shape Who We Are..Indians Mean Business Android, iOS Race Heats Up: Nielsen More Than 300,000 Android Phones Activated Daily, Reports Google Android To Become Asia’s Most Popular Mobile OS?

Tagged as: apple, blackberry, international, ios, iphone, news, reports, rim, samsung, technology

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MS Office In The Cloud As BlackBerry Teams Up With Microsoft: Boost In Productivity?

by Paul Joseph January 31, 2012 Featured

BlackBerry Makers Research In Motion (RIM) has collaborated with Microsoft to launch a Cloud based Office Productivity Suite. Simply titled Microsoft Office 365 , the service will help Users & Admins alike to better manage the corporate data on the Smartphones & Servers. Blackberry who recently recovered from the blackout is in no mood to upset its present customers & is offering this service free of cost ! Of course the customers include only who have subscribed to the stand-alone Office 365 suite or the standalone Exchange Online offering. However, the good news is that no matter what the data plan one uses, Consumer (EDGE) or Business (BlackBerry Internet Services [BIS] or BlackBerry Enterprise Services [BES]), one can still purchase this service which is presently not priced. The new cloud-based service will do what iPhone owners have been doing for quite some time . Synching Emails, Documents, Calendar & Organizer data. However, RIM has an ace up it sleeve with BlackBerry Balance . This tool will assist Corporate IT Administrators to effectively manage Corporate data on the device which many enterprises fear might land into wrong hands . Furthermore, BlackBerry users can heave a sigh of relief because there is a choice to objectively separate Personal Data & Corporate Data! This cloud-based service will also bring remote lock and remote wipe functions with it. With the recent stepping down of BlackBerry head honchos & other events &  incidents , we wonder is there something more than what catches the eye? . With the probable acquisition of Yahoo, not yet materialized, is Microsoft eying RIM? The companies are already collaborating heavily behind closed doors to enhance customer experience . Furthermore, Microsoft & RIM primarily cater to the same end of the Customer pyramid, i.e. the Enterprise Market. There were even rumors of a possible take-over, but they remained just that, rumors. We believe there is still a lot of life let in RIM, but it has to up its game, if it wishes to remain a considerable force in the business circles. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts If Mobile Apps Shape Who We Are..Indians Mean Business Android Captures 40% Of US Smartphone Market More Than 300,000 Android Phones Activated Daily, Reports Google Android To Become Asia’s Most Popular Mobile OS? Android To Overtake Windows Mobile, BB And iPhone In 2010 – Report

Tagged as: bes, bis, blackberry, features, microsoft, mobile, news, office, rim, smartphones

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RIM Slashes Rates Heavily On Playbook In India: But Will This Strategy Boost Sales?

by Paul Joseph December 29, 2011 Featured

We all know that RIM is not doing too well these days and this is pretty much evident from the lack luster sales that their flagship tablet, the Playbook has seen in the Indian market. The Playbook had a  lot of negative reviews when it was launched forcing RIM to recall some of them back. Now in order to boost their sales for the festive season, RIM is offering their Playbooks at heavily discounted rates . The 16 GB version is now available at Rs. 13,490 instead of its regular price of Rs. 27,990 . The 32 GB version is available at Rs. 15,990 and the 64 GB model is selling for Rs. 24,490 compared their regular pricing of Rs. 32990 and Rs. 37,990 respectively . The discounts amount to nearly 50% of the price! We wonder how they can afford that. Let’s look at how the Blackberry Playbook has fared compared to other popular tablets. The Playbook has sold less than 1 million units globally. Apple has sold more than 11 million iPads in just one quarter. Apple is way ahead of the competition and RIM cannot catch up with it . Heck, even Android the most dominant mobile OS cannot come near Apple in terms of sales. With ICS , they probably have a chance, but about RIM, we cannot say the same. Their tablet is doomed unless they change their strategy soon. The Blackberry range of smart phones is still pretty popular in the country but due to major outages that have happened recently, this may not be case soon. People are eagerly waiting for new range of BB smart phones with QNX OS, these phones may not see the light of day till late next year. We feel that RIM’s days are numbered. They have been way too complacent and that has resulted in many failures and dropping market share for the company. What do you think? Will you buy the Playbook at these discounted prices? Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts 3G On Corporate Phones? Not So Soon Blackberry Playbook – First Impressions Blackberry Playbook To Arrive In India This Month Will Tablets Touch Success In India? RIM’s Answer To IPad’s Dominance? – PlayBook For Under $500!

Tagged as: blackberry, features, ipad, mobile, news, playbook, rim

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Amazon Considered A RIM Acquisition This Past Summer

by Paul Joseph December 21, 2011 Featured

Research in Motion (RIM) is in a lot of trouble and they know it. The maker of of the Blackberry smartphones has not made much headway in the product category this year. The only thing that people are actually expecting from RIM is the new QNX based OS they are going to launch. But unfortunately, these devices will not see the light of day till late next year, which really is a big downer! As other platforms continue to grow and advance, their platform is currently languishing because of these problems. Their venture into the tablet market with ‘ Playbook ’ has also not been very successful. All in all, a very dismal year for these guys.Now imagine what would this year be like for them had Amazon bought them over. Yes, it would definitely be very interesting. Amazon had briefly considered buying out the troubled company to further their own advances into the mobile segment. Both the companies are tight-lipped about anything any suggestions of a buyout but Reuters is reporting that there were some informal talks between the two companies during this past summer. Besides Amazon, bankers were also trying to convince RIM’s competitors HTC and Samsung to buy out the ailing company but they chose not to. Let us try to understand why this buyout would make sense to Amazon. Amazon is a huge online retail company but besides their Kindle reader they had made much headway into the mobile computing segment earlier. With RIM’s devices and the substantial patents that it has, it would have made perfect sense for Amazon to acquire RIM. But since the talks didn’t go down well, Amazon focused on Android. They have just released their Kindle Fire and also invested in their own app store . RIM has thus chosen to face the future alone but it is very risky business for the Canadian technology company. The company’s board has rejected the notion of selling off parts of RIM’s business. The company seems to have undertaken a campaign to be hopeful about their future. The two CEOs from RIM have also proactively reduced their pay to $1 per year. Whether or not such tactics will work for RIM to steer clear of troubled waters, only time will tell. What is your opinion about RIM’s future in India? Let us know. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts Are Smartphones The Future of Mobile? RIM Quarterly Results Paint A Dismal Picture Android Captures 40% Of US Smartphone Market If Mobile Apps Shape Who We Are..Indians Mean Business Android, iOS Race Heats Up: Nielsen

Tagged as: amazon, blackberry, financial results, international, mobile, mobile-technology, news, qnx, rim, technology, tie ups

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Blackberry Maker RIM Offers Customers 12 Premium Apps Free Of Cost

by Paul Joseph October 18, 2011 Featured

We recently covered the 4 day outage that has affected the Blackberry servers worldwide and caused significant loss of productivity and loss of communication. The outage which was caused due a ‘core switch failure’ in the Blackberry servers affected the BBM and Email service. Now, RIM has announced that they will offer 12 premium apps free of cost to all the customers who were affected by the outage. The apps are listed as:  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 RadioTM Premium – Nobex Shazam Encore – Shazam Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant – Vlingo These apps are available to download till 31st December, 2011. More apps are likely to be added to the list. This is actually a very good step by RIM to pacify people who were affected by the outage as there is a real risk that people will look beyond the Blackberry for more dependable solutions. RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said, “We truly appreciate and value our relationship with our customers. We’ve worked hard to earn their trust over the past 12 years and we’re committed to providing the high standard of reliability they expect, today and in the future.” “ We are grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers for their patience. We have apologized to our customers and we will work tirelessly to restore their confidence. We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again ,” Lazaridis added. Blackberry Services have had very few outages since their inception and this was a very serious one. It has hurt the credibility of Blackberry being a ‘D ependable Solution ’ for corporates and normal people alike. RIM is currently in very dire straits  internationally due to decreasing market reach and the failure of their tablet, the Playbook. The future looks difficult for the once great smartphone company all these technical problems notwithstanding. We will have to wait and see how they deal with it.     Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency

Tagged as: advertising, blackberry, Featured, mobile, news, premium apps, rim, technology, web

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RIM Updates BlackBerry Messenger To Version 6

by Paul Joseph July 29, 2011 Featured

RIM’s widely popular messaging platform BBM just got updated to version 6 which introduces a lot of social features like Foursquare check-ins , third party app integration and sharing and discovering apps with friends . Most of these features are aimed at young BlackBerry users rather than RIM’s loyal corporate clientèle. The third party app integration is a key feature which will enable users to chat within games , news apps or any other sort of app without having to close the application. For instance a two player game can use this feature, where both users can chat while playing the game. The third party app integration also opens up gates for alternative BBM clients. This truly transforms BBM from just an app to a platform. The RIM Blog has a list of third party apps which have been developed to integrate these features. They range from news and sports apps to location and travel apps. The update also allows users to share location, links, podcasts and calendar appointments. There had been rumours earlier that BBM would also be coming to iOS and Android, however till now nothing of that sort has happened. Given that BBM has more than 45 million users , and more than 70% of them use it daily, this upgrade should come as good news for them. Along with the launch RIM has also started a competition for app developers to develop the “ Most addictive social app using BBM “. BBM 6 can be downloaded from this link for all devices with BB OS 5 and up. Additionally, BBM integrated apps will appear on the BlackBerry App World very soon. So download the new version and tell us your experience. 

Tagged as: bbm, bbm 6, blackberry, chat, experience, messaging, news, research in motion, rim, rumours-earlier

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Blackberry Playbook To Arrive In India This Month

by Paul Joseph June 13, 2011 Featured

Research in Motion (RIM) is all set to introduce its tablet, the Playbook in Indian markets within this month. According to Wall street Journal the launch date is 19th June. The launch is going to be alongside launches in 15 other countries like Britain, France and Singapore. The playbook, which was touted to be an iPad competitor by RIM hasn’t had  such a good launch . Negative reviews, product recalls due to issues in the OS, a not so satisfactory selling figure, lack of calendar and mail and a lot of other problems plagued the RIM. Pricing will be key in determining the success of the tablet in the Indian market. Currently the playbook is available in the US for $500, $600 and $700 for the 16GB, 32GB and the 64GB versions respectively. Going by the prices of iPads in the Indian market it is very likely that the 16GB version of the playbook would be priced just under the Rs. 30,000 mark. The Indian market currently has tablets from companies like Apple, Dell, Samsung, Olive, Spice and many others with some of these tablets being priced below Rs. 20,000. RIM has over a million users of their blackberry phones in India. Although most of their customers are from the enterprise sector, the device is catching on among non-enterprise users as well because of its attractive messaging and mail services. Since a lot of activities on the playbook like viewing mail or calendar require a blackberry phone, these users would be a natural target on launch. Unlike blackberry phones, the playbook runs on an entirely different OS built by QNX Software Systems, a company RIM recently acquired. Currently the device can run apps built with Adobe AIR, HTML5 and in the future it would also be able to run Android apps. The blackberry site already has a page set up to pre register for the playbook. On pre booking the buyer will get a free HDMI cable and a leather case. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts RIM’s Answer To IPad’s Dominance? – PlayBook For Under $500! Blackberry Services May Be Banned In India – DoT-RIM Saga Continues Blackberry Playbook Woes To Continue, Some Devices Recalled After BlackBerry, Others Could Come Under Security Scanner Intercept Or Ban BlackBerry Services – Government Tells Telcos

Tagged as: air, apple, berry-services, blackberry, enterprise, france, Indian, journal, media, mobile, news, research in motion, rim, social

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After BlackBerry, Others Could Come Under Security Scanner

by Paul Joseph February 24, 2011 Featured

The BlackBerry saga has been going on for about 3 years now. And even though the likes of Google, Skype and VPN providers have been named by the security establishment – it has mainly been a sideshow or a no-show. BlackBerry makes RIM has maintained that it should not be singled out, but so far it seemed like that was the case. The DoT/Home Ministry remained adamant about having access to the company’s corporate email services and asked telcos to either ask for access or stop working with the Canadian company. It seemed like they were on a collision course. But RIM slightly altered its tone this week. A story filed by ET this week, quotes the company as saying that is ‘appreciates’ the priority India places on national security and that it would be willing to work with Government to discuss Industry wide policy changes. We do know that the DoT is working on a snooping law . In its customer update, it went on to state that other companies are likely to face the same pressure too – naming the likes of Apple, Cisco, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Nokia and privately held Good Technology. It said that all these companies used encryption in India. In another report the names of Samsung and Sony Ericsson appeared as well. Senior Government officials have apparently assured RIM that it would not be singled out and the policy will be applied to all companies that use encryption. So is it likely that we’ll have a number simultaneous ’sagas’ in the months to come? RIM also accused competitors of trying to profit from its troubles by hinting to customers that their enterprise services will escape scrutiny despite using end-to-end encryption. So there has been no real development since the Home Ministry asked telcos to get tough with RIM. But the company’s statements do indicate that they won’t be the only ones pressed for access. As I mentioned, names of Google, Skype have come up in the past. Nokia has already set up a server in India – one of the demands of the security establishment. But no other company has been pursued with the same ‘interest’. And with RIM clearly stating that there is no way to provide access to its enterprise services, where this will go is anyone’s guess. To top it off, we could be looking at more companies getting involved in a tussle. What do you think will happen? REGISTER FOR WATSUMMIT – INDIA’S FLAGSHIP SUMMIT ON DIGITAL MEDIA REGISTER NOW! Related Posts If Mobile Apps Shape Who We Are..Indians Mean Business Android To Become Asia’s Most Popular Mobile OS? Home Ministry Asks DoT To Look Into Imported SIM Cards Blackberry Gets Reprieve, Google And Skype In Danger Zone. Government Gives RIM, Skype the Two-Weeks Notice.. Google Gets A Warning!

Tagged as: india, industry, media, news, rim, samsung, skype

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Government Insists On Access To BlackBerry Emails And TRAI Postpones NCPR Implementation

by Paul Joseph February 1, 2011 Featured

BlackBerry Saga Continues…. Yesterday was January 31st – the deadline for RIM to have provided Indian Security Agencies with access to all its services. Last week, RIM reiterated that it would not be technically feasible for the company to provide access to its Corporate Email Services. So far the company has been able to successfully provide access to voice calls, BlackBerry Messenger services, chat services and text messages for snooping. We have constantly followed the back and forth between the two sides and for now it looks like the stalemate will continue. Yesterday the Home Minister, P. Chidamabaram  insisted that RIM provide access to its enterprise email services just as they have done with other services. Sachin Pilot added that India is in no position to compromise on matters concerning security and that it cannot afford to have any loopholes. After this many papers reported that RIM’s saw its share prices drop. The company has had a rough week. China’s ZTE Corp knocked it off the top 5 mobile phone sellers. Its services faced outages in the US over the weekend. And recent reports have suggested that Android’s surge has hit them the most. The added uncertainty makes matters worse for them as this adds to speculation over whether its services will be banned in India or not. Do you think they will? NCPR Implementation Postponed To March 1st Remember NCPR ? Yes, the TRAI regulation that requires all Telemarketers to register themselves with the regulator. It also recommended higher penalties for those who violated the terms – and advocated a ban for repeat offenders, a reduction in registration period to 7 days from 45 days among other things. Now Reports suggest that owing to the DoT’s decision to allocate ‘140′ series instead of the proposed ‘70′ series the date for implementation will have to be moved to March 1st. The telemarketer registration process began as scheduled on January 15th and subscribers can start registering on 10th February( how to ). The new rules will come into effect on 1st March 2011. Will the new rules succeed? Or do they over-reach? Let us know what you think! REGISTER FOR WATSUMMIT – INDIA’S FLAGSHIP SUMMIT ON DIGITAL MEDIA REGISTER NOW! Related Posts BlackBerry Refuses Access To Corporate Emails The Security Saga Continues With Possible 3G Data Services Ban And RIM! BlackBerry Maker RIM And Indian Government Closer To A Solution? RIM Unhappy With Leaks Over BlackBerry Issue – Talks Put On Hold Android, iOS Race Heats Up: Nielsen

Tagged as: black, Indian, media, mobile, news, rim, security, services

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Recap 2010 : The Great Telecom Saga(s)!

by Paul Joseph December 28, 2010 Featured

This year, the Telecom industry gave us more twists and turns than the ever thickening plots of 2 Christopher Nolan and Stanley Kubrick films combined! I’m not sure how that would work, but basically there were a lot. Many more than we would care for, yet had to keep up because the direct affect it has on our lives. 3 stories played out simultaneously and separately as the year began. But as the year went on, the plots began interweaving. And even as the year ended, neither story has unravelled itself completely making sure we’re hooked and waiting for the sequel – 2011. Mobile Number Portability was ‘carried’ over from last year . Early in the year, 3G Auctions and MNP were given deadlines of February and March respectively. But any relief was short lived. And we should have guessed it would all go wrong again when MNP was given an April Fool’s deadline . And it was postponed again to the end of June, causing Rajiv to christen it Mobile Number Postponability. Meanwhile the 3G auctions were finally given the nod and began in April. Bids rose to astronomical values , and then went up , up and away finally netting the Indian Government a whopping 67,719 crore. With such prices we began wondering whether 3G would actually be affordable given the amount of money telcos had to pay for spectrum, when there was already news that the sector was under pressure thanks to the price war that was unfolding around the same time. With The Auctions (finally!) over, eager to be early adopters started licking their lips at the prospect of 3G connections. But come July, MNP was postponed again, this time to October 31st. Around the same time, the third big telecom story of the year started veering its head. The government resurrected a 2 year old monster and resumed its bid to get RIM to allow it to snoop. And this time, they added Google and Skype to the list too. Giving the Blackberry a mere 15 days to comply. But it was given a reprieve later in July, with the Government  extending the deadline. What followed was a couple of months of RIM  Proposes and India Disposes but extends deadlines. Amidst demands that RIM set up servers in India and give Indian security agencies Real Time access to BBM and their corporate email services. The security establishment also began eyeing all VPN services providers and exploring the possibility of manufacturing encrypted SIM cards locally. More on security in a bit. The October 31st deadline for Mobile Number Portability wasn’t met either and it was rescheduled for November 1st and then immediately to November 25th – with a target for Pan India Availability by the end of the year . But Telcos resisted , stating shortage of technical staff at hand during the holiday period and finally committed to a Jan 31st deadline. The 3G saga too continued to unfold all this while. After the auction and amidst much debate over whether 3G will be sustainable , affordable , magical and live up to its promise – Tata DoCoMo became the first two announce its 3G services. Giving all its subscribers free 3G services for a week during the Diwali period. Airtel and Reliance both revealed that they would begin 3G services during the calendar year and Vodafone targeted the first quarter of 2011. Reliance came through in mid december, launching its 3G services in 3 metros. It seemed, that everything was falling into place..but.. The security establishment woke up again and realized it didn’t have the wherewithal to monitor 3G services. At first they asked DoCoMo and Reliance to stop offering video calling services but there is a chance that this may extend to all 3G data services . And there’s also this perception that the big telcos will do anything they can to hold off 3G, at least till they all have 3G. Notice how all 3 started to tie in towards the end of the year. So in 2009, we looked forward to 2010 as the year where MNP and 3G would Arrive!! Well, they did arrive, but only just. We’re not as far along as we would have liked to be! Not even close. Overall 2010 was a saga-licious year for Telecom – and we’ve chosen to steer clear of mentioning the 2G scam. Here’s hoping 2011 will be far more productive! REGISTER FOR WATSUMMIT – INDIA’S FLAGSHIP SUMMIT ON DIGITAL MEDIA REGISTER NOW! Related Posts Mobile Number Portability? ‘Not This Year’ Say Telcos The Security Saga Continues With Possible 3G Data Services Ban And RIM! Indian Home Ministry Not Happy With Proposed BlackBerry Solution? Discovery And Apalya Partner To Launch 5 Mobile TV Channels Government Gives RIM, Skype the Two-Weeks Notice.. Google Gets A Warning!

Tagged as: airtel, calendar, government, india, price, rim, skype, vodafone

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