Jumat, 01 Juli 2011

BerryReview.com Giving Back to the BlackBerry Community

BerryReview.com Giving Back to the BlackBerry Community


Free FancyTran Translation App Gets A Nice Facelift

Posted: 01 Jul 2011 03:01 AM PDT

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I have been a fan of FancyTran since it was called BBTran (Damn RIM Legal!). Shvartzberry let me know that the app got a nice update to v2 recently with a few bug fixes bringing it to v2.0.4 currently. This new version gives the app a whole new UI overhaul which our tipster called "simpler but slicker." I have to agree especially since the streamlined interface fits in better with the regular BlackBerry UI experience and has big "Touch Friendly" buttons.

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In case you don't know FancyTran is one of the best translation apps for BlackBerry with support for Google and Bing translation and text to speech pronunciation. It supports over 60 languages for translation and over 50 for pronunciation. It also have a dictionary for many languages (Fixed in the previous version 2.0.3) and providers transliteration for non Latin languages.  It also checks for spelling and accepts transliterated input which is nice if you don't have that languages keyboard installed.

Check out FancyTran in App World here

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, July 1, 2011, 6:01 am. | Free FancyTran Translation App Gets A Nice Facelift | Leave a comment |


Great Beaver for PlayBook! The Perfect Way to Celebrate Canada Day!

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 11:39 PM PDT

great beaver

Happy Canada Day everyone! What better way to celebrate than with a strategy/maze game starring toque wearing beavers chasing golden nickels through a maze eh! Who needs BBQ's, picnics, parties or fireworks?

GB gameplay

Great Beaver is an interesting game to say the least. You are an unassuming little guy that is looking to round up "beaver coins and avoid territorial beavers from other clans." I have found it a little difficult to master but thanks to a short demo video on youtube, I realized that I don't have to leave my finger on the screen all the time. It blocks the view of those other pesky beavers trying to take you out. Check out the video below.

The developer has only offered this game for sale in Canada, "because there are too many Canadian references for [him] to sell it elsewhere." I'm not sure why anyone would let a few subtle country-specific references limit their sales potential eh. So go check it out hosers!

Pickup Great Beaver for your PlayBook from App World. There is a free trial that allows you to play the first 2 levels and the full version costs less than a loonie!

You can also play Great Beaver directly in your tablet's browser by going to www.coasterapps.com.  The browser version is exactly the same as the trial version of the app as far as I can tell. It works on the PlayBook and Android smartphones and tablets. There is a special message to iPad owners on the site: "Apple iPad users: I'm so, so, sorry." Kind of refreshing to see a little rare Apple smashing by a developer.

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Posted by jforce for ©BerryReview, July 1, 2011, 2:39 am. | Great Beaver for PlayBook! The Perfect Way to Celebrate Canada Day! | 2 comments |


AT&T Making BlackBerry PlayBook Announcement Tomorrow?

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 06:55 PM PDT

AT&T PlayBook Tweet

One of the things that has been pissing me off since the BlackBerry PlayBook launched in AT&T's stubborn refusal to release the BlackBerry Bridge app. RIM is somewhat at fault too for letting AT&T block access to it in App World but users have found ways around that. Still an interesting tweet by @Gina713214, a RIM employee in the BlackBerry PlayBook division, make me think this might be changing as early as tomorrow at noon. The Tweet says:

AT&T BlackBerry/Playbook users…Annoucement tomorrow at noon (sic)

While it could be AT&T selling the BlackBerry PlayBook in stores or even an announcement for a "4G" BlackBerry PlayBook on AT&T's HSPA+ network. Still my bet is on RIM and AT&T making an announcement tomorrow that Bridge is now available for AT&T users. What do you think?

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 9:55 pm. | AT&T Making BlackBerry PlayBook Announcement Tomorrow? | 11 comments |


A Look at the BlackBerry Bold 9900 Camera & 720p Video Recorder

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 06:32 PM PDT

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The team at IntoMobile continued their preview of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 today. This time they took a quick look at the 5MP camera along with the new 720p video recording. They didn't give the video recorder the best rating but the audio and video looked damn good to me. Let us know what you think!

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Video samples:


Desktop Video Link | Mobile Video Link

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 9:32 pm. | A Look at the BlackBerry Bold 9900 Camera & 720p Video Recorder | 5 comments |


Giveaway: 5 Copies of xPlayer Pro and 5 Copies of Remote Desktop for Mobiles (RDM+)

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 04:50 PM PDT

We are to the end of them month and we have some more apps to giveaway from Shape Services. Check out the giveaway details below for a chance to win a copy of either one of this apps.

The first application is the Mobiola xPlayer which features a rich media player for your BlackBerry device.

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The media player features include:

  • Watch full screen videos and listen to live music on BlackBerry!

    A perfect music and video player for BlackBerry. Relax on the beach and shuffle songs from your playlist or play your favorite videos and music on the go. Add all your MP3 songs to Mobiola xPlayer and party it up! Supports every popular audio and video format: mp3, m4a, avi, mp4, 3gp, wma, amr, mid, wav, aac, WMV. Create, Edit, Sort, Shuffle your own playlists. Search through all your multimedia files. Works via all types of connection – BIS, BES, Wi-Fi and direct TCP.

  • Live radio stations

    Explore 100+ predefined radio stations of all genres: Classical, Jazz, Rock, Hiphop & RNB, world, pop.

  • Listen to podcasts

    Listen to podcasts on BlackBerry to stay tuned for the latest business, sport, music, showbiz, and entertainment events from live news and add your own podcasts as well! Subscription for new podcasts is available via RIM Push.

  • New! Dropbox integration

    Playback of Dropbox mp3 files. You can add files to xPlayer playlist, manage playlist with Dropbox files.

  • New! Localization to German, Spanish, and French languages

  • New! Full BlackBerry OS 6 support

  • BlackBerry Inbox integration, push notifications, and background mode

The xPlayer can be purchased for $9.99 at this link, it also comes with a 7 day trial.

The second application is RDM, this handy application allows you to remotely connect from your BlackBerry device to your home PC.

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App description:

Access remotely your computer even through NAT and Firewall from mobile. You can send and receive emails, edit word documents, surf web , manage files and folders and do hundreds other things that you usually do sitting in front of your home or office computer.

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Features:

  • Access your PC from your mobile device wherever you are Control your desktop remotely, manage files and send e-mails easily from your mobile.
  • Firewall traversal You don’t need to change any firewall settings or ensure direct access to your computer from the Internet.
  • One time fee -The price you pay is a one time fee for RDM+ Client, all further updates and upgrades are included. RDM+ Desktop for Windows and RDM+ Desktop for Mac OS are free.

The app cost $39.99 at this link, it also has a 7 day trial.

Giveaway: For a chance to win one of this apps let me know which one you want to be consider for and we will select 5 winners for each application. If you do not say which one you want to be considered for you may be out of luck Winking smile. Good luck. Comments must be left before Monday July 4th.

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Posted by Luis Merlos for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 7:50 pm. | Giveaway: 5 Copies of xPlayer Pro and 5 Copies of Remote Desktop for Mobiles (RDM+) | 43 comments |


Google Improves Search on BlackBerry OS 6.0 Devices!

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 04:39 PM PDT

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FINALLY. I have been waiting for Google to finally get their act together and realize that BlackBerry OS 6 has a WebKit browser just like Android and iPhone. They just announced on their blog that they have revamped Google search and a couple of related properties for the BlackBerry OS 6 browser. The new interface is really slick and really enhances the experience. The only real problem is that RIM still seems to be sending us to the desktop search page from the browser search bar… Still I love the new autocomplete feature.

Google Search revamp2 Google Search revamp

Here are the new features:

  • Enter searches faster: Save time by using autocomplete and search history queries that appear beneath the search box as you type.
  • Web search: Find what you’re searching for fast. Comprehensive results pages let you see relevant websites, images, videos, news, real-time results and more. Simply click on the arrow button '>>' to the left of the top search box for more refinement options.
  • Image search: Swipe through image results quickly and easily on touch enabled devices. Start by selecting 'Images' at the top of www.google.com, then enter a search. From there, click on any image to view a larger size.
  • Local search: Find restaurants, shops and other popular business categories with a single tap. Start by selecting 'Places' at the top of www.google.com, then click on an icon from the Places homepage.

According to Google "These features and more are available on most RIM OS 6.0+ devices with WebKit browsers like the BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry Bold 9780, and can be accessed in 20 languages across 70 countries."

To check it out simply go to www.google.com from your BlackBerry with OS 6.0. You may need to clear your cache to get it to work.

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 7:39 pm. | Google Improves Search on BlackBerry OS 6.0 Devices! | One comment |


BlackBerry Bold 9900 Gets Another Preview – Beautiful Pics & Video

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:04 PM PDT

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In case you haven't gotten tired of looking at pictures of the shiny BlackBerry Bold 9900 we now have more pictures and a video thanks to IntoMobile. Overall they seem to really like the phone and these leaks just make is seem like it is destined to be in our hands shortly. They loved the sharp screen and its nice to hear the words "quick and snappy" in a BlackBerry review. Especially considering the fact that this is a prerelease unit running prerelease software.


Desktop Video Link | Mobile Video Link

Check out all of the pictures here

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 6:04 pm. | BlackBerry Bold 9900 Gets Another Preview – Beautiful Pics & Video | 16 comments |


Shareholders Withdraw Vote for Separating Co-CEO and Chairman Roles

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 01:55 PM PDT

hockey kiss and make up

That came out of nowhere. RIM just announced that NEI investments has withdrawn their shareholder proposal. This proposal was asking RIM's board to separate the roles of Chair and co-CEO at RIM and have RIM appoint an independent CEO. Shareholders were supposed to vote on the proposal at the annual shareholders meeting on July 12th. Turns out NEI and RIM have come to an agreement without a vote,

The compromise according to RIM is that the board will establish a Committee of independent directors whose mandate will generally be to:

  • study the appropriate balance between an independent lead director or chair with full and exclusive authority customarily held by such an office holder
  • determine the business necessity for RIM’s Co-CEOS to have significant Board level titles to assist their selling and other responsibilities with certain large customers in overseas markets
  • propose and provide a rationale for a recommended governance structure for RIM, which will include clarifications of the Co-CEOs and Chair roles, as well as the Board’s mandate.
  • The Committee will consult with NEI Investments in developing the specific terms of reference for this mandate and before it issues its report by January 31, 2012. The Board will publicly respond to the recommendations of the Committee within 30 days.

Check out the full press release below:

RIM and NEI Investments Announce Withdrawal of Shareholder Proposal; RIM Committee to Review Matter Raised by Proposal

WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – June 30, 2011) – Research In Motion Limited ("RIM") (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) and Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. ("NEI Investments") announced today that, following discussions between them, NEI Investments has decided to withdraw its proposal that was to be considered at the RIM Annual General Meeting. The proposal asked that RIM’s Board of Directors adopt a policy that divides the role of Chair and CEO, and that RIM have an independent Chair. The parties have agreed that RIM’s Board will establish a Committee of independent directors whose mandate will generally be to (i) study the appropriate balance between an independent lead director or chair with full and exclusive authority customarily held by such an office holder, (ii) determine the business necessity for RIM’s Co-CEOS to have significant Board level titles to assist their selling and other responsibilities with certain large customers in overseas markets, and (iii) propose and provide a rationale for a recommended governance structure for RIM, which will include clarifications of the Co-CEOs and Chair roles, as well as the Board’s mandate. The Committee will consult with NEI Investments in developing the specific terms of reference for this mandate and before it issues its report by January 31, 2012. The Board will publicly respond to the recommendations of the Committee within 30 days.
As a result, the proposal will no longer be presented at the Annual General Meeting and no vote will be taken on the proposal at the meeting. RIM and NEI Investments are pleased to have reached an agreement on this matter, and these important issues of corporate governance will receive further consideration at the RIM Board level.

Img Credit: TheWifeHatesSports

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 4:55 pm. | Shareholders Withdraw Vote for Separating Co-CEO and Chairman Roles | 8 comments |


RIM’s “Open Response” to Anonymous “Open Letter to RIM Management”

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 01:24 PM PDT

Chalkboard fight

The BoyGenius really knows how to rile RIM up with anonymous "Open Letters" and anonymous "statements from a Big Box Retailer." RIM has responded to the "Open Letter to RIM Senior Management" that we told you about earlier today with their own "Open Response." While there are things that make me doubt the authenticity and/or knowledge of the "high level RIM employee" open letter I find RIM's response sufficient but I wish they would have come out with more guns blazing. Here is RIM's response from the official BlackBerry blog:


An "Open Letter" to RIM's senior management was published anonymously on the web today and it was attributed to an unnamed person described as a "high level employee". It is obviously difficult to address anonymous commentary and it is particularly difficult to believe that a "high level employee" in good standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter on the web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner, but regardless of whether the letter is real, fake, exaggerated or written with ulterior motivations, it is fair to say that the senior management team at RIM is nonetheless fully aware of and aggressively addressing both the company's challenges and its opportunities.

RIM recently confirmed that it is nearing the end of a major business and technology transition. Although this transition has taken longer than anticipated, there is much excitement and optimism within the company about the new products that are lined up for the coming months. There is a fundamental business reality however that following an extended period of hyper growth (during which RIM nearly quadrupled in size over the past 5 years alone), it has become necessary for the company to streamline its operations in order to allow it to grow its business profitably while pursuing newer strategic opportunities. Again, RIM's management team takes these challenges seriously and is actively addressing the situation. The company is thankfully in a solid business and financial position to tackle the opportunities ahead with a solid balance sheet (nearly $3 billion in cash and no debt), strong profitability (RIM's net income last quarter was $695 million) and substantial international growth (international revenue in Q1 grew 67% over the same quarter last year). In fact, while growth has slowed in the US, RIM still shipped 13.2 million BlackBerry smartphones last quarter (which is about 100 smartphones per minute, 24 hours per day) and RIM is more committed than ever to serving its loyal customers and partners around the world.

Img Credit

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 4:24 pm. | RIM’s “Open Response” to Anonymous “Open Letter to RIM Management” | 18 comments |


BlackBerry OS 7 Will Let Any App Post to Twitter, Facebook, & More

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 11:52 AM PDT

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One of the things I have really liked in BlackBerry native apps starting with BlackBerry OS 5 has been the tight integration between them. With BlackBerry 6 and the Twitter, Facebook, BBM, and other add-on apps RIM really perfected the ability to share between the services. In BlackBerry 7 they are finally opening up this API to third party developers. This API has been slightly shadowed by the sexier NFC, OpenGL, and Compass features of BlackBerry 7 but in my opinion it is one of the most useful API additions. I was really surprised when Apple mentioned this as a flagship "magical" feature of iOS 5 when it is something RIM has done for awhile with their built in apps and is on track to open up to 3rd party devs with BlackBerry 7.

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In case you don't know what I mean by this feature here is a brief explanation. Say you are in the Facebook BlackBerry app and want to share a wall post on Twitter. You simply hit the menu button and select "Share" and it will let you share it on many of the communication platforms on your BlackBerry including: email, SMS, BBM, BBM groups, PIM, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Say you get a funny email and want to share it on Twitter. You just go to the email hit the menu button and select "Forward as" and choose one of the networks mentioned above. Same for the camera, memopad, tasks, and many other apps. RIM has been a bit inconsistent about the wording but I love the functionality. The thing is until now those cross communication features were only available to RIM developed apps. That is thankfully changing in BlackBerry 7.

In BlackBerry 7 RIM is exposing a new "Send Menu API" that will allow any signed app to take advantage of this channel. That means apps like BerryReader, Games, screenshot apps, and more will all be able to tap into your Facebook, Twitter, and other networks without having to setup their own solution. It will simply be able to use that built in menu to send a tweet or wall post.

I am really hoping that RIM finds a way to bring this API to BlackBerry 6 devices but I know they usually do not bring features into older OS's. Still I think it will make a big difference in how social BlackBerry apps can be!

If you want to read more about the API just check out the BlackBerry 7 API docs and search for net.rim.blackberry.api.sendmenu

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 2:52 pm. | BlackBerry OS 7 Will Let Any App Post to Twitter, Facebook, & More | 7 comments |


BlackBerry Curve 9360 Smiles For The Camera Again

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 11:51 AM PDT

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We have seen the upcoming BlackBerry Curve 9360 quite a few times already but I cannot get enough of the eye candy. Instead of the previous small upgrades in the Curve line we now have a huge jump forward with the mid range BlackBerry Curve 9800. It is packing a brand new 800Mhz CPU along with 512mb of RAM, NFC, Compass, GPS, 5MP camera, and is super thin. Check out the pics scored by BBNews.pl (Translation) and let us know what you think!

 bok93601 bokk9360 gora9360

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 2:51 pm. | BlackBerry Curve 9360 Smiles For The Camera Again | 4 comments |


Free ScoreMobile Tablet Optimized Sports App Now Available

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 11:43 AM PDT

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ScoreMobile makes one of the best (if not the best) sports app for BlackBerry smartphones and now they have done it again on the BlackBerry PlayBook. Celticboi let us know that Score Media Ventures has released ScoreMobile Tablet for the PlayBook today. This new app brings "comprehensive multi-sport app covering top worldwide leagues including MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, EPL and PGA." They also offer up to the minute scores, standings, stats, news, betting odds, and video commentary.

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The app fully supports both portrait and landscape modes and has some fun features to use the app while watching the game on your TV including live blogs and twitter streams.

Personalization features include:

  • Users can personalize favorite teams and data refresh intervals.
  • My Scores provide a single view of fave teams and user-selected games
  • Game start times are customized based on device time zone setting.
  • Log-in and share scores and news via Twitter or Facebook

You can find ScoreMobile for the BlackBerry PlayBook in App World here

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 2:43 pm. | Free ScoreMobile Tablet Optimized Sports App Now Available | 4 comments |


American Airlines Gets BlackBerry App With Mobile Boarding Pass & More!

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 08:42 AM PDT

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While I personally recommend most travelers simply use the slick BlackBerry Travel app there are some nice benefits to carrier apps. Ashley let me know about the latest release of American Airlines for BlackBerry. I am not sure exactly when it launched but this is the first I have heard of it. The app lets you manage and plan your AA itinerary along with viewing details like gate, seat, and flight status info. You can also use it to access your Mobile Boarding Pass.

The app packs other features like the ability to monitor your place on the standby list, track your elite status progress, add your flight to your calendar, and set parking reminders. All in all a pretty sweet app that you can pick up at aa.com/blackberry. According to them the app is supported on the BlackBerry Bold, BlackBerry Torch, BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Tour Smartphones running on OS 5.0 and 6.0 though I have not tried other devices to see if it will work.

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 11:42 am. | American Airlines Gets BlackBerry App With Mobile Boarding Pass & More! | 4 comments |


Dilbert of the Day… Smartphone Issues Part Deux

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 08:26 AM PDT

Dilbert takes on smartphones

We told you about the Dilbert yesterday that took on smartphone recommendations. Josep pointed out that today's Dilbert takes on something similar. Smartphone reception. Its actually something I have noticed on a regular basis where my Torch will have 5 bars right next to an AT&T Android and iPhone which have 1-3. What has been your experience?

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 11:26 am. | Dilbert of the Day… Smartphone Issues Part Deux | 3 comments |


Open Letter To RIM Senior Management from Supposed High Level RIM Employee

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 08:20 AM PDT

Large morning coffee

I am not sure what to say about this one. The BoyGenius posted up an open letter to RIM's senior management from what they verified as a high level RIM employee who wishes to remain anonymous. If true then it is a pretty sad case if a high level employee feels he cannot get his message to management in any other way. It also comes at a critical time for RIM which is going to have a vote on July 12th about splitting up their Co-CEO + Co-Chairman of the Board structure.

While the letter does not really say anything groundbreaking it does show that RIM employees are feeling some of the same pain as their users. I have been speaking regularly with many contacts at RIM and they seem much more positive than this RIM employee. It could be that he is just not as privy to the upcoming changes coming from Waterloo since RIM has been playing it pretty close to the vest with each team. Still he does highlight a need for more transparency at RIM. My favorite line in the whole letter?

We often make product decisions based on strategic alignment, partner requests or even legal advice — the end user doesn't care.

Check out the full letter over at BGR. I also put a copy below in case it gets taken down. Let us know what you think.


To the RIM Senior Management Team:

I have lost confidence.

While I hide it at work, my passion has been sapped. I know I am not alone — the sentiment is widespread and it includes people within your own teams.

Mike and Jim, please take the time to really absorb and digest the content of this letter because it reflects the feeling across a huge percentage of your employee base. You have many smart employees, many that have great ideas for the future, but unfortunately the culture at RIM does not allow us to speak openly without having to worry about the career-limiting effects.

Before I get into the meat of the matter, I will say I am not part of a large group of bitter employees wishing to embarrass us. Rather, I believe these points need to be heard and I desperately want RIM to regain its position as a successful industry leader. Our carriers, distributors, alliance partners, enterprise customers, and our loyal end users all want the same thing… for BlackBerry to once again be leading the pack.

We are in the middle of major "transition" and things have never been more chaotic. Almost every project is falling further and further behind schedule at a time when we absolutely must deliver great, solid products on time. We urge you to make bold decisions about our organizational structure, about our culture and most importantly our products.

While we anxiously wait to see the details of the streamlining plan, here are some suggestions:

1) Focus on the End User experience

Let's obsess about what is best for the end user. We often make product decisions based on strategic alignment, partner requests or even legal advice — the end user doesn't care. We simply have to admit that Apple is nailing this and it is one of the reasons they have people lining up overnight at stores around the world, and products sold out for months. These people aren't hypnotized zombies, they simply love beautifully designed products that are user centric and work how they are supposed to work. Android has a major weakness — it will always lack the simplicity and elegance that comes with end-to-end device software, middleware and hardware control. We really have a great opportunity to build something new and "uniquely BlackBerry" with the QNX platform.

Let's start an internal innovation revival with teams focused on what users will love instead of chasing "feature parity" and feature differentiation for no good reason (Adobe Flash being a major example). When was the last time we pushed out a significant new experience or feature that wasn't already on other platforms?

Rather than constantly mocking iPhone and Android, we should encourage key decision makers across the board to use these products as their primary device for a week or so at a time — yes, on Exchange! This way we can understand why our users are switching and get inspiration as to how we can build our next-gen products even better! It's incomprehensible that our top software engineers and executives aren't using or deeply familiar with our competitor's products.

2) Recruit Senior SW Leaders & enable decision-making

I'm going to say what everyone is thinking… We need some heavy hitters at RIM when it comes to software management. Teams still aren't talking together properly, no one is making or can make critical decisions, all the while everyone is working crazy hours and still far behind. We are demotivated. Just look at who our major competitors are: Apple, Google & Microsoft. These are three of the biggest and most talented software companies on the planet. Then take a look at our software leadership teams in terms of what they have delivered and their past experience prior to RIM… It says everything.

3) Cut projects to the bone.

There is a serious need to consolidate our focus to just a handful of projects. Period.

We need to be disciplined here. We can't afford any more initiatives based on carrier requests to squeeze out slightly more volume. Again, back to point #1, focus on the end users. They are the ones making both consumer & enterprise purchase decisions.

Strategy is often in the things you decide not to do.

On that note, we simply must stop shipping incomplete products that aren't ready for the end user. It is hurting our brand tremendously. It takes guts to not allow a product to launch that may be 90% ready with a quarter end in sight, but it will pay off in the long term.

Look at Apple in 1997 for tips here. I really want you to watch this video because it has never been more relevant. It is our friend Steve Jobs in 97 and it may as well be you speaking to RIM employees and partners today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LEXae1j6EY

4) Developers, not Carriers can now make or break us

We urgently need to invest like we never have before in becoming developer friendly. The return will be worth every cent. There is no polite way to say this, but it's true — BlackBerry smartphone apps suck. Even PlayBook, with all its glorious power, looks like a Fisher Price toy with its Adobe AIR/Flash apps.

Developing for BlackBerry is painful, and despite what you've been told, things haven't really changed that much since Jamie Murai's letter. Our SDK / development platform is like a rundown 1990′s Ford Explorer. Then there's Apple, which has a shiny new BMW M3… just such a pleasure to drive. Developers want and need quality tools.

If we create great tools, we will see great work. Offer shit tools and we shouldn't be surprised when we see shit apps.

The truth is, no one in RIM dares to tell management how bad our tools still are. Even our closest dev partners do their best to say it politely, but they will never bite the hand that feeds them. The solution? Recruit serious talent, buy SDK/API specialist companies, throw a truckload of money at it… Let's do whatever it takes, and quickly!

5) Need for serious marketing punch to create end user desire

25 million iPad users don't care that it doesn't have Flash or true multitasking, so why make that a focus in our campaigns? I'll answer that for you: it's because that's all that differentiates our products and its lazy marketing. I've never seen someone buy product B because it has something product A doesn't have. People buy product B because they want and lust after product B.

Also an important note regarding our marketing: a product's technical superiority does not equal desire, and therefore sales… How many Linux laptops are getting sold? How did Betamax go? My mother wants an iPad and iPhone because it is simple and appeals to her. Powerful multitasking doesn't.

BlackBerry Messenger has been our standout, yet we wasted our marketing on strange stories from a barber shop to a horse wrangler. I promise you, this did nothing to help us in the mind of the average consumer.

We need an inventive and engaging campaign that focuses on what we are about. People buy into a brand / product not just because of features, but because of what it stands for and what it delivers to them. People don't buy "what you do," people buy "why you do it." Take 3 minutes to watch the this video starting from the 2min mark: http://youtu.be/qp0HIF3SfI4

6) No Accountability – Canadians are too nice

RIM has a lot of people who underperform but still stay in their roles. No one is accountable. Where is the guy responsible for the 9530 software? Still with us, still running some important software initiative. We will never achieve excellence with this culture. Just because someone may have been a loyal RIM employee for 7 years, it doesn't mean they are the best Manager / Director / VP for that role. It's time to change the culture to deliver or move on and get out. We have far too many people in critical roles that fit this description. I can hear the cheers of my fellow employees now.

7) The press and analysts are pissing you off. Don't snap. Now is the time for humility with a dash of paranoia.

The public's questions about dual-CEOs are warranted. The partnership is not broken, but on the ground level, it is not efficient. Maybe we need our Eric Schmidt reign period.

Yes, four years ago we beat Microsoft when everyone said Windows Mobile with Direct Push in Exchange would kill us. It didn't… in fact we grew stronger.

However, overconfidence clouds good decision-making. We missed not boldly reacting to the threat of iPhone when we saw it in January over four years ago. We laughed and said they are trying to put a computer on a phone, that it won't work. We should have made the QNX-like transition then. We are now 3-4 years too late. That is the painful truth… it was a major strategic oversight and we know who is responsible.

Jim, in referring to our current transition recently said: "No other technology company other than Apple has successfully transitioned their platform. It's almost never done, and it's way harder than you realize. This transition is where tech companies go to die."

To avoid this death, perhaps it is time to seriously consider a new, fresh thinking, experienced CEO. There is no shame in no longer being a CEO. Mike, you could focus on innovation. Jim, you could focus on our carriers/customers… They are our lifeblood.

8) Democratise. Engage and interact with your employees — please!

Reach out to all employees asking them on how we can make RIM better. Encourage input from ground-level teams—without repercussions—to seek out honest feedback and really absorb it.

Lastly, we're all reading the news and many are extremely nervous, especially when we see people get fired. We need an injection of confidence: share your strategy and ask us for support. The headhunters have already started circling and we are at risk of losing our best people.

Now would be a great time to internally re-brand and re-energize the workplace. For example, rename the company to just "BlackBerry" to signify our new focus on one QNX product line. We should also address issues surrounding making RIM an enjoyable workplace. Some of our offices feel like Soviet-era government workplaces.

The timing is perfect to seriously evaluate at our position and make these major changes. We can do it!

Sincerely,

A RIM Employee

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Posted by the BerryReview Team for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 11:20 am. | Open Letter To RIM Senior Management from Supposed High Level RIM Employee | 20 comments |


Opera Mini v6.1 Released With Google & Yandex Search Suggestions

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 06:30 AM PDT

Opera Mini 6.1

A few readers pointed out in the forums that Opera has updated Opera Mini this week. This update to v6.1 is not a huge update but adds some nice refinement. The main new feature is search suggestions from Google and Yandex to the search bar. They also made it adapt to your surfing habits with new domain learning feature which allows new top level domains such as .uk, .ru, and .id to be picked up.

You can pick up the free update at mini.opera.com or read more in their press release

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 9:30 am. | Opera Mini v6.1 Released With Google & Yandex Search Suggestions | 6 comments |


BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac v2.1 Now Available with PlayBook Support

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 06:23 AM PDT

Desktop Manager Mac Release Notes

RIM just let us know that they have updated BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac to v2.1. This new version brings media sync support for the BlackBerry PlayBook. Before you could copy files over to the PlayBook over USB or Wi-Fi but this new version lets you use Desktop Manager to sync your music, photos, and videos with iTunes and iPhoto over USB.

The change log documentation lists these as the only changes:

  • Tablet Support – Sync and import your media files with the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet.
  • General – Provides fixes and improvements to the features.

You can pick up the new version at www.blackberry.com/mac!

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 9:23 am. | BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac v2.1 Now Available with PlayBook Support | 6 comments |


When is Zinio Coming to the BlackBerry PlayBook? Teaser Preview Video

Posted: 30 Jun 2011 05:55 AM PDT

 Zinio

There has been some questions in the forums about Zinio, Nook, and Kindle apps coming to the PlayBook to bring more content to the device. While we have already covered the Kindle status I found out some more about Zinio. Awhile back we came up with some pretty solid proof that Zinio was bringing their digital magazine app to the BlackBerry PlayBook. Their desktop app is developed in Adobe AIR which makes it a perfect fit for the PlayBook. I have been patiently waiting for it to materialize and have asked a few sources for some info but DJay let me know about some more confirmation. About two months ago Zinio posted this sneak peak video of their app supposedly running on the PlayBook:

That client looks similar to their Android and iOS apps and their desktop client which is nice. Now if only we could get a solid release date out of them. I have tried contacting them and will post back with any update. Let us know if you find anything else!

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, June 30, 2011, 8:55 am. | When is Zinio Coming to the BlackBerry PlayBook? Teaser Preview Video | 2 comments |


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