BlackBerry today unveiled BlackBerry Enterprise Instant Messaging (Enterprise IM) 3.0, a free update of the company's enterprise instant messaging solution, enabling customers with BlackBerry 10 smartphones to securely communicate over Microsoft Lync, Microsoft Office Communication Server or IBM Lotus Sametime.
BlackBerry Enterprise IM 3.0 works with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1, BlackBerry's multi-platform enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution, and BlackBerry 10 smartphones to protect Microsoft Lync, Microsoft Office Communication Server or IBM Lotus Sametime communications by encrypting data from end-to-end. It optimizes communications and collaboration allowing enterprise customers to be more productive while mobile. The client app supports presence, real-time one-to-one and multi-party instant messaging, the ability for a user to update their profile and change their status, as well as to instantly switch from a text chat to a voice call. Messages are integrated within the BlackBerry Hub for convenience, and the solution supports the separation of enterprise IMs from personal apps and content with BlackBerry Balance™.
"To be competitive in today's fast-paced marketplace, you need to enable your workers with tools that let them collaborate in real time," said Frank Cotter, Vice President, Mobile Computing at BlackBerry. "BlackBerry Enterprise IM 3.0 mobilizes enterprise IM communications in a secure, manageable way through BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1, while making it easy and convenient for end users to collaborate while on the go."
BlackBerry today introduced the BlackBerry Q5, a new youthful and fun BlackBerry 10 smartphone for selected markets. The BlackBerry Q5 smartphone features a QWERTY keyboard with discrete keys in a stunning youthful design that is confident, fun, and bold. Every feature, every part of the BlackBerry Q5 has been built to provide a fast, effortless experience that flows and moves with you to help you explore, create, and share while on the go.
"BlackBerry is excited to bring a new BlackBerry QWERTY smartphone, the BlackBerry Q5, to our customers in selected markets around world," said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of BlackBerry. "The BlackBerry Q5 gives you the best of everything with its cutting-edge BlackBerry 10 functionality and a physical QWERTY keyboard. It is for youthful fans that are passionate, confident and bold, and it makes it easy for them to have fun, create, share and stay connected."
As part of the BlackBerry 10 experience, the BlackBerry Q5 smartphone offers a powerful and unique mobile computing experience that continuously adapts to your needs. Features and apps work seamlessly together, allowing your every move to flow into the next. Highlights of the BlackBerry Q5 smartphone include:
The BlackBerry Z10 became available online and in Verizon Wireless stores on March 28.
The new BlackBerry 10 platform includes the BlackBerry Hub, a center for communication that streamlines all of a user’s messages, and a keyboard that adapts to their style. Verizon Wireless will offer the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry Q10, two global-ready 4G LTE smartphones running BlackBerry 10, providing customers with more 4G LTE smartphones to choose from. The BlackBerry Z10 will be available for $199.99 with a new two year customer agreement in Black and White color models, with the White model being exclusive to Verizon Wireless.
Smartphones are personal and a source for communication. That’s why having choices about which phone fits your mobile lifestyle needs and style preferences is important.
The new BlackBerry 10 platform includes the BlackBerry Hub, a center for communication that streamlines all of a user’s messages, and a keyboard that adapts to their style. Verizon Wireless plans to offer the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry Q10, two global-ready 4G LTE smartphones running BlackBerry 10, providing customers with more 4G LTE smartphones to choose from. The BlackBerry Z10 will be available for $199.99 with a new two year customer agreement in Black and White color models, with the White model being exclusive to Verizon Wireless.
Rogers Communications today announced that Nadir Mohamed, President and CEO, Rogers Communications and Thorsten Heins, President and CEO, BlackBerry, sold one of the first BlackBerry Z10 smartphones in North America on February 5 th 2013, at the Rogers flagship store in downtown Toronto . Rogers opened its doors early to welcome early-bird customers and one of the first customers in the world to reserve a BlackBerry Z10 smartphone.
"It's great to be able to continue to offer our customers more choice and more innovation as the smartphone ecosystem evolves," said Nadir Mohamed, president and CEO, Rogers Communications. "Rogers and BlackBerry share a rich history, and together, delivered the first BlackBerry in Canada over 10 years ago. Today, it's exciting to build on this history and be among the first to offer our customers the new BlackBerry Z10 experience."
The new BlackBerry Z10 is the first smartphone to launch with the re-designed, re-engineered and re-invented BlackBerry 10 platform, providing customers with a powerful and unique new mobile computing experience. Combined with the Rogers LTE network, Canada's fastest wireless internet, the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone is the fastest and most advanced BlackBerry smartphone yet, and offers a smarter experience that continuously adapts to a customer's needs.
A phenomenal lineup of top brands and applications have committed to the BlackBerry 10 platform, giving the new platform the strongest content offering of any first generation mobile platform at launch. Yesterday at the BlackBerry 10 launch event in New York, BlackBerry announced that 1000 of the top app partners will be making their applications available on the BlackBerry World storefront. The partners range from leaders in social media to the top games, sports, productivity, lifestyle apps, and more.
BlackBerry Vice President of Global Alliances and Business Development, Martyn Mallick took to the stage yesterday to showcase some of applications committed to BlackBerry 10, and attendees were able to play with some of the applications for the new platform.
"Being able to announce 1000 of the top app partners is a testament to the strength of BlackBerry 10, the ease of developing for this powerful new platform, and the remarkable opportunity that it represents for developers and brands alike," said Mallick. "We have focused on bringing the most relevant apps to BlackBerry 10 - whether they are global leaders in their categories, or whether they are regional must-have apps. We are thrilled and want to thank all the developers that have shown such strong support of a platform before it has commercially launched. We share in their excitement and belief in BlackBerry 10."
Here are just some of the apps and games committed to BlackBerry 10. Many of these apps will be available at launch with others to follow:
The BlackBerry Z10 has been launched. It is a gorgeous device in black and white, and it’s designed to showcase the elegance of BlackBerry 10.
When introducing the BlackBerry Z10, Thorsten Heins said, “This is the most beautiful BlackBerry we have ever launched. I can’t wait for you to try it out. We knew a large beautiful display was important. This is the window into the BlackBerry 10 experience.”
The BlackBerry Z10 is has a specially designed screen for precise touch input, so typing on the BlackBerry keyboard can be faster and more accurate. The BlackBerry Z10 screen uses the latest technology to ensure images are sharp, clear and incredibly vivid.
T-Mobile USA, Inc. and Research In Motion today announced the most affordable BlackBerry smartphone on T-Mobile''s nationwide network - the BlackBerry Curve 9315. Powered by the BlackBerry 7.1 operating system with 3G connectivity, the sleek new smartphone is easy-to-use and provides tools that enable customers to stay connected to the people and information that matter most.
"At T-Mobile, our goal is to delight customers. The new BlackBerry Curve 9315 will delight customers with unprecedented value while also allowing them to combine their mobile business and personal use in one great device," said Brad Duea, senior vice president of product management at T-Mobile. "The Curve 9315 is the most affordable BlackBerry smartphone on our nationwide network and provides our customers with a wide variety of productivity and social features to keep them connected and make their mobile lives easier."
"We''re pleased to work with T-Mobile to bring the BlackBerry Curve 9315 to customers," said Richard Piasentin, managing director for the U.S. at Research In Motion. "The Curve 9315 is designed to make it incredibly easy to stay connected with friends, family and coworkers and will be popular with customers upgrading to a smartphone for the first time, as well as existing Curve customers looking for a step up in speed and functionality."
Combining an intuitive interface with a QWERTY keyboard, the BlackBerry Curve 9315 features built-in Wi-Fi connectivity for voice and data, enabling customers to access the information they need when and where they need it, and Wi-Fi calling, allowing calls and messages over an available Wi-Fi network. With a dedicated BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) key, preloaded apps for Facebook and Twitter and the Social Feeds 2.0 app, customers can easily interact with their friends, coworkers and social networks whether it''s instant messaging, posting or tweeting.
Eastman Kodak Company has completed a series of agreements that successfully monetizes its digital imaging patents.
The proposed transaction, which achieves one of Kodak’s key restructuring objectives, follows other recent major accomplishments that include an agreement for interim and exit financing for the company’s emergence from its Chapter 11 restructuring, and resolution of U.S. retiree non-pension benefits liabilities. Kodak’s monetization of IP assets further builds on its momentum toward a successful emergence in the first half of 2013.
Under the agreements, Kodak will receive approximately $525 million, a portion of which will be paid by 12 intellectual property licensees organized by Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation, with each licensee receiving rights with respect to the digital imaging patent portfolio and certain other Kodak patents. Another portion will be paid by Intellectual Ventures, which is acquiring the digital imaging patent portfolio subject to these new licenses, as well as previously existing licenses.
“This monetization of patents is another major milestone toward successful emergence,” Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said. “Our progress has accelerated over the past several weeks as we prepare to emerge as a strong, sustainable company. This proposed transaction enables Kodak to repay a substantial amount of our initial DIP loan, satisfy a key condition for our new financing facility, and position our Commercial Imaging business for further growth and success.”
BlackBerry has announced the updated BBM 7 available from the BlackBerry App World running BlackBerry 6 OS and higher with support planned for smartphones running the BlackBerry 5 OS early next year. It may take up to 24 hours for the app to be available in the BlackBerry App World storefront. See video above.
Research In Motion announced that more than 50 carriers have now implemented integrated carrier billing on the BlackBerry App World™ storefront for their customers. The announcement marks a great milestone for RIM, and a big benefit for carriers, developers, content providers, and customers.
Integrated carrier billing enables a customer to purchase apps or digital goods on their BlackBerry smartphone, and simply and conveniently have the purchases put directly on their regular monthly bill from their carrier. Integrated carrier billing is also integrated with the BlackBerry Payment Service, which enables developers and content providers to offer in-app purchases (such as additional levels in a game), as well as supporting one-off and recurring (subscription-based) purchases, without interrupting the customer's app experience.
Carrier billing services have proven to drive significant value for the whole mobile ecosystem, including carriers, developers, content providers, and customers. Aggregated data indicates that customers' propensity to purchase apps on BlackBerry App World increases when carrier billing is offered, with an average of 75% of gross sales transacted through the carrier and average carrier revenues derived from apps increased between 100%-300% after launch.
Ronjon Nag, Vice President for the BlackBerry App World storefront at RIM, said, "We're delighted to announce that over 50 of our carrier partners are now offering integrated carrier billing to customers on BlackBerry App World. We remain committed to developing innovative ways to support our carrier partners, while providing a platform that benefits the whole mobile ecosystem."
For the times when you want to hear a friend’s laughter instead of reading LOL, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is taking the social networking experience to a whole new level with an exciting new feature called BBM Voice. Research In Motion today announced BBM version 7, a free update for the globally popular mobile social network, which will allow customers to make free voice calls to other BBM customers around the world over a Wi-Fi connection*.
BBM is a fast, convenient and inexpensive service for BlackBerry customers that gives them the ability to instantly chat with a friend, family member or colleague, and know when their message has been delivered, and read. With the new version of BBM, customers have a new option – they can talk with their BBM contact across the globe for free over a Wi-Fi connection. In an instant, customers can switch between texting and talking, or talk and text at the same time. For consumers, especially in developing markets, the BBM Voice feature offers an attractive way to talk with friends and family near and far, and staying in contact will be easier than ever as the holiday season approaches. For business customers, BBM Voice allows for enriched collaboration.
“BBM is the quick, easy way to stay connected to the people that matter to you, and with today’s announcement we’re expanding the capabilities of the service for deeper social engagement and even greater collaboration, beginning with voice functionality,” said T.A. McCann, Vice President of BBM and Social Communities at RIM. “The new BBM Voice feature is for when you’re travelling and you want to call home without worrying about phone charges. It’s for when you have news you can’t wait to share, for quickly explaining complicated details, and collaborating with colleagues. Whenever your ideas are too big for text, there’s BBM Voice.”
Research In Motion announced today that it will hold its BlackBerry 10 launch event on January 30th, 2013. The event will happen simultaneously in multiple countries around the world. This day will mark the official launch of its new platform - BlackBerry 10, as well as the unveiling of the first two BlackBerry 10 smartphones. Details on the smartphones and their availability will be announced at the event.
“In building BlackBerry 10, we set out to create a truly unique mobile computing experience that constantly adapts to your needs. Our team has been working tirelessly to bring our customers innovative features combined with a best in class browser, a rich application ecosystem, and cutting-edge multimedia capabilities. All of this will be integrated into a user experience – the BlackBerry Flow – that is unlike any smartphone on the market today,” said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of Research In Motion. “Thanks to our strong partnerships with global carriers and a growing ecosystem of developers, we believe our customers will have the best experience possible with BlackBerry 10. We are looking forward to getting BlackBerry 10 in the hands of our customers around the world.”
BlackBerry 10 will offer a large catalog of the leading applications from across the globe and across all categories, including Games, Productivity, Social, Lifestyle and Leisure, Multimedia and Published Content, as well as applications designed for business and enterprise use.
Research In Motion today announced that it has been selected by EnStream LP, a joint venture of Bell Mobility Inc., Rogers Wireless Partnership and TELUS Communications Company, to provide its Secure Element Manager (SEM) solution to manage credentials on wireless handsets in Canada that support Near Field Communication (NFC) services. NFC is the technology that can make secure, convenient and contactless mobile payments a reality for Canadian wireless handset users.
RIM's SEM solution is designed to securely manage credentials on SIM (subscriber identity module) cards installed in all types of mobile devices, including BlackBerry(R) smartphones, Android(TM) devices, and Windows phones. "We selected RIM for their long-standing relationships with mobile operators and financial institutions, and their track record of operating a secure network for connected services," said Almis Ledas, Chief Operating Officer of EnStream. "By adopting the secure GSMA Global Platform standard and using SEM infrastructure hosted and operated by RIM, consumers and financial institutions can have full confidence in financial credentials enabled through EnStream."
"More than 1 in 4 smartphones shipped worldwide in 2013 is expected to include NFC technology," said senior practice director Jeff Orr of market intelligence firm ABI Research. "With an additional 5 million NFC-enabled smartphones shipping to Canada next year and upwards of 65 million over the next 5 years, consumers will increasingly turn to mobile payments instead of a separate debit or credit card."
"RIM is very pleased to play a key role in this Canadian mobile payments solution," said Andrew MacLeod, Managing Director for Canada at RIM. "Working with EnStream, we're delivering a service that will enable speed, security and convenience in mobile, contactless payment. RIM's SEM solution will help deliver mobile payments and other NFC services to all carriers across all handset platforms that support NFC technology in Canada."
Sprint has announced the addition of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion to its suite of Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions for businesses.
Sprint is focused on Mobile Device Management solutions to help companies manage and secure devices across all carriers and operating systems so companies can deploy and maintain one solution for all of their mobile devices. Sprint is the first to offer BlackBerry Mobile Fusion as a carrier-billed application, which also simplifies the billing process for businesses.
“Businesses need a simple solution to manage and secure the growing variety of devices used in the workplace in order to protect corporate data, establish and enforce use policies, and administer the applications employees use to conduct business efficiently,” said John Dupree, senior vice president of business sales – Sprint. “Adding BlackBerry Mobile Fusion to our portfolio broadens the options we have available for our customers to meet their varied needs and mobile environments.”
Built on the foundation that has established BlackBerry Enterprise Server as the gold standard for government and businesses, BlackBerry Mobile Fusion delivers a cost-efficient, secure, reliable and scalable solution that consolidates the management of smartphones and tablets running BlackBerry OS as well as Android and iOS, and provides a single, unified, Web-based console for easily management of all devices.
BlackBerry App World is now accepting applications targeted for BlackBerry 10 devices. This means that apps submitted to the store starting, October 10, are guaranteed to be reviewed, tested and ready for publishing when BlackBerry 10 launches in Q1 2013. This is a huge opportunity to be the first into the store and capitalize on app-hungry BlackBerry users.
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