RIM Is Adding Movies, Music, and TV Shows To BlackBerry App World

RIM VP of Business Development Martyn Mallick has announced that the App World will soon have music, movies, and TV shows for the company’s 80 million users to browse and buy.  Mallick said that consumers would be able to ren and purchase video content.  All of the media is moved to the device because there is not any streaming options.  Users will be able to see trending songs or videos to help make purchasing decisions a bit easier.  It is unknown who RIM has partnerships with for the content.

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The Decline Of RIM Continues.

Every time Research In Motion is hit with an outage, it serves as a reminder to consumers that it may be time to switch to an Android or an iPhone.  Apple sold 5 million iPhone 5 devices in one weekend and RIM is struggling to push 8 million BlackBerrys in a bit under a year.  According to The Globe and Mail, analysts are saying that RIM will announce zero growth during this week’s Q2 conference call on Thursday.

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RIM Hit With Outages Across 3 Continents

Today RIM had to deal with a service outage that affected BlackBerry users across 3 continents.  ”Some users in Europe, Middle East & Africa are experiencing issues with their BlackBerry service,” said the company.  ”We are investigating and apologize for any inconvenience.”

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Microsoft Signs Licensing Deal With RIM

Microsoft Corporation has signed a patent licensing agreement with Research In Motion (RIM).  RIM is now allowed to have broad access to the latest Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) for certain BlackBerry devices.  exFAT is a modern file system from Microsoft that helps facilitate large files for audiovisual media and enables seamless data portability and easier interchange between desktop PCs and other electronic devices.

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StatCounter: Windows Phone To Outpace BlackBerry By Nov. 2012

According to device research company StatCounter, Windows Phone is quickly catching up to BlackBerry and is set to outpace the them in November 2012.  StatCounter is basing this on web usage data from the beginning of the year.  More Windows Phones would be used in the U.S. against BlackBerry by week 47 (end of November).  When new Windows Phone devices are launched in October and November, the trend will be accelerated too.  Unfortunately Microsoft is still a small fish in a big pond since less than 2 out of 100 smartphone users are on Windows Phone.

BlackBerry 10 Full Touch Device To Have 768 x 1280 Pixel Screen

When RIM releases their BlackBerry 10 devices in early 2013, some will have a QWERTY keyboard and some will have a touchscreen.  The BlackBerry 10 “full touch” device will have a resolution of 768 x 1280 (16:10) pixels to start with.  RIM will also be launching a Bold-like device with a resolution of 720 x 720 pixels (1:1).  Knowing the aspect ratio is great for BlackBerry developers so they know how to start designing apps in time for BlackBerry 10 release.  Note: Some of the information in this article has been corrected (see comment #1)

RIM Showing BB10 To Phone Carriers

Research In Motion has started delivering nearly complete versions of BlackBerry 10 devices to phone carriers.  BlackBerry 10 is expected to be released in early 2013.  According to an executive with a phone carrier that has been presentations of the new devices, BlackBerry 10 is looking impressive.  The executive said that the devices are a major improvement from current BlackBerry models and it will make the company more competitive with Google Android.  Upon launch, there will be six BB10 handsets device between QWERTY keyboard devices and touchscreen devices.  Two units will be launched early 2013, one touchscreen and the other with a QWERTY keyboard.  The BB10 smartphones will have replaceable batteries.