RIM has no plans at this time to bring Microsoft Silverlight support to the BlackBerry Platform. Should they?!

The current problem with no Microsoft Silverlight support on the BlackBerry PlayBook / QNX BB Platform…

And RIM’s current plan to address that issue as relayed by the @blackberrydev twitter account today…

Some of you may be reading this post and scratching your head… What’s Microsoft Silverlight? To use the official verbage from Microsoft, Microsoft Silverlight is a free web-browser plug-in that enables interactive media experiences, rich business applications and immersive mobile apps. While most computer web browsers/OS’s support Silverlight, not a lot of mobile devices do (as you might guess, Windows Phone does).

BlackBerry Torch 9850 and 9860: 5 things you should know

I’m happy to tell you about two new BlackBerry® 7 OS smartphones announced today, the all-touch BlackBerry® Torch™ 9850 and 9860 smartphones. #TeamBlackBerry members in North America will be able to purchase the BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphone from AT&T, Rogers, Telus and Bell, and the BlackBerry Torch 9850 smartphone from Sprint and U.S. Cellular. For more details on pricing and international availability, make sure to check out our BlackBerry Torch product page or contact your local carrier.

To ensure you have our patented Inside BlackBerry insight into these sweet all-touch BlackBerry 7 OS smartphones, I tapped Product Managers Sangita and Troy to list the 5 things you need to know about the BlackBerry Torch 9850 and 9860. Take it away, Sangita and Troy!

Research In Motion Introduces New BlackBerry 7 Smartphones (4G Service Capable)

BlackBerry Torch 9810, Torch 9850 and Torch 9860 Officially Announced!

Finally NHC Blackberry Alliance Nation, the wait is almost over and it’s about to rain new BlackBerrys. With the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 previously announced at BlackBerry World, Research In Motion just officially announced three more BlackBerry Torch models that bring the count of BlackBerry 7 phones up to 5. The BlackBerry Torch 9810 is the second generation of the sliding form factor Torch 9800, while the BlackBerry Torch 9850 and Torch 9860 (previously codenamed monaco and monza), are full touchscreen devices.

Read on for the press release!

Chalk Pushcast Enterprise Software Renamed to BlackBerry Pushcast

Way back in early 2009 RIM acquired Chalk Pushcast Software and we were hoping for big things from the acquisition. Sadly nothing showed up in the consumer space but RIM tried pushing it in the enterprise space for mobile learning and communications. It seems like they do have users for the software because they did release a PlayBook version but now they have officially dropped the Chalk name to simply call it BlackBerry Pushcast. They brand the solution as giving enterprises the ability to:

 

Push interactive content to mobile users wirelessly and help enhance productivity and improve employee efficiency with BlackBerry Pushcast Software.

Priority communications
Securely send executive communications and track to ensure they’re received and understood.

Priority training
Reach people like never before, with the potential for completion rates better than in traditional eLearning.

RIM announced in their forums that BlackBerry Pushcast software is the next iteration of Chalk and you can read more about it below or at www.blackberry.com/pushcast.

BlackBerry® Pushcast™ Software is the next iteration and rebranded version of Chalk Pushcast Software. BlackBerry Pushcast Software facilitates media-rich training and communications and includes several components and applications that authors can use to create, manage, and send mobile content to computers or BlackBerry smartphones.

BlackBerry Pushcast Player users can view and save content on their BlackBerry smartphones by downloading the content when they are in a wireless coverage area and open the content when they are offline.

Press Release: RIM Delivers Revolutionary Social App Experience with BBM 6

With over 45 Million users and 2 Million new users on a daily basis — RIM has created something special when it comes to BlackBerry Messenger. Over the past few years, we’ve watched BBM go from what was once a pretty basic instant messaging system to a full-blown social application and now with the introduction of BlackBerry Messenger 6 today, combined with the availability of the BBM Social Platform SDK for developers, BlackBerry Messenger is ready for the next level.

Press Release

RIM Releases BlackBerry Messenger 6 Officially!

RIM let us know that the official roll-out of BlackBerry Messenger 6.0

started at 12:01AM EST TODAY (THIS MORNING)

Sorry we jumped the gun a few hours ago but now you understand why. You can start checking App World now for the update but due to their 24 hour cache period that may take a bit. As you have already seen RIM has started approving apps in App World that make use of the Social Platform available in BBM 6 so they are available when BBM6 launches now.

In an interview with Mike Kirkup, Director of Developer Relations @ RIM, he told us that BBM now has 45 million users and is seeing tremendous growth. They process over a billion BBM messages a day and the number is only growing. This ability to use BBM inside 3rd party apps is going to be explosive but more on that soon. RIM’s goal is to let developer harness BBM’s instant feature. Mike told me his colleague described it as both Instant AND Intimate. In other words sub 3 second messages along with a intimate private chat setting. Now developers are going to be able to tap into that powerful BBM social graph.

You should be able to find BBM 6 in App World sometime today or directly at:
www.blackberry.com/blackberrymessenger[qrcode pix=150]http://nhcbba.com/downloads/Blackberry_Messenger[/qrcode]

Check out the press release below:

RIM’s Management Changes Are For the Best

It seems that every time the blogosphere catches wind of a management change, either the post is written as “another nail in the coffin for RIM” or the post follows a series of “bye bye RIM” comments. There doesn’t seem to be much talk around the fact that management changes are a) normal in a large company b) most likely motivated by career advancement and not company stock price and c) good for bringing new blood to the company. Here are some RIM management change stories that have been coming up:

Did RIM lose its BlackBerry software boss just ahead of QNX transition? – Yes, it makes sense that a company transitioning to an entirely new platform would lose its VP of Handheld Software. The handheld software is what everyone has been complaining about so it’s not such a bad thing that the VP is out.

RIM loses BlackBerry PlayBook product manager to Samsung – The PlayBook was announced early, delayed and eventually came out lacking features that garnered it pretty harsh initial reviews. Is losing the PlayBook’s product manager therefore a bad thing? Probably not.

RIM Marketer Joins a Rival and RIM CMO Out on Eve of Playbook Tablet Launch – RIM’s marketing team is constantly getting criticized because they couldn’t convey the right messages about the BlackBerry Platform. To this day, you still find people who own a BlackBerry and have no idea it runs apps. We should be happy the marketing team is getting new leadership.

Research In Motion Announces Retirement of Don Morrison – The COO has probably made a lot of money in his years at RIM and would rather spend his time in the Muskokas.

Research In Motion Provides Management Update and Details On Cost Optimization Program – The only troubling thing here is that it seems like the same old guys are just moving up a rank or expanding their duties. It doesn’t seem like much has changed really.

When there’s blood in the water, sharks will come and every time someone at RIM decides to change careers, the move is taken as something bad for RIM. It’s great to see some of the old RIM people moving on as the company is in a transition period. What we’d like to see from RIM is more startup acquisitions to bring fresh blood into the company. One of the more exciting acquisitions was with ScoreLoop. Not only will the company help bring a better gaming ecosystem to RIM, but having that staff internally will help the company culture. More acquisitions like ScoreLoop could help bring the company into a new era of consumer smartphones.

via: bbcool

Did RIM lose its BlackBerry software boss just ahead of QNX transition?

BGR has learned that Research In Motion’s head of BlackBerry software may have left the company. Suresh Periyalwar, Senior Vice President of Handheld Software, had been with RIM since April 2001 when he joined as Director of Software Development. He came to the company from Nortel, where he managed CDMA-related development for more than five years. Periyalwar was promoted to SVP at RIM three years ago in May 2008 according to his LinkedIn profile, which still has him listed as a RIM employee. BGR has also learned from a trusted source that several additional key executives have been planning to leave on their own accord. (more

RIM’s stock is down more than 60% from its 12-month high of $70.54, and there is a great deal of unrest at the company’s headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario. BGR exclusively published an open letter from an anonymous senior executive at RIM late last month, which pleaded for the company’s top management to make several strategic changes in order to regain momentum and mind share in the smartphone market. A later expose, also published by BGR, painted a troubling picture of the smartphone vendor that once revolutionized the industry.

If Periyalwar did in fact leave the company as multiple sources have informed BGR, it might not bode well for RIM’s next-generation smartphones. The departure of RIM’s SVP of Handheld Software just ahead of the company’s transition to QNX could imply that the executive did not have confidence in RIM’s brand new platform. On the other hand, Periyalwar may have been pushed out in favor of fresh leadership in its software division ahead of the company’s QNX smartphone launches. RIM declined to confirm or deny the executive’s departure when reached for comment by BGR. Periyalwar could not be reached for comment.

 

BGR

RIM announcing new BlackBerry 7 devices tomorrow?

Looks like RIM is gearing up to announce some new BlackBerry 7 devices tomorrow. They’ve been having some fun on the BlackBerry Twitter account getting users excited for the forthcoming news. What devices they’ll announce we’re not sure but we know they have plenty they could announce.

Needless to say, we’re hoping some release dates come with those announcements rather then just announcing them as “coming soon” — that would just be mean and the new devices haven’t exactly been the best kept secrets. What do you think they’ll announce?

RIM cuts around 2,000 jobs; Shuffles management

RIM announced today that in addition to some management changes, they are cutting about 2,000 employees from their workforce. We knew that some slimming down was on the way for RIM, but weren’t sure of the exact number of employees that would be lost. More on the cuts and other “expense reductions” will be known after the RIM’s next earnings call in mid-September.

“The workforce reduction is believed to be a prudent and necessary step for the long term success of the company and it follows an extended period of rapid growth within the company whereby the workforce had nearly quadrupled in the last five years alone.”

Both Jim Balsille and Mike Lazaridis will retain their co-CEO positions for now however. Along with the cuts comes some movement among management positions at RIM as well. Just a few days ago RIM lost Ryan Bidan to Samsung, and RIM today has announced the retirement of their Chief Operating Officer Don Morrison as well. Keep reading for the full press release.