MTS: Unlimited Internet users abroad for BlackBerry

The mobile operator MTS announced the launch of options «BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) abroad", which allows owners of BlackBerry smartphones to enjoy unlimited Internet access to international roaming.

With the new tariff option «BIS abroad", as the operator, private and corporate BlackBerry users can access the Internet and work with your e-mail and BlackBerry applications in the international roaming for 299 rubles a day in Europe and 699 rubles - in other countries that will allow up to 18 times to reduce the cost of mobile internet abroad.

The service is free and available to connect up to 31 March 2012, the service operates to disconnect the subscriber within 92 days.

Research In Motion Launches the New BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 Smartphones in Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) announced the launch of the new BlackBerry® Bold™ 9790 and BlackBerry® Curve™ 9380 smartphones in Vietnam.  Powered by the BlackBerry® 7 operating system (OS), the new smartphones both support Vietnamese input methods and a Vietnamese user interface (UI). The two smartphones will be available from authorised resellers through Brightstar Corp. and come with an 18-month warranty with support from local after-sales service centers.  The BlackBerry Bold 9790 is expected to be available January 15 and the BlackBerry Curve 9380 is expected to be available in February. For a full list of authorised resellers, please visit http://vn.blackberry.com/dealers/

“We are pleased to introduce the BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphones to customers in Vietnam,” said Nicholas Horton, Vice President, Indochina at RIM. “These new BlackBerry 7 based models offer customers fast performance, beautiful touch displays, sleek designs and a truly outstanding mix of communications, multimedia, productivity and social connectivity features.”

BlackBerry Bold 9790 with Touch Display and Keyboard
True to the BlackBerry Bold brand, the new BlackBerry Bold 9790 smartphone is powerful, full-featured and built with premium materials and finishes. It combines a high-resolution and highly responsive touch display with a highly tactile keyboard and a precise optical trackpad, but comes in a narrow design that is easy to carry and exceptionally comfortable to hold.  With the BlackBerry 7 OS and powerful 1 GHz processor, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 delivers fast, smooth performance for browsing the web, running apps, working with documents, and enjoying multimedia. It includes 8GB of onboard memory and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB of additional storage.

All-Touch BlackBerry Curve 9380
The finely crafted BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first touch screen smartphone in the BlackBerry Curve family. It features a highly responsive and brilliant 3.2” high resolution display and comes with preinstalled social networking apps, including BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger), Facebook®, Twitter™ and Social Feeds apps, that offer a fun, easy and smoothly integrated mobile experience. This compact and stylish handset also features a 5MP camera with flash and video recording, allowing users to easily capture and share their favorite moments with family, friends and colleagues.

Powerful BlackBerry 7 OS
The BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 are both powered by the new BlackBerry 7 OS, which delivers a faster and richer user experience with improved browsing, voice-activated searches, and support for Augmented Reality and NFC (Near Field Communications). BlackBerry 7 also supports the ability to manage personal content separately from corporate content, and comes with a variety of personal and productivity apps out of the box.

For more information, please visit vn.blackberry.com or www.facebook.com/BlackBerryVN

About Research In Motion
Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

RIM Launches Five New BlackBerry 7 Smartphones in the Philippines

BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry Curve 9380, BlackBerry Torch 9810, BlackBerry Torch 9860 and Pure White BlackBerry Bold 9900 available in stores January 13

Manila, the Philippines - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) announced the launch of five new BlackBerry® smartphone models based on the BlackBerry® 7 Operating System (OS) in the Philippines. The latest additions to the BlackBerry 7 product lineup are BlackBerry® Bold™ 9790, BlackBerry® Curve™ 9380, BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810, BlackBerry® Torch™ 9860 and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 in Pure White. The five new smartphone models are expected to be available from carriers and authorized retail channels in the Philippines on January 13.

“The new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones offer customers a truly outstanding mix of communications, multimedia, productivity and social connectivity features,” said Hastings Singh, Vice President, South Asia at RIM. “We are excited to expand the BlackBerry 7 portfolio with the launch of five new models, providing Philippine customers with a broader selection of handsets to match their lifestyle.”

BlackBerry Bold 9790 with Touch Display and Keyboard
True to the BlackBerry Bold brand, the new BlackBerry Bold 9790 smartphone is powerful, full-featured and built with premium materials and finishes. It combines a high-resolution and highly responsive touch display with a highly tactile keyboard and a precise optical trackpad, but comes in a narrow design that is easy to carry and exceptionally comfortable to hold.  With the BlackBerry 7 OS and powerful 1 GHz processor, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 delivers fast, smooth performance for browsing the web, running apps, working with documents, and enjoying multimedia. It includes 8GB of onboard memory and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB of additional storage.

All-Touch BlackBerry Curve 9380
The finely crafted BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first touch screen smartphone in the BlackBerry Curve family. It features a highly responsive and brilliant 3.2” high resolution display and comes with preinstalled social networking apps, including BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger), Facebook®, Twitter™ and Social Feeds apps, that offer a fun, easy and smoothly integrated mobile experience. This compact and stylish handset also features a 5MP camera with flash and video recording, allowing users to easily capture and share their favorite moments with family, friends and colleagues.

BlackBerry Torch 9810 with Touch Display and Slide-Out Keyboard
Building on the popular design of the BlackBerry Torch 9800, the new BlackBerry Torch 9810 is faster and more fluid with high performance hardware features and the new BlackBerry 7 OS delivering an enhanced multimedia experience. Featuring a large 3.2”, high resolution touch display and a distinctive BlackBerry keyboard that easily slides out to allow faster typing, the BlackBerry Torch 9810 truly delivers the best of both worlds.

All-Touch BlackBerry Torch 9860
The BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphone offers the fast, fluid BlackBerry 7 experience in a stylish all-touch design. With a spectacular 3.7” display, the largest ever on a BlackBerry smartphone, the new all-touch BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphone is optimized for displaying web pages, photos, videos, and powerful gaming experiences. It also delivers the highly refined, real-time communication and collaboration experience loved by millions of BlackBerry smartphone users around the world.

BlackBerry Bold 9900 Smartphone in Pure White
The premium BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone is now available in Pure White. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone yet at only 10.5mm. It offers the perfect union of a high performance keyboard and touch display integrated within the iconic BlackBerry Bold design. Distinguished by its beautiful design, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is crafted with premium materials including a brushed stainless steel frame that puts the finishing touch on a truly outstanding smartphone.

Powerful BlackBerry 7 OS
All five new devices are powered by the BlackBerry 7 OS, which delivers a faster and richer user experience with improved browsing, voice-activated searches and support for Augmented Reality. BlackBerry 7 offers the ability to manage personal content separately from corporate content, and comes with a variety of personal and productivity apps out of the box. The BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry Curve 9380 and BlackBerry Bold 9900 also include support for NFC (Near Field Communications).

For more information, please visit ph.blackberry.com or www.facebook.com/BlackBerryPH

About Research In Motion
Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

BlackBerry Announces Six Grand Prize Winners of the BBM Challenge

Eight-week contest inspires young people to pursue their passions as they vie for the chance to meet their celebrity idols

Waterloo, ON - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) announced the six winners of its BBM™ Challenge contest, which was designed to partner aspiring young adults with some of today’s top celebrity influencers. Utilizing a variety of social applications for BlackBerry® smartphones including BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger), 150 young adults competed in an intense eight-week contest for the opportunity to meet their idols in person.

Officially launched on October 3rd, 2011, the BBM Challenge tapped into and encouraged the enormous creative talents of young adults as they pursued their passion in the areas of fashion, music, film, sports, popular culture and entrepreneurship. The contest was centered around the BBM Challenge Council – a group of high achieving celebrity influencers who represent the accomplishments derived from talent, hard work and the spirit to succeed.

RIM is pleased to announce that the following individuals have been selected as grand prize winners of the first ever BBM Challenge:

Theresa Tran of Vancouver, BC will be meeting fashion designer and television personality Whitney Port

Audrey Morgan of Cherry Hill, NJ will be meeting teenage singing sensation Greyson Chance

Devon Carlson of Shaunavon, SK will be meeting film and TV actress Michelle Trachtenberg

Amy Loverin of Walnut, IA will be meeting U.S. Women’s Soccer Goalkeeper Hope Solo

Tristan Josef of Garden Grove, CA will be meeting celebrity blogger Jared Eng, JustJared.com

Brittany Hohn of Somerset, NJ will be meeting entrepreneur and “Intern Queen” Lauren Berger

“Our youth are a new generation of collaborators, who use social tools, like BBM, to get things done together in innovative and creative ways,” said  Rick Costanzo, Regional Managing Director - Americas at Research In Motion. “What better way to promote the pursuit of their passions than to connect them with their biggest celebrity influencers through BBM, one of the largest mobile social networks in the world.”

During the course of the eight-week contest the celebrities played an integral role in mentoring, advising, and encouraging their Protégés using the social communication tools on their BlackBerry 7 smartphones.

Here’s how the BBM Challenge contest worked:

Beginning October 3rd, candidates from each of the categories were invited to submit a video or photo and essay at (www.bbmchallenge.com) telling the relevant BBM Challenge Council member why they should be selected as a protégé.  Up to 25 protégés were selected in each category and invited to compete in the Challenge.*
Protégés were sent a new BlackBerry® 7 smartphone for themselves and up to three friends, who collaborated on the Challenges outlined below.  Each BBM Challenge Council member provided their protégés with their personal BBM™ PINs and communicated directly with the protégés during the course of the program to issue challenges and offer support and encouragement.
The BBM Challenge Council issued four separate challenges to their protégés over an eight week period.  Challenges ranged from pitching an idea for a business to raising money for charity.  Protégés used their BlackBerry smartphone to document their entries, collaborate with their teams using BBM, and tap their social networks to garner support as they competed for the attention of their council member.
At the end of the contest, the winning protégés from each category along with their team will visit and spend time with their council member.
The contest unfolded online as program followers could see videos featuring the BBM Challenge Council detailing each of the Challenges and watch video footage generated by the protégés for each of the challenge submissions.
BBM Challenge Council Member Quotes:
Fashion – Whitney Port:
"Many people feel that they know me since I have allowed cameras to follow my life and career in fashion, but what they don't realize is that I didn't get to where I am today just by my taste in clothes. Fashion is what defines me and drives me to work hard, but I haven't come this far without the help of industry mentors, friends, family and fans.  They've always been there to build me up and guide me in the right direction.  That's why I'm teaming up with BlackBerry to lead the fashion category of the BBM Challenge Council.  I want to help push the next generation with a passion for fashion."

Music – Greyson Chance:
“I’ve had an amazing year.  I just released my first album, performed all over the world, and got a chance to meet some of my idols.  I’m so incredibly lucky, and it’s all because of my fans tweeting my videos and sharing my work with their friends.  I wouldn’t be here without them.  Now I want to help you do the same.  That’s why I joined the BBM Challenge Council.  I’m looking for the next set of music-loving social superstars.”

Film – Michelle Trachtenberg:
“Being a part of film and television is an exhilarating and rewarding experience, but the best part about being an actress today is that I get to interact with all my fans on Twitter and other outlets in media! It's my appreciation of social media that led me to join the BBM Challenge Council. I'm looking for some social savvy film buffs to join my team.”

Sports - Hope Solo:
“When I was playing against Japan in the Women’s World Cup, fans watching the game broke the record for most tweets per second.  Isn’t that awesome -- to be cheering on your team with the entire world?  It’s that type of spirit that’s inspired me to head up the sports team of the BBM Challenge Council.  I’m looking for socially-connected sports fans to be part of my team.”

Popular Culture – Jared Eng:
“Believe it or not, my success didn’t come overnight; I started my own blog years ago and passed it around to friends. Then they sent it to their friends, one thing led to another and bam!  Here we are! Now, I just want to spread the love. I joined the BBM Challenge Council to find the next generation of pop culture experts.”

Entrepreneurship – Lauren Berger:
“After completing 15 amazing internships in four years, I now own my own business that helps college students land their dream internships.  And it’s in the spirit of helping ambitious, young people reach their full potential that I’m joining T-Mobile and BlackBerry for the BBM Challenge Council.”

* Further information about the BBM Challenge, including full contest details, rules, regulations and full entries can be seen at http://bbmchallenge.blackberry.com/desktop/en/us/home.html

About Research In Motion
Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

BlackBerry 7 OS

NEW FEATURES IN BLACKBERRY 7.1
Make productivity
easier

Waiting in a coffee shop or airport but unable to find a Wi-Fi Hotspot? Turn on Mobile Hotspot on your BlackBerry smartphone, found under Manage Connections, and create a hotspot. Then share it by connecting up to five Wi-Fi devices at once.1

Mobile
Hotspot

BlackBerry
Tag

Wi-Fi
calling

FM
Radio

Auto
suggest

Updates for apps you love

BlackBerry
Traffic
Download the updated BlackBerry® Traffic app3 from BlackBerry App World™ and enjoy hands-free turn-by-turn voice guidance that gives you your route and estimated time of arrival (ETA) based on current traffic conditions—right from your BlackBerry smartphone.

Get the updated BlackBerry Traffic app
BlackBerry
Maps
Find special offers, coupons and discounts with the updated BlackBerry® Maps app.2 Just open up the app and watch as nearby deals and deals from points of interest pop up on screen. Act instantly by calling about the deal, finding a route there or saving the coupon or offer.

Get the updated BlackBerry Maps app
BlackBerry
Travel
The updated BlackBerry® Travel™ app, virtually plans your trips for you. Download the updated app from BlackBerry App World to find a deal on hotels and car rental options, or arrange for limo service to and from the airport. Plus get notifications if your flight's delayed or cancelled, and find a new one right away.

Get the updated BlackBerry Travel app
Smartphones with BlackBerry 7

Already have a smartphone with BlackBerry 7 OS? Update to BlackBerry® 7.1 to enjoy new features.

Update your BlackBerry 7 OS software
BlackBerry® Bold™
9900/9930BlackBerry® Torch™
9850/9860BlackBerry® Torch™
9810BlackBerry® Curve™
9350/9360/9370
Liquid Graphics technology

Smoother, fluid graphics
Enjoy a faster and more responsive BlackBerry experience. Thanks to a powerful graphics processor and blazing-fast CPU, Liquid Graphics™ delivers instant response times, smoother rendering and fluid animations.4

Visually stunning
When combined with the high-resolution screen on the BlackBerry smartphone, you get a stunning graphical display.

Live in the moment
Fast BlackBerry Browser

Explore the web. All of it.
Experience seamless panning and zooming, better web-based video and gaming, and the most powerful BlackBerry® Browser to date. With page load times 40% faster than BlackBerry® 6, HTML5 video support and industry‑leading JavaScript® performance, you can browse the web or check out your friends’ newly posted videos on Facebook® with ease.

Let discovery roam free
Breakthrough technologies
Near Field Communication (NFC)
With Near Field Communication (NFC)2 built right in, you can get information and link up with other NFC-enabled devices or authentic BlackBerry accessories—all with a single tap.

And with BlackBerry Tag, available with BlackBerry 7.1, you can invite a friend to BBM and share music, files, photos and videos with a simple tap between two NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphones.

Augmented Reality
Interact and socialize with your world in an exciting new way with Augmented Reality5:

Check to see which BBM friends are nearby
Read reviews on restaurants you just passed
Get the story behind an interesting landmark
HD video recording
Leave your digital camera behind and capture every moment with full HD 720p video recording capabilities.6

Voice-activated universal search

With speech-to-text translation, search for files, emails, contacts, music and more—all without typing a thing. Comb through everything on your BlackBerry smartphone and even search the web.

Auto suggest via universal search
Find what you need, and sometimes things you didn't even know you wanted, with the auto suggest feature in BlackBerry 7.1. It filters local search results and suggested BING! web search terms with each key stroke.

Pre-installed apps and services

From productive to playful, discover a new world of pre-installed apps and services.7 So, right out of the box, you get the powerful features you need to get you from the coffee shop to that important meeting, then back home for dinner.

Connect in new ways
BLACKBERRY PROTECT
Log in to the BlackBerry® Protect™ website to lock, locate or wipe your smartphone from wherever you are.8

BLACKBERRY BALANCE
With BlackBerry® Balance™ technology, your work and private lives never mix—so you can do it all on one device.

MUSIC STOREFRONT
Powered by Amazon’s huge catalog of music, discover, instantly preview and buy songs or albums just about anywhere you want.

DOCUMENTS TO GO®
Create and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint docs, and view PDF docs anywhere, anytime with this free, mobile document suite.

SOCIAL FEEDS
Stay up-to-date with your social networks and receive the latest news and information from your favorite blogs and websites.

BBM
With BBM features built right into many of your favorite apps, you can share or chat with your BBM friends while you’re in the app.

Unlock your potential
Your BlackBerry® ID is your master key to BlackBerry products, sites, services and applications. One login. One password. One less thing to worry about.

Get your BlackBerry ID
Learn more about BlackBerry ID
Where apps
go social

Explore the
new BBM
Find the best apps
for BlackBerry

Load up today
Trade up to a
new BlackBerry
experience

RIM Previews BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 at CES

This week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) will be previewing new features of BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0 that will enable customers to stay even more connected and productive in their personal and professional lives.

“BlackBerry PlayBook is already recognized for delivering powerful performance, true multi-tasking, advanced web browsing and HD multimedia in an ultra-portable design,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 we are building on this strong foundation, as well as leveraging our strengths in communications, social integration and productivity, to allow people to use their BlackBerry PlayBook in new ways throughout the day.”

CES 2012 attendees who visit the BlackBerry booth at CES (South Hall 3 Booth # 30326) will get a sneak peek of upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 functionality including:

Advanced Messaging Experience:

New unified inbox - a powerful unified inbox within the built-in messaging app allows users to quickly manage their personal email and work email accounts as well as the messaging capabilities of popular social networking sites like Twitter®, LinkedIn® and others – all in one place.
Multi-tasking within email – by extending the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet’s multitasking capabilities to ‘tabbed email’, users are able to reference one email while they compose another.
Rich-text email composing and editing – new features within the Messages app enable users to benefit from full support of fonts, formatting and editing of email threads, offering a robust email experience similar to that of a PC or laptop.
Inbox management tools – allows for powerful inbox search across multiple email accounts, as well as the ability to set out-of-office messages and email signatures directly from their tablet.

Deep Integration of Social Relationships:

Innovative people-centric calendar – in addition to standard calendar features that help users plan and organize their day, the powerful built-in Calendar app provides the unique ability for users to view their calendar by who they are meeting with that day and review valuable information about that contact. Information is consolidated automatically from social networking sites about that contact and/or their company.
Relationship-centric contacts app - more than just an address book, the new built-in Contacts app serves as a social hub - merging and consolidating information from multiple sources (including email and social channels) into one contact file for each person in their address book.  Each contact file includes information such as recent status updates, conversations, related news articles and mutual contacts that are kept up-to-date automatically.

Making Your BlackBerry Smartphone and Tablet a Powerful Pair:

Remote control for the BlackBerry PlayBook – new BlackBerry® Bridge™ features allow a user’s BlackBerry® smartphone to act as a keyboard and mouse for their BlackBerry PlayBook – effectively providing a wireless remote control for their tablet. Perfect for pausing a movie when a BlackBerry PlayBook is plugged in to a TV with an HDMI connection, or for using the tactile QWERTY keyboard on a BlackBerry smartphone to compose a message or document on the BlackBerry PlayBook.
Opening content on the BlackBerry PlayBook – BlackBerry Bridge allows you to take documents, emails, multimedia files and web pages found on your smartphone and open them quickly and directly on the BlackBerry PlayBook so you can use the larger high resolution display for an optimized viewing and editing experience.
Improved Mobile Productivity:

Updated document editing capabilities - updated Documents To Go® functionality makes it easier for users to create and edit documents while on the go. Improvements include: enhanced support for the virtual keyboard, the ability to view and update embedded charts and chart sheets within spreadsheets, a new formula wizard with over 100 functions as well as the ability to edit presentations including text, bullets and formatting.
Print To Go application - this app allows users to wirelessly “print” from their laptop or PC directly to their BlackBerry PlayBook over Wi-Fi®. A digital printout is created on the BlackBerry PlayBook so that users can view, sort and manage their digital printouts as though they were physical sheets of paper. The Print To Go app is the perfect way to consolidate info from various related sources like a hotel web confirmation, an airline boarding pass email, the show event schedule or even a map of the destination city and make them available for quick access on the go.
Increased control and manageability of corporate data – the combination of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 with BlackBerry Mobile Fusion and BlackBerry Balance will help to overcome many barriers to widespread tablet deployment, including device manageability and the ability to secure, manage and control confidential corporate information on the device. Plus BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 supports dedicated shelf space inside the BlackBerry® App World™ storefront to allow IT departments to control distribution of enterprise applications and to make those approved enterprise applications easily available to the organization’s end users.

New Apps and Content:

Your favorite apps plus thousands more - many exciting new applications built for the BlackBerry PlayBook will be made available on BlackBerry App World with the availability of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0. From gaming and lifestyle to business and productivity, RIM is showcasing some of the latest apps available for the BlackBerry PlayBook at CES 2012 including Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Groupon, Thomson Reuters, Zinio and many more.
Video store – a catalog of thousands of movies and TV shows will be available through the integrated BlackBerry Video Storefront* with new releases to be made available for purchase or rent the same day they come out on DVD. Users will be able to begin watching media as soon as they start to download the file, so users won’t have to wait for the entire file to transfer before they can enjoy great entertainment on the tablet’s high resolution display, or on an HDTV via the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet’s HDMI output.
Enhanced web browsing - the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 browser also includes a new reading view, which is designed to make web sites even easier to enjoy by eliminating page clutter at the touch of a button. What’s left is a cleaner format that is great for reading online news articles, blog posts, or websites that contain heavy amounts of text.

Availability
The BlackBerry® PlayBook OS 2.0 software update will be available as a free download for all BlackBerry PlayBook users and is expected to be available in February 2012.

* BlackBerry Video Store will initially be available in the United States. Support for other countries is expected to be added later this year.

About Research In Motion
Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

RIM Showcases New BlackBerry 7.1 OS at CES 2012

New BBM, BlackBerry Traffic and BlackBerry Travel Updates Also Released

Las Vegas (CES 2012) - A wide range of software improvements await BlackBerry® 7 smartphone customers at the BlackBerry® booth (South Hall 3 Booth # 30326) at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012). Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) is showcasing the new BlackBerry® 7.1 OS as well as updates to the BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger), BlackBerry® Traffic™ and BlackBerry® Travel™ apps. The new OS and app updates make seizing and sharing the moment even easier.

BlackBerry 7.1 will begin rolling out from carriers around the world beginning today and over the coming weeks1. The new releases of BBM, BlackBerry Traffic and BlackBerry Travel will be available on BlackBerry® App World™ beginning today.

 “BlackBerry 7 delivered a next-generation platform for our customers around the world and the range of software updates announced today build upon the strengths of that platform to further enhance the mobile experience and make life easier, from managing daily tasks to planning big adventures,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion.

Life Is Better Shared
The BlackBerry 7.1 OS incorporates a new feature called BlackBerry® Tag that can change the way BlackBerry users share information and content. By simply tapping their NFC enabled BlackBerry® smartphone against another NFC enabled BlackBerry smartphone, users can make sharing easier than ever. They can instantly invite a friend to BBM, exchange contact information, documents, URLs, photos and other multimedia content, and they can also pair their BlackBerry smartphone with an NFC enabled Bluetooth® device.

Support for BlackBerry Tag is just one of a number of enhancements in the updated BBM app (version 6.1) being released today. Additional features allow users to personalize their experience even more with support for animated avatars (animated GIFs)2, a dozen new and fun emoticons to spice up conversations, and the ability to customize chat bubbles with different colors. In addition, the new BBM app allows users to add customized personal messages of up to 160 characters in their online Profile, more than double the length supported in previous versions. Users can also now set the picture for their BBM avatar directly from the camera app – simply snap a picture and select “Set as BBM Display Picture” from the menu.

Make Things Happen
With BlackBerry 7.1, users can be productive from virtually anywhere. They can now turn their BlackBerry smartphone into a mobile hotspot that can be shared by up to 5 Wi-Fi® -enabled devices, including laptops and tablets3. The 7.1 update also supports carrier implemented Wi-Fi calling services (UMA/GAN where available), allowing users to make Wi-Fi calls from their BlackBerry smartphone that don’t eat into their airtime minutes.

Getting to any location is now so much easier with the new BlackBerry Traffic (version 3.0), a free app from RIM that is being released today. BlackBerry Traffic determines a user’s estimated time of arrival (ETA) based on current traffic conditions, and now includes hands-free turn-by-turn voice guidance.

Planning, booking, managing, and sharing travel activities are also easier than ever thanks to the updated BlackBerry Travel app that is being released today. The new version adds support for contextual deals, such as offers for hotels and car rentals, or for arranging limo services to and from the airport. BlackBerry Travel can automatically keep track of a user’s bookings and schedule and quickly notify them if their flight is delayed or cancelled, and can then help them find a new flight right away. The automatic trip scanning feature pulls the travel details into the app, allowing the user to see all their travel updates in one place.

Seize the Moment
Sometimes it’s nice when someone (or something) does the thinking for you. The Universal Search capability has again been enhanced to help users find what they are looking for. It now includes an auto-suggest feature that intelligently filters Bing® search results to offer users a variety of relevant Web sites based on their search terms.

Love a good deal? Now finding and taking advantage of them is so much easier thanks to BlackBerry® Maps – an essential app that comes preinstalled on BlackBerry smartphones and has been enhanced in the BlackBerry 7.1 OS update. When users launch the new BlackBerry Maps application they can discover special offers, coupons, and discounts from nearby vendors. Users can immediately act on the deals presented to them by clicking to call the vendor or clicking to get the best route to the location where the deal is offered4.

Customers with a BlackBerry Curve 9360 or 9380 smartphone will find a nice surprise with the BlackBerry 7.1 OS update in the form of an FM radio. The FM radio circuitry is already built in to the Curve 9360 and 9380 models and BlackBerry 7.1 provides users with a new app that allows them to tune in and enjoy local FM radio stations. Listening to the FM radio does not require a data plan or use data services.

For more information about the BlackBerry 7.1 OS update, visit www.blackberry.com/bb7. For more information and to download the new versions of BBM, BlackBerry Traffic and BlackBerry Travel visit BlackBerry App World at www.blackberry.com/appworld.

1. The BlackBerry 7.1 OS update is subject to carrier certification. Please check for availability with your service provider.
2. The animated avatar feature is supported on BlackBerry smartphones running OS 5.0 and higher.
3. Mobile hotspot feature requires BlackBerry 7.1 and may require an additional data plan. Please check with your service provider.
4. Please check with your service provider for availability of this feature.

About Research In Motion (RIM)
Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

BlackBerry OS 10 to get February reveal at MWC

Research In Motion will show off its new operating system, BlackBerry OS 10, in February at Mobile World Congress.

Although the company has said that BB OS 10 devices won't be in the hands of consumers until later in 2012, it has told Pocket-lint that it will be showing the new operating system to those who attend the trade show in Barcelona.

"2012 will be the year of BlackBerry 10 so we’ll be showcasing the capabilities of our future operating system as well demonstrating the power of BlackBerry 7, with a particular focus on NFC and BBM connected apps," said a spokesman for the company. Adding:  "Research In Motion will be there in force."

It is unclear, however, whether the company will have a new BlackBerry OS 10 powered handset at the show in Barcelona.

BlackBerry maker RIM has had a tough time over the last couple of weeks with the latest rumour being that it is trying to convince co-founders, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, to relinquish their titles as co-chairmen of the board.

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How to install the Android Market and other applications to your BlackBerry PlayBook

The BlackBerry PlayBook is a tablet like no other. The powerful QNX Real Time Operating System embedded within allows it run an entirely different operating system as another application on top of the standard PlayBook OS. This is how the PlayBook will run repackaged Android applications. For the most part, though, repackaged apps will appear to run just like regular PlayBook applications.

That's all well and good if you're willing to wait for your favorite Android app to be repackaged and made available on BlackBerry App World. But if you're a bit impatient and a bit adventurous, it's a fairly straightforward process to getting the Android Market and other Android apps running on your BlackBerry PlayBook. To begin, you'll need a rooted PlayBook...

What we're going to do

We'll need to start with a rooted / jailbroken BlackBerry PlayBook. Without root access, we won't be able to install the necessary files using a free tool called WinSCP. Once the PlayBook is rooted, we'll use an application called DDPB to sideload a single Android app to your PlayBook, Honeycomb Launcher. Using this launcher application, we'll initialize the Android system on the PlayBook.

Next, we'll use that WinSCP application along with a bundled app called PuTTYgen to gain access to the root directories on the BlackBerry tablet. We'll download the latest version of Cyanogen Google apps to install to your PlayBook. After that, you'll be able to start the Android OS and gain access to the Android Market. From there, you can install any Android app you would like. Please note, not all Android apps will work on the PlayBook.

Preparation

Just as in the process for rooting your PlayBook, you'll need to have a Windows computer (DingleBerry Mac support coming soon) and a USB cable to connect your PlayBook to that computer. You'll also need a few programs and files. Some of these files are installation packages, others are zipped files. I would recommend downloading them to one single folder, and we'll unzip or install the programs as needed later.

DDPB
Honeycomb Launcher
WinSCP
Cyanogen Google Apps

Root your PlayBook

I've already written at great length the steps you'll need to follow in order to root your PlayBook. As of now, the only way to get OS 2.0.0.4869 on your PlayBook is to use careful timing and a local (on your computer) copy of the OS. Instructions and OS downloads can be found in that linked article. We'll use the .4869 update to root your PlayBook and add and access the Android Market.

Once you've sucessfully opened and used the Market on your PlayBook, you can then upgrade to .6149. You'll have to repeat parts of this process again, but the Market will still work on .6149. Accounts & sync have been disabled in .6149, but the account information you entered while using .4869 should still be available to the Market (though you won't be able to update that account information).

Follow the instructions in our CrackBerry guide to rooting, make sure you see the command screen with the # prompt, and then return to this article.

[UPDATED] So you want to root/jailbreak your BlackBerry PlayBook with DingleBerry? Here's how to do it

Don't Update to 2.0.0.6149

Research In Motion has disabled the Account & sync part of the Android OS with this latest OS, certainly a sneaky clever way to prevent people from accessing the Market and something that surely caused me trouble. You'll root the PlayBook using OS 2.0.0.4869; stay on that update. Once you have successfully reached the Android Market, you can indeed update to .6149. Just make sure you have already entered your account information into before doing so. After updating to .6149, you'll need to copy the Cyanogen files, delete SetupWizard.apk, and execute the two processes once again. I cannot stress enough that you must have the Android Market properly working on your PlayBook BEFORE upgrading to .6149.

Get the PlayBook ready for the Android Market

We'll need to get the PlayBook's file system ready to accept the Cyanogen files we'll be sending to it later. To do that, we'll need to start an Android App on the PlayBook. You could probably do this by installing Angry Birds or one of the 7000 apps that Handster is submitting. Since we'll use the Honeycomb Launcher to start the Android OS on our PlayBooks, we'll sideload that application. From this point on, we'll keep your PlayBook attached via the USB cable.

Development Mode

In order to sideload applications and install files to your PlayBook, you'll need to have development mode on. If your computer ever has trouble connecting to the PlayBook, double check that development mode is on.

On your PlayBook, tap the gear icon in the upper right corner. From the list on the left and below Storage & Sharing, tap Security. From the list that appears on the right, tap Development Mode. Set the slider tab sitting next to User Development Mode to On. You'll be prompted to enter your password before the developer mode can be set.

Take a look at that development address; you'll need it later. It is usually best to leave it set at the default setting of 169.254.0.1.

DDPB and the Honeycomb Launcher

One of the easiest and friendliest ways to sideload an app is to use the application DDPB. If you haven't already (and thank you for following directions), go ahead and install that application to your computer. Also, you can unzip the Honeycomb Launcher application, now. Make sure it is in a place that is easy to find. Once done, start the DDPB application.

Enter your development address and PlayBook password in the boxes on the left. If you were clever, you left the address as the default 169.254.0.1 when you turned on Development mode on your PlayBook. In the DDPB application, click the Add button. Find the Honeycomb Launcher application that you downloaded earlier, select it, and click Open (or OK). The application will now appear in that area on the right. Click the box beside the HCL name so that a check appears. At the bottom of DDPB, click Install.

After a few moments, the HCL Updater application will appear on your PlayBook. Tap it to launch the app. Select Honeycomb Launcher when prompted with the "Complete action using" dialog box. Once the app has started, close it. Trust me; we're done with that for the moment. You can also close DDPB.

Prepare and connect with WinSCP

Next, we'll use WinSCP to transfer your Cyanogen Google apps files to the PlayBook. Included with these files is the Android Market, your link to many Android applications. Before we can get started with WinSCP, we'll need to generate the security keys that will allow it to connect to the PlayBook.

Making keys with PuTTYgen

If you downloaded WinSCP from the link provided above, another application called PuTTYgen will be included with the download. Go ahead an install WinSCP to your computer; this will install PuTTYgen as well. Once completed, find the PuTTYgen application. If you're on Windows 7 or Vista, you can simply open the Start menu and type Puttygen. The PuTTYgen application should be at the top of the search results. Start the application.

In PuTTYgen, click the Load button. You'll need to find the key that DingleBerry created during the jailbreaking process. This will be in your DingleBerry folder. Since I kept my unzipped DingleBerry folder on the Desktop, it was simple to locate.

After navigating to your DingleBerry folder, it may appear to be empty; it is not. At the bottom of the window, change the box that reads, "PuTTY Private Key Files (*.ppk)" so that it says "All files (*.*). Select the rsa file; make sure you do not select rsa.pub. Click Open or Okay.

Now that the key has been successfully imported into PuTTYgen, we need to save it so that WinSCP can use it. Click Save private key (not public key), and click Yes when the program warns you about saving keys without a passphrase. You'll need to save the key you created; personally, I saved my key in the DingleBerry folder and used the name "playbook." Make sure you leave the file type as PuTTY Private Key Files (*.ppk). Once the key has been saved, you can close PuTTYgen.

Connecting with WinSCP

Now, we'll make use of that key we just created to connect WinSCP to your PlayBook. With this program, we'll transfer the Cyanogen Google apps to your PlayBook. First, though, we have to establish a connection.

Open WinSCP on your computer. If this is the first time you've used the application, it should look like the picture above. If not, click on "Session" in the upper left of the program. We'll use the boxes to enter information about our connection

Host Name: 169.254.0.1 (as long as you used the default value when turning on your PlayBook's development mode)
Port: 22 (default)
User name: devuser
Password: (leave blank)
Private Key file: click on the button with the three dots (...) on the right. Find and open the playbook.ppk file (or whatever you called it) that you just created with PuTTYgen.
File protocol: SCP

Towards the bottom of the WinSCP program, you'll see a check box for Advanced options; click it. Select SCP/Shell from the expanded list on the left. Complete the requested information.

Shell: /tmp/setuidgid root /bin/sh - Note the space before and after "root"
Return code variable: Autodetect (default)
Uncheck to box marked "Lookup user groups"

Click Save... to store your settings. If you make a mistake but forget to save, you'll have to enter all of this information again. Plus, if you use WinSCP to access your PlayBook again, you'll have all of this information stored for you.

Before you can successfully connect using WinSCP, you'll need to make sure a connection to the PlayBook is active. The easiest way to do this is to start Dingle SSH. Start the DingleBerry rooting tool; at the top, you'll see Dingle SSH. Click this button, and then click Connect at the bottom of the next screen. A command window will open and should give you the same # that you saw when you first rooted your PlayBook.

Return to WinSCP. Make sure the information you just saved is highlighted, and click Login. The software will connect with your attached PlayBook.

Copying Cyanogen Google Apps files

Once logged in, WinSCP is split into two panels. The panel on the right contains all of the files and folders of your PlayBook; the Panel on the left contains the folders and files of your computer. At this time, go ahead and unzip the gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip file. These are your Cyanogen Google apps files. Make sure you get all of the folders unzipped to somewhere you can easily find it, like the desktop.

In the panel on the right - the PlayBook panel - double-click the three dots until you reach the root of the tablet. Each time you click those three dots, you go one folder higher in the series. When you've reached the root directory, you'll see folders like accounts, air, and apps. In the left panel, do the same thing to find your unzipped Google apps folder.

Click on the System folder in the left panel (the one from your computer). From the Files menu at the top, select Copy... You should get a confirmation window that looks like this. If the message is different, stop and try again. We must copy the System folder to the root directory of the PlayBook.

You'll get a message warning you that the directory already exists on the PlayBook. This is normal and expected. Click Yes or Yes to All.

Final Steps

In the right pane of WinSCP (the PlayBook pane) and from the root directory that you should already be in, go to (root)/system/app/ To do that, Double click the system folder, then double click the app folder. Inside that folder, find the file SetupWizard.apk. Click on that file once to select it, then press the delete key. Choose OK when asked to confirm that you want to delete the file SetupWizard.apk.

Return to the root directory of the PlayBook by double clicking twice on the triple dots (they are always at the top of each folder listing). Open the apps folder by double-clicking it. Next, we'll need to find the folder called sys.android.[really_long_string_of_characters].ns The [really_long_string_of_characters] is unique to every PlayBook, so just make sure all the other parts of the folder name are correct. Open this folder by double clicking it. Double click the Native folder to open it, and then open the scripts folder by - you guessed it - double clicking. In the end, you'll need to be in the folder (root)/apps/sys.android.[RLSoC]/native/scripts.

Find the file android-player.cmd.sh, right click on it, move your mouse down to where it says Custom Commands, and choose execute.
Do the same thing with the file: kill-android-core.sh (Do not confuse this with kill-android-apps.sh; we want to kill the core.)

Restart your PlayBook

After you restart your BlackBerry PlayBook, you will have access to the Android Market. First start the HCL Updater which will start the Android OS on your PlayBook. In the upper right of the Android environment, you'll see Apps. Tap that to open; then find Market Place in the list of available apps. Once you tap that icon, be prepared to provide or set up a Google account.

As you explore the Market, keep in mind that not everything the store has to offer will work on your PlayBook. I don't think movie rentals work, and some apps - like Angry Birds and Skype - don't quite work. Still, other Android applications like Twitter, Pandora, Google Plus and Google Sky worked just fine.

With the PlayBook rooted and the Android Market installed, what applications will you add to the PlayBook?

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BlackBerry 10 Slider ‘Milan’ Has Been Cancelled

We’ve received word from one of our sources, who says the BlackBerry 10 slider, codenamed Milan, has been canned. We haven’t received specific details just yet, but it is apparently an issue with hardware.
None of the BlackBerry 10 devices have been made yet. They are still in engineering, under New Product Introduction (NPI). RIM is allegedly waiting for a new LTE dual-core chipset from Qualcomm before they start production.

For now, we can only guess the Milan has been cancelled for possible obvious reasons. A portrait slider with a rumored 4.2-in screen would be quite awkward. Perhaps RIM is going back to the drawing board to pursue a more horizontal approach we told you about last year. Keep it locked to N4BB as we attain more details on the matter.

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Happy New Year 2012 from the Angry Birds!

Thanks to all our amazing fans for an egg-cellent 2011! The Angry Birds wish you all a chirptastic new year 2012! The birds will also celebrate Year of the Dragon in the very near future...

Become a Facebook fan: http://www.facebook.com/angrybirds
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/angrybirds

Play Angry Birds on Google Chrome: http://chrome.angrybirds.com

Download Angry Birds Seasons:
- iPhone or iPod touch: http://bit.ly/ni2I2Q
- Android (Amazon): http://amzn.to/oSNS6f
- Android (Android Market): http://bit.ly/nt4oqq
- Nokia: http://bit.ly/p9z8EM
- iPad: ‪http://bit.ly/vnTCvB‬
- Mac OSX http://bit.ly/uxXzXX
- BlackBerry Playbook: http://bit.ly/tazl77

Buy Angry Birds merchandise: http://shop.angrybirds.com

PlayBook sold out in India, RIM extends festive offer by a week

Within days of slashing prices of its PlayBook tablet PC by almost half, Blackberry-maker RIM has said the device is sold out in retail outlets across the country, which has prompted it to extend the festive offer by a week.

"We are pleased to see the excitement and overwhelming response to our limited festive season offer on BlackBerry PlayBook. I believe that the 16-GB and 32-GB version of the PlayBook is completely sold out in the retail channels," Research In Motion Managing Director India Sunil Dutt said.

Buoyed by the huge response, the company has now decided to extend the offer by a week, he said.

The company sold more than 12,000 devices in just four days since the offer was announced on December 28 and distributors -- Redington and Ingram -- are waiting for new stock to come in.

"This limited festive offer has propelled a huge surge in PlayBook purchases in the last few days. We have sold over 12,000 PlayBooks across the country within these four days of the offer period, which ended on December 31, 2011," the distributors said.

Fresh stock is coming in to cater to the demand of customers for the extended offer period of one more week, they added.

Canadian firm Research In Motion (RIM) has slashed the price of its PlayBook by more than half to Rs 13,490 for the 16-GB version to cash in on the festive season and rising demand for tablet PCs in India.

A tablet PC, though smaller in size, has PC-like functionalities.

"BlackBerry continues to be an aspirational brand and we have seen a huge uptake in the market across the country for PlayBook during this offer period," Dutt said.

RIM, known for its BlackBerry series of phones, had introduced PlayBook in June in the Indian market.

The 16-GB version of the PlayBook is available at a more than 50 per cent discount from the regular price of Rs 27,990. Prices for 32 GB and 64 GB versions were also cut. The 32-GB version was available at Rs 15,990, while the 64-GB model was priced at Rs 24,490 under the offer.

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Porsche Design Theme extracted from BlackBerry P’9981

As you might know, the BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9981 was fully customized and even got it’s own theme. If you want the P’9981 but can’t get it, then at least now you can get theme since it has been extracted from the device! It’s got custom Porsche fonts, icons and more. The theme is only available for 9900 and 9930 since the P9981 is basically the same, with a different design. Try it out and let us know how you like it!
Warning: This theme overrides the original theme and is for OS 7.0 ONLY, won’t work on OS 7.1

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Huge BlackBerry heist was 'well-orchestrated': police

Police in Indiana say they hope video surveillance footage, plus the recovery of DNA and fingerprint evidence, will lead them to a group of brazen thieves who stole a truckload of Canada-bound Research in Motion electronic devices earlier this month.Investigators say the truck-stop heist of 5,200 BlackBerry Playbook tablets — with a wholesale value of $1.7 million — was pulled off in just 13 minutes, most likely by a group of professional bandits who've done this before."Looking at the video, they were well-orchestrated. This wasn't a one-time shot," said Mike Milbourn, an officer with the Chesterfield Police Department.Milbourn said members of an FBI task force that specializes in inter-state cargo theft are scheduled to travel to Indiana on Wednesday to view surveillance footage from the Dec. 15 incident.Milbourn said it appears from the video images that the semi-trailer — which was destined for Waterloo, Ont., where RIM is based — was followed from a distribution warehouse in Plainfield, Indiana, to a truck stop in Chesterfield, about one hour away.Driver Jason Garant told a local FOX TV station that he went in to grab a quick bite and take a shower and by the time he was out the truck was gone.At least five people and three vehicles were involved in the elaborate caper, Milbourn said.Investigators have recovered a fingerprint believed to belong to one of the suspects from the truck stop. That evidence, plus fingerprint and DNA evidence recovered from inside the stolen cab — which was later found about a mile away — will be sent to a state lab for analysis, Milbourn said.The trailer and its pricey cargo are still missing.Milbourn said FBI investigators have told him that the stolen electronic devices could be bound for Florida and shipped overseas.An FBI spokesman in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday he couldn't comment on the case because the investigation is ongoing.Anyone who attempts to use one of the stolen tablets could have a tough time. All the devices have been blocked from being able to register with RIM and download any software, Milbourn said. Plus, the serial numbers from each tablet have been entered into a national law enforcement database.A RIM spokeswoman said Tuesday she couldn't provide any additional information.The theft of the devices comes at the end of a year that saw RIM's stock price plunge, massive job cuts at the company, a prolonged BlackBerry service outage that infuriated users around the world and the firing of two vice-presidents who became intoxicated on a commercial flight to Beijing.source

comScore Reports November 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

One-third of Mobile Subscribers Access Social Networking on Mobile DevicecomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending November 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.6 percent market share. Google Android continued to capture share in the smartphone market to reach 46.9 percent market share.OEM Market ShareFor the three-month average period ending in November, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.6 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.3 percentage points), followed by LG with 20.5 percent share and Motorola with 13.7 percent share. Apple strengthened its position at #4 with 11.2 percent share of total mobile subscribers (up 1.4 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 6.5 percent share.Top Mobile OEMs3 Month Avg. Ending Nov. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+Source: comScore MobiLens Share (%) of Mobile SubscribersAug-11 Nov-11 Point ChangeTotal Mobile Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/ASamsung 25.3% 25.6% 0.3LG 21.0% 20.5% -0.5Motorola 14.0% 13.7% -0.3Apple 9.8% 11.2% 1.4RIM 7.1% 6.5% -0.6Smartphone Platform Market Share91.4 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in November, up 8 percent from the preceding three month period. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 46.9 percent market share, up 3.1 percentage points from the prior three-month period. Apple maintained its #2 position, growing 1.4 percentage point to 28.7 percent of the smartphone market. RIM ranked third with 16.6 percent share, followed by Microsoft (5.2 percent) and Symbian (1.5 percent).Top Smartphone Platforms3 Month Avg. Ending Nov. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+Source: comScore MobiLens Share (%) of Smartphone SubscribersAug-11 Nov-11 Point ChangeTotal Smartphone Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/AGoogle 43.8% 46.9% 3.1Apple 27.3% 28.7% 1.4RIM 19.7% 16.6% -3.1Microsoft 5.7% 5.2% -0.5Symbian 1.8% 1.5% -0.3Mobile Content UsageIn November, 72.6 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 2.1 percentage points. Downloaded applications were used by 44.9 percent of subscribers (up 3.3 percentage points), while browsers were used by 44.4 percent (up 2.3 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 2.1 percentage points to 33.0 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 29.7 percent of the mobile audience (up 1.2 percentage points), while 21.7 percent listened to music on their phones (up 1.0 percentage points).Mobile Content Usage3 Month Avg. Ending Nov. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+Source: comScore MobiLens Share (%) of Mobile SubscribersAug-11 Nov-11 Point ChangeTotal Mobile Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/ASent text message to another phone 70.5% 72.6% 2.1Used downloaded apps 41.6% 44.9% 3.3Used browser 42.1% 44.4% 2.3Accessed social networking site or blog 30.9% 33.0% 2.1Played Games 28.5% 29.7% 1.2Listened to music on mobile phone 20.7% 21.7% 1.0About MobiLensMobiLens data is derived from an intelligent online survey of a nationally representative sample of mobile subscribers age 13 and above. Data on mobile phone usage refers to a respondent’s primary mobile phone and does not include data related to a respondent’s secondary device.About comScorecomScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

BlackBerry PlayBook

ON SALE: $199 (16 GB), $249 (32 GB), $399 (64 GB)

SAVE: $350 (32GB), $300 (16GB, 64GB)

SALE ENDS:  12/31/2011

BlackBerry PlayBook – the world’s first professional grade tablet

Discover a truly uncompromised tablet experience with the BlackBerry® PlayBook™. At less than half an inch thick, with a 1GHz dual core processor, it’s both ultra-portable and ultra-powerful, so you get high performance at every turn: stunning multimedia, true multitasking, and access to the whole Internet – no exceptions.

For more information click here

Giving the gift of BlackBerry PlayBook this holiday season?  In case your delivery won’t arrive in time, let that special someone know that their BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is on its way.  Simply print off this sheet, follow the instructions, and you’ll have something to give!

Government Of Argentina Blocks iPhone And BlackBerry Smartphones Sales

I know it sounds strange but this is really happening in Argentina. As you probably know, Apple and BlackBerry are one of the world’s best companies when it comes to developing smartphones. But it seems that the Argentinian Government doesn’t care about this.

The Argentinians won’t be able to buy iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones from now on, or at least until the Argentinian economy is back on its feet again.

The Argentinian Government made a surprising decision these days and blocked the sales of the iPhone and BlackBerry devices. I think this is the first time when the Government of a country forbids the sale of iPhone devices for a reason that has related to the manufacturing faults of the device.

The Argentinian Government have took some measures to reduce the inflation level andВ strengthen the Pesos / US dollar currency parity. One of them was to block the sales of certainВ electronics temporary, among them iPhone and BlackBerry phones.

In order to continue to sell iPhone smartphones, Apple and BlackBerry must build plants in Argentina, a move that companies like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola and LG already made. Probably Apple and RIM won’t open such plants in Argentina, so if the Government won’t change its mind, then the Argentinians won’t be able to buy iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones from now on.

It seems that the Canadian telecommunications company, RIM, is currently searching for a partner to built their smartphones somewhere in Argentina, as this move will allow them to continue to sell BlackBerry devices in the South American country. Although Apple can do the same, it seems that the company with the headquarters located in Cupertino cares less about the iPhone sales in Argentina.

Anyway we’ll see how the AppleВ enthusiasts will be receiving the news, but we are pretty sure they won’t like the decision their country’s Government made.

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Venom Hard Shell BlackBerry Bold 9700/9780 Unboxing

An unboxing and demonstration of the Venom Hard Shell for the BlackBerry Bold 9700/9780.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 user unboxing and hands-on

Unboxing the BlackBerry Curve 9380 and taking a brief tour around its UI.