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BlackBerry regains some lost market share in Canada

BlackBerry has managed to regain some lost market share in its home country of Canada.

In a research note to investors on Thursday, Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt reported that while BlackBerry's market share was just 6 percent in Canada in the fourth quarter of 2012, it jumped to 13.5 percent in the first quarter of 2013. The analyst believes that there was some excitement that cropped up around BlackBerry's latest handsets, the Z10 and Q10, which helped spur the change.

Still, BlackBerry is still far behind where it once was. According to McCourt, BlackBerry had a … Read more

Windows Phone jumps to third place in smartphone market

Microsoft's Windows Phone grabbed third place from BlackBerry in global smartphone shipments in the first quarter, market researcher IDC said Thursday.

Windows Phone accounted for shipments of 7 million smartphones, earning itself a market share of 3.2 percent last quarter. That was a gain from the first quarter of 2012, which saw shipments of 3 million and a market share of 2 percent.

Over the same period, BlackBerry saw its fortunes fall. Last quarter, shipments fell to 6.3 million from 9.7 million in the year-ago quarter, while BlackBerry's market share dropped to 2.9 percent … Read more

Porting Android apps to BB10 is quick but not for everyone

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Here at BlackBerry Live 2013, BB10 devices weren't in short supply though vendors hawking compelling consumer apps were few and far in between. … Read more

BlackBerry flaunts BB10 Bentley at BlackBerry Live

ORLANDO, Fla. -- One of the most memorable moments from BlackBerry Live 2013 was when CEO Thorsten Heins jumped into a special Bentley luxury auto tricked out with BB10 software. That's why I decided to see what the fuss was all about personally.

Luckily BlackBerry was thoughtful enough to provide the premium car for display on the BlackBerry Live show floor. And yes, after spending a short time behind the wheel of this fine automobile, I can report it's a sweet ride. Specifically I'm speaking to the Bentley's smooth integration of phone features, though the vehicle'… Read more

Can BlackBerry move past 'solid ground' to recapture past glory?

ORLANDO, Fla.--If there's one message BlackBerry wanted to convey at its annual confab, it's this: "We're back."

"It hasn't been that easy, and there's still a lot of work to do, but man, have we reached solid ground with this company," CEO Thorsten Heins said during his keynote address at BlackBerry Live on Tuesday.

BlackBerry was busy Tuesday, offering a smorgasbord of news. There was the device announcement in the form of the budget-friendly BlackBerry Q5. There was the updated BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10.1 for the business-minded. There was … Read more

BlackBerry's developer guru on its Android apps: Users hate them

ORLANDO, Fla. -- BlackBerry's advice for getting love from "CrackBerry" nation: build a native app.

In an effort to augment its library, BlackBerry allowed developers to port over existing Android apps to run on BlackBerry 10 devices. While most of them work, they can't access major features on the device. BlackBerry users notice the difference.

"From a commercial perspective, users hate them," said Alec Saunders, head of developer relations at BlackBerry. "Our partners who have ported apps get dinged for them."

There's some momentum behind app development for BlackBerry 10, Saunders … Read more

BlackBerry Messenger jumps to iPhone, Android

CNET Update busts out the Breakout:

Lots of news around BlackBerry in today's roundup. Not only is BlackBerry expanding the popular Messenger service as an app for Android and iOS, but it also is giving Messenger a social-media twist with BBM Channels.

BlackBerry keyboard fans in the U.S. are finally able to own the Q10 this summer when it arrives at T-Mobile, Verzion and Sprint. (Get the full Q10 review here.) Considering the phone was unveiled at the end of January, BlackBerry fans in the U.S. have had to wait awhile for any availability details. But as … Read more

BlackBerry CEO likes tablets, just not as they are

ORLANDO, Fla.--OK, so is BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins a fan of tablets, or isn't he?

Heins, who made waves last month when he said he didn't see a place for tablets in five years, made some seemingly contradictory comments on tablets when he spoke on Tuesday during a Q&A session with the media while at the BlackBerry Live conference.

"We believe in a single element of mobile computing: one on your hip," Heins said.

Roughly 15 minutes later, Heins said BlackBerry was looking at the future of tablets and investing R&D … Read more

BlackBerry Q10 lands at Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint this summer

Keyboard fans looking for their BlackBerry Q10 this summer will have their pick of three carriers: Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Verizon will kick off Q10 sales with a preorder in the coming weeks, and will sell the Q10 in June.

T-Mobile has also committed to a June time frame, adding that business customers can get the smartphone for a wholesale price of $119.99 "with qualifying plans." T-Mobile's regular customers will be able to pick up the device for $99.99 down, topped by $20 a month for the next two years. That's a total of $… Read more

BlackBerry Messenger expands to Android, iOS

ORLANDO, Fla. -- More news rolled out of BlackBerry Live 2013 today, including the company's plans to offer BlackBerry Messenger to Android and iOS devices.

The BBM platform will hit these products by summer, but best of all, the service will be offered as a free download. The BlackBerry CEO sounded very excited about the move, a first for the service. He said, "It's a statement of confidence. We are confident time is right for BBM to be independent."

Those are bold words indeed and certainly a great tactic to lure users back to BBM. The … Read more