BlackBerry Messenger gets support for voice chats over Wi-Fi

RIM’s instant messaging service has morphed into a voice-over-IP service for its users who are connected via Wi-Fi. BlackBerry Messenger is adding voice call support, Research In Motion announced today. Upon downloading the free BlackBerry Messenger update, customers will find that they can place voice calls to other BBM customers whenever they’re on a Wi-Fi […]

RIM finally unveils 4G LTE tablet, with Aug. 9 launch

The BlackBerry PlayBook will be available to Canadian customers first, the company says. It will be available in the U.S. and other territories “in the coming months.” After a long wait, Research In Motion has unveiled its 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook. The device will be available to Canadian customers first and come with 32GB of […]

Android rules U.S. and Europe smartphone sales

For the first time ever, Android has dominated smartphone sales in several major markets, including the U.S., Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and Australia, according to data released today by market analysis firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. In all of these countries, Google’s mobile OS has taken at least half of smartphone sales, with the […]

Nano-SIM design gets green light — but did Apple win?

According to ETSI, it has finally come to an agreement on the Nano-SIM standard. The only issue is, it didn’t say which company won. The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) announced today that its committee has come to an agreement on the Nano-SIM standard. There’s just one issue: the organization didn’t say which technology was […]

RIM promotes Playbook tablet in South Florida

Maybe you’ve heard that Research in Motion, the maker of Blackberry mobile devices, has updated its Playbook tablet to rival the iPad. Or maybe you haven’t, which is one of the company’s biggest challenges today: getting the word out. People think of RIM as limited to business Blackberry handsets, not consumer products. “That’s a problem,” […]

RIM CEO: We’re not abandoning BlackBerry physical keyboards

Research In Motion is not killing off its physical keyboards, according to CEO Thorsten Heins. Heins, who addressed a room full of journalists and bloggers at the company’s BlackBerry World conference here, said he wanted to clear up confusion based on the company’s unveiling of the BlackBerry 10 software. It was widely reported or intimated […]

RIM launches BlackBerry Mobile Fusion for iOS, Android devices

Research In Motion (RIM) has finally launched BlackBerry Mobile Fusion for iOS and Android-based devices. The mobile company announced Mobile Fusion last year. The service allows government and business customers to manage devices across BlackBerry OS, iOS, and Android from a Web-based console. According to the company, Mobile Fusion includes support for multiple devices per […]

Apple, Samsung own 95 percent of all mobile phone profits

Apple and Samsung together hoovered up more than 95 percent of mobile phone profits last quarter, leaving little left for other players, says Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley. Actually, there wasn’t a whole lot left for Samsung, either, once Apple was done with things. With strong demand for the iPhone 4S, Apple alone took home […]

iPhone 4S helps iOS close the gap on Android

Apple’s iPhone 4S proved to be the catalyst that jumpstarted iPhone sales last quarter, a new study from Nielsen has found. Among american citizens who purchased a new smartphone within the last three months, forty four.5 % of those surveyed in December bought an iPhone, striking Apple’s handset simply behind Android smartphones, which have been […]

Samsung still dominates mobile phone market, but Apple is gaining

Samsung is still the biggest maker of mobile phones, but Apple is gaining ground, according to data released today by market researcher ComScore. Samsung accounted for 25.6 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers for the three months ending November 11, a slight increase of 0.3 percent over the previous three months. While Apple came in fourth […]