BlackBerry

If you're strictly comparing the BlackBerry Curve 9370 to what came before, then the update for Verizon is an absolute knockout.… Read more

MetroPCS is calling its $40 unlimited plan back into service for 4G LTE smartphones, after pulling the plan when it ceased selling its debut 4G phone, the Samsung Craft, last year.

As with all of the carrier's unlimited plans, the $40 4G LTE plan includes unlimited talk, text, and Web browsing. It also allows for 100MB of multimedia streaming using Metro's LTE network.

Until yesterday when the plan officially went into effect, customers buying LTE smartphones were limited to the $50 unlimited plan, which includes a 1GB allowance for streaming content from services like Pandora and YouTube.

The … Read more

In November, the new look for the upcoming BlackBerry London designed by Porsche was leaked to the Web. Photos of the metallic, angular smartphone surfaced along with information about the London being the first phone to run the QNX operating system.

Today, however, new photos of quite a different looking phone were leaked, according to CrackBerry. Looking strikingly similar to an iPhone, this new BlackBerry London is sleek and black with rounded edges.

"London is about changing the game," reads the BlackBerry marketing info. "Hardware & Platform, fused into one polished experience."

The London is the … Read more

Former Research in Motion co-CEO Mike Lazaridis still believes a comeback is in the works for BlackBerry and is willing to put his money where his mouth is.

Lazaridis, who alongside fellow co-CEO Jim Balsillie stepped down from RIM a week ago, said in an interview posted Friday by The Record that he is confident in new CEO Thorsten Heins. In fact, Lazaridis is confident enough that he said he plans to buy $50 million worth of additional stock.

"I absolutely know he will take this company to new heights," Lazaridis said in the interview.

Lazaridis and Balsillie … Read more

Research In Motion is prepping a slimmed-down product lineup for this year, as it puts its resources behind its next-generation BlackBerrys coming in the second half, according to an apparently leaked product lineup.

RIM plans to release two BlackBerry Curves in the next few months, Boy Genius Report said in a report today. In addition, BGR said, the company plans to launch a slightly tweaked PlayBook tablet.

The main debut event will come in the second half of the year, according to the report. RIM has its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone, code-named London, on track for a September launch, according … Read more

At BlackBerry-maker RIM, it's out with the old and in with the new--at least as CEOs go.

Last night's news of Thorsten Heins' ascent at our favorite Canadian smartphone company got us thinking long and hard about what the new leadership means for RIM, especially since Heins isn't exactly a newcomer to the company. CNET News' Roger Cheng joins the Dialed In crew.

Later in the show, Lynn shares Virgin Mobile's throttling plans, and Brian talks all about an iPhone look-alike that's more than what it seems.

When it comes to mobile security, common perception is that RIM's Blackberry devices have the market locked up. But in this age of personal iPhones and Androids migrating to corporate networks, does it really matter?

We also inhabit an era of disclosing everything you do online, including sharing your live location, publicly announcing shopping preferences, not to mention making purchases with digital wallets. I argue that attitudes have shifted since the time of a RIM-dominated handset market.

Okay, let's be clear, smartphones today hold a frightening amount of personal data. From email, texts, to real-time position and Web … Read more

It wasn't just consumers and Wall Street that had a problem with Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie; it turns out they weren't so popular with Research in Motion employees either.

That's according to a survey of more than 120 reviews from RIM employees taken by Glassdoor, a career-focused site that provides a glimpse at jobs and companies.

According to Glassdoor, Balsillie and Lazaridis received from their employees a 48 percent approval rating, and a 52 percent disapproval rating. On average, a CEO gets an approval rating of 62 percent, the site said.

RIM said late yesterday that … Read more

After long years of troubled management for BlackBerry-maker RIM, the company's two co-founder CEOs stepped aside to see what some fresh blood could do to revive the ailing smartphone brand. Yet for those outside the company, Thorsten Heins (pronounced TORE-sten) is a veritable man of mystery.

That's about to change, and rapidly, as the new executive gets pushed into the glaring spotlight and will be expected to turn RIM around, and fast.

Where did he come from? Heins, 54, hails from Germany, where he earned a master's degree in Science and Physics from the University of Hannover. … Read more