blackberry

Research In Motion's upcoming operating system, BlackBerry 10, could soon be made available for non-BlackBerry devices, according to the company's chief executive, Thorsten Heins.

Heins told Bloomberg that QNX, the software that BlackBerry 10 is based on, is "already licensed across the automotive sector... we could do that with BlackBerry 10 if we chose to."

"The platform can be licensed," he added -- but did not confirm the software would be licensed. Samsung, which was recently rumored to be considering using BlackBerry 10, said last week it had not considered buying any licenses for the software. … Read more

Research In Motion has succeeded in getting overturned a verdict that would have forced it to pay $147.2 million in patent-infringement damages to mobile device management company Mformation.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has overturned a trial verdict and granted RIM's "motion for judgment as a matter of law." According to RIM, the court found that the evidence in the case did not adequately support the jury's verdict.

"We appreciate the judge's careful consideration of this case. RIM did not infringe on Mformation's patent and we … Read more

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 storage. If LTE is not available, the tablet will "automatically adjust to connect on HSPA+," RIM says. The tablet will be available to Bell, Rogers, and TELUS customers in Canada.

The 4G LTE-equipped PlayBook comes with the same 7-inch display as its predecessor, and includes both front- and rear-facing HD video cameras. HDMI out and stereo speakers are also included. On the software side, users can expect the same operating … Read more

The New York Times has decided to stop supporting its current BlackBerry app because of a decrease in users, Reuters reported today.

The newspaper cut off support to the apps for BlackBerry and the DealBook BlackBerry Reader on Monday, directing BlackBerry users to use the NYT mobile site instead.

"Currently, our mobile Web site offers a more complete New York Times experience than the NYTimes app native to your device," the NYT wrote in an announcement to its customers. "We've made the decision to consolidate our efforts and concentrate on delivering you the best possible experience … Read more

Gearing up for Islamic holy month, the Indonesian government announced it has shuttered more than 1 million pornographic Web sites, according to the Times of India. And it hasn't stopped there -- the government said it has plans to crack down on millions more.

"We will block more porn sites during Ramadan," Indonesia's communications and information minister Tifatul Sembiring told the Times of India. Then, hinting at the possibility of keeping the sites shut down indefinitely, he said, "though that doesn't mean that we will allow such sites to operate during the rest of … Read more

The technology vultures may be eagerly circling RIM but that hasn't stopped the ailing company from coughing up one more handset. Verizon just announced the $49.99 BlackBerry Curve 9310, which goes on sale July 12. … Read more

Frank Boulben, the new chief marketing officer at Research In Motion, did his homework before joining the company.

Boulben, who jumped off the sinking ship that was wireless startup LightSquared, tapped his Rolodex of contacts and friends within the carrier and developer communities to see if the RIM position was a job worth taking. To his surprise, he found there was still a lot of support behind RIM and BlackBerry. In particular, his friends were high on BlackBerry 10.

"The feedback was positive," Boulben told me in an interview. "From a technical standpoint, they like the platform … Read more

In June, Research In Motion suffered its worst month to date.

First, a $518 million quarterly loss. Second, its lowest share price since the company's peak in 2008. And last, a delay for the forthcoming line of BlackBerry models and an updated operating system that may make or break RIM's future.

Considering this, with RIM's annual meeting scheduled this week, CEO Thorsten Heins may not be looked upon with friendly eyes by investors.

Displeasure, and investors brooding over their dwindling stake, may not be the only thing to occupying shareholders' minds at the meeting. The New York Times … Read more

Our big rumor of the week is directly related to Google, so thankfully Karyne made it back in town just in time to witness the Google Glass-wearing skydivers jump from a dirigible into Google I/O. Wait, what? Whoa!

Before the keynote went off on a crazed adventure sports tangent, Google announced a new product: the new Nexus 7 tablet running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and selling for the small sum of $199. What else sells for that? Oh right, the Kindle Fire.

So this leads us to the question: is Amazon now feeling the pressure to update its … Read more