News Blog

(Credit: YouMail)

YouMail, a free visual voice mail solution to organize cell phone messages like e-mail for online playback and response, announced on Thursday that customers can start viewing those same voice mail messages from their mobile phones.

By pointing the mobile browser to YouMail's home page, fans of the service can access their account with the usual login and pin to view contact's images, play back messages in any order, and forward or reply to voice messages in a form factor tailored from YouMail's servers to many high-end smartphones.

YouMail certainly isn't the first visual voice mail service to succeed in delivering transcribed messages to smartphones, which it does through a separate e-mail or SMS feature. Unlike some competitors for mobile voice message management, however, like PhoneTag (previously SimulScribe) and CallWave, YouMail's new service will retain the audio and organizational features of its rich online product.

The service will be ready for a wide variety of smartphones, YouMail said in a statement, including models from Research In Motion, Nokia, HTC, Morotola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and Palm. YouMail claims that YouMail's smartphone formula "even" works on iPhones, which already run on the full mobile Web with manufacturer Apple's Safari browser.

Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerry smartphones, will meet with Indian officials again Thursday to hash out an agreement over security concerns, Reuters reported Wednesday.

India's security agencies have been pushing RIM to allow it to intercept e-mail that travels across its secure network. Under Indian law, the government has a right under certain circumstances to intercept electronic communications for security purposes. The Indian government believes that it needs access to these mobile e-mails to help thwart terrorists, who are increasingly using the Internet and e-mail to communicate with each other.

According to Reuters, Andimuthu Raja, India's telecommunications director, said last week that RIM had assured the government that it is working on a solution. But late last week, the company said that it wouldn't be able to "accommodate" any such request, the story said.

BlackBerry service is being offered by four service providers in India: Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone-controlled Vodafone Essar, and BPL Mobile. Currently, there are 114,000 BlackBerry subscribers in India.

India is an important market for RIM and other handset makers. As the North American and European markets mature and reach saturation, developing markets such as India will provide substantial growth in the coming years.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is working with three other companies to launch a $150 million venture capital fund that will invest in companies developing new applications and services for mobile devices.

Electronic publisher Thomson Reuters and venture capital firms JLA Ventures and RBC Venture Partners have joined RIM to establish the fund. RIM said the fund won't be restricted to investing in BlackBerry-specific applications. It will also invest in start-ups as well as relatively mature software developers.

Specifically, investments will focus on services and applications such as mobile payments, advertising, retailing, and banking. It also will support companies developing applications for social networking, navigation and mapping, media and entertainment, lifestyle and personal productivity applications, and enterprise applications.

The fund will be co-managed by Canadian firm JLA Ventures and RBC Venture Partners.

The venture fund is part of RIM's bigger strategy. For one, the company wants to move more computer users from desktops to handheld devices. Earlier this month, it announced a partnership with enterprise software firm SAP to integrate all of the company's corporate software onto BlackBerrys.

The fund will also help the second prong in RIM's overall strategy, which is to expand its user base to the mass market. The company makes the bulk of its revenue from corporate customers, but over the past 18 months it has also targeted consumers with new devices and partnerships with companies like Facebook. The new venture fund should help spur more innovation among developers.

"The mobile world has evolved well beyond phone calls and simple messaging to become an empowering and liberating platform that connects people to everything that matters most to them," Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive officer at RIM, said in a statement. "And the BlackBerry Partners Fund is being formed to help fuel innovation and activity in the mobile ecosystem."

Thomson Reuters is one of the world's largest electronic news publishers, providing information to lawyers, doctors, and financial professionals. Many of its customers are already BlackBerry users. The company sees mobile devices and applications as a critical piece of its own strategy.

"Thomson Reuters is committed to supporting the development of next-generation mobile applications that will provide our professional and business customers with anywhere, anytime capabilities," Devin Wenig, CEO of the Markets Division of Thomson Reuters, said in a statement. "The ability to make business-critical decisions with intelligent information available on mobile devices will give our customers a clear competitive advantage."

RIM BlackBerry Bold

(Credit: RIM)

World: Say hello to the RIM BlackBerry Bold. *Cue dramatic music.*

You may know it as the RIM BlackBerry 9000, but on Sunday, Research In Motion officially took the wraps off the highly anticipated smartphone, complete with a new name. The "Bold" is in reference to the smartphone's gorgeous display, but it's also bold in that it represents a number of new moves for the company. Oh, BlackBerry Bold, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways.

The bold and the beautiful
As we just mentioned, the device gets its name from its screen. The BlackBerry Bold features a half-VGA (480x320 pixel resolution) and a 65,000-color display. During some initial product testing, research group participants repeatedly called the screen "bold" and "brilliant." The Brilliant moniker didn't really jibe with the company, thus the BlackBerry Bold was born.

So just how bold is it? Well, RIM stopped by our office late last week to show us the device, and let me just tell you, I was absolutely blown away. I can pretty much say I've never seen a better-looking display on a smartphone. Colors pop off the screen, and it's really amazing how sharp and crisp everything looks on the display.

We watched a couple of videos, and for the first time, we didn't notice any of the pixelation or blurriness that you typically get with phones. In addition, the menu interface has been revamped with a much more modern look and icons. Also, as you can see from the images, the BlackBerry Bold boasts a new design. It's more elegant than models past, with curvier edges and a silver trim that complements the black casing.

If you turn it over, you'll also notice that the back has a leatherette texture. No more slick plastic. RIM will sell replaceable backplates in different colors, including blue, gray, and red, if you want to individualize your phone a bit. The BlackBerry Bold measures 4.5 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide by half an inch deep, and it weighs 4.7 ounces.

Kevin Michaluk at Crackberry.com took a gamble, buying one on eBay, and posted a hands-on review. He made a good comparison of the device to the Motorola Q9h.

Finally, the BlackBerry Bold has a QWERTY keyboard that RIM likened to a modernized Curve keyboard, but I'm not really seeing it. Instead, it reminded me more of the BlackBerry 8830.

Now, I know some of you 8800 series users had issues with the keyboard, but I tried it out, and it's pretty easy to use--relatively large buttons with some spacing between the keys.

(Credit: RIM)

Wireless smorgasbord
There's a heaping of wireless options on the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) BlackBerry Bold, but the most appetizing and notable item is the HSDPA/UMTS (850/1900/2100) support.

It's the first such equipped BlackBerry, and we all know that it's been a long time coming. RIM says the delay for bringing such a device to the market is that it wanted to make sure that battery life wouldn't be sacrificed at the expense of including the 3.5G technology. Hey, whatever the reason, we're just finally happy to have it.

You also get integrated Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g), Bluetooth 2.0 with full A2DP support, and built-in GPS (enhanced and assisted).

Horsepower
The RIM BlackBerry Bold is equipped with a 624MHz Intel PXA270 processor, whereas previous BlackBerrys had 312MHz processors, so technically, you should enjoy smoother and faster performance.

During our briefing, there were a few hiccups in performance, but we're going to keep our fingers crossed and chalk it up to the fact that it wasn't a final unit. There's also 128MB of flash memory and 1GB of onboard memory, which is all supplemented by the microSD/SDHC expansion slot (supports up to 16GB cards).

Multimedia, Web, and other good stuff
You still with me? I know this post is getting a bit lengthy, but there are just a few more highlights to note. First, the Bold includes an improved Web browser (thank goodness), with the option to view pages in a full desktop HTML style or a mobile version, and you can now more easily navigate pages with the trackball, which acts like a mouse cursor, and zoom in and out.

As for multimedia, the smartphone is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera with video-recording capabilities and up to 5x zoom. The media player also continues to support numerous audio and video formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC, DivX4, and WMV3 files, and the phone is equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack. By the way, the Bold has some pretty powerful speakers--none of that weak, tinny junk.

Oh, and hey, what's this? It's makes calls, and sends and receives e-mails, you say? Yes, you'll still get all of the voice and messaging features of previous BlackBerrys, and the handset will also come preloaded with Dataviz's Documents to Go suite, for document viewing and editing.

"When and where can I get one?"
Now that we've totally built up the device, and you're ready to run out and buy one, here's the letdown: the BlackBerry Bold isn't available quite yet. It's currently going through carrier certification, and although RIM wouldn't officially name the service provider, based on the 3G bands, you can pretty much guess who it will be (hint: starts with an A and ends with T&T). And while pricing will also depend on the carrier, RIM is guessing that it will be in the $300 to $400 range, and expected worldwide availability is "this summer."

OK, that's it! My fingers are tired from all the typing, so now it's your turn. Clearly, I'm pretty amped about the smartphone. Of course, the true test will come when we finally get it in for real-world testing, but from everything I've seen so far, the RIM BlackBerry Bold has huge potential. But what do you think? Hot or not? The commenting floodgates are open, so have at it.

Update: AT&T confirmed this morning that it will be the official carrier of the BlackBerry Bold but didn't provide any details on availability other than "later this year."

RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330

(Credit: Sprint)

Just a quick heads up to all you Sprint customers: The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 is now available for purchase. Yes, that's right, the Curve can now be yours for just $179.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates and discounts. Like Verizon's version, the Sprint Curve features Bluetooth 2.0, a 2-megapixel camera, and integrated GPS with support for Sprint Navigation. However, unlike Verizon, you can access Sprint's various multimedia services on the Curve, including Sprint TV and the Sprint Music Store. The sleek little smartphone is scheduled to arrive in our office today, so be sure to check back early next week for a full review.

Finally, on a somewhat related note, there are rumors floating around that the RIM BlackBerry 9000 will make its official debut on Monday, May 12. Oh, a girl can dream.

Is this the BlackBerry Kickstart?

(Credit: Boy Genius Report)

Hey now! There's an interesting story coming out the Boy Genius Report (BGR) that's creating a lot of buzz among the cell phone community. According to BGR, Research in Motion will release a BlackBerry, codenamed "Kickstart," with a flip design and has some hands-on photos of the smartphone as well as another shot of the device with T-Mobile branding.

It's said that the Kickstart will have a monochromatic external display with a "color glow" border around it, while the inside will feature a 320x240 resolution, color display, standard BlackBerry shortcuts and trackball navigator, and a "next-gen" SureType keyboard. The device will also launch in multiple colors and have a soft-touch finish on the back. BGR also provided a few specs, including integrated Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), quad-band world roaming (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; GRPS/EDGE), a 2-megapixel camera, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Now, while the pictures certainly look legit, this is still all speculation at this time. For the record, CNET News.com's Maggie Reardon talked to a RIM representative this morning and got the official "no comment" comment from the company (no surprise there). Rest assured, though, we're keeping a close eye on the Kickstart. In the meantime, any thoughts on it? Yay or nay?

Research in Motion is teaming up with SAP to integrate key enterprise software onto its Blackberry devices in a move that could mobilize business applications in the same way it did for corporate e-mail.

The two companies said Friday at a joint press conference in New York City that SAP's customer relationship management software will be natively integrated into BlackBerry devices. This means that sales professionals will be able to access their CRM application as readily as they get e-mail on their BlackBerrys.

RIM and SAP had already offered customers a browser-based solution for accessing CRM applications. But this new approach means that CRM information will be pushed to BlackBerry devices much the same way that corporate e-mail is pushed to BlackBerrys. The application will work over cellular networks and will work with all versions of BlackBerrys. The software will be available in the next few weeks, executives said.

The companies plan to expand the relationship over time. And over the next several months, they will integrate all of SAP's enterprise software applications with the BlackBerry.

RIM pioneered the mobile push e-mail model. And its BlackBerry phones lead the market in companies both large and small. Today it has over 150,000 BlackBerry servers installed in 135 countries.

But even though it's considered the leader in the corporate smartphone market, the company is facing stiff competition from companies, such as Microsoft and Apple. Apple's iPhone was originally targeted at consumers, but it's been gaining traction among business users. In March, Apple announced it was licensing software to work with Microsoft Exchange e-mail servers in an effort to provide corporate push e-mail to iPhone users. The company has also announced virtual private network capabilities and has added security features that should help corporate IT managers better manage iPhones on corporate networks. The new software upgrade will be available in June.

Meanwhile, RIM has also been addressing the consumer market with devices like the Pearl. It's also added multimedia features to its phones that allow people to store and listen to music and watch videos on their phones, features popular with some consumers. The company has also struck deals with social-networking Web sites like Facebook to bring those applications to Blackberry users. And most recently, RIM has been rumored to be working on a clamshell style phone that flips open. This handset would compete with basic-feature phones from companies such as Motorola.

Corporate customers still the core
But RIM's co-CEO James Balsillie emphasized that the company is still very much focused on its corporate customers, who make up the bulk of its base. And he said that many of the features and functionality developed for BlackBerrys are also very useful to corporate customers.

"In the media, the B to C (business to consumer) angle gets all the attention, because it's sexy," he said. "But actually the same core enablers are massively transformative to enterprise productivity. When people think of mobile video, they think of watching a music video on their phone. But they don't think about what it means for businesses to do things like training."

Balsillie said that the enterprise may actually find new multimedia features even more useful than consumers. But as RIM rapidly expands its customer base, the company has faced growing pains. And in the last year, it's encountered two major network outages that have annoyed many of its corporate customers.

Balsillie acknowledged the network issues of the past. And he said the company is constantly working to ensure that outages don't occur in the future.

"We are not perfect," he said. "And I can't stand here before you and say we've been perfect. But we aspire to perfection. And we take our responsibility to provide 100 percent uptime to our customers with the utmost seriousness. And when something happens we make sure that service is restored and no packets are lost."

Did he or didn't he?

An aide to Mexico's president has lost his job after allegedly swiping BlackBerrys off a table outside of diplomatic talks taking place in New Orleans this week, according to several media reports.

Rafael Quintero Curiel, who coordinated Mexican journalists who follow the president, was confronted Tuesday by Secret Service agents at the New Orleans airport and then by Mexican officials once he returned home.

An initial story on Fox News on Thursday claimed he took six or seven BlackBerrys belonging to White House officials. Later reports say he took two of the wireless e-mail devices.

Cell phones and other electronic devices are customarily not allowed into diplomatic talks and are left outside on tables.

Video surveillance cameras apparently caught Curiel taking the devices, which is how the Secret Service agents were able to track him down so quickly.

Curiel, however, has come to his own defense, claiming that the whole thing was a misunderstanding. In a letter sent to news media on Friday, Curiel said he was concerned that the BlackBerrys had been left behind and took them only in order to return them to their proper owners.

Mexican officials apparently didn't believe him and said they "deeply regret" the incident, according to a report Saturday in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

The White House said the BlackBerrys were recovered but declined further comment.

RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8110

(Credit: AT&T)

A new BlackBerry Pearl has found its way to AT&T's doorstep this morning. Available starting today, the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8110 has integrated GPS and support for the carrier's AT&T Navigator service, which provides voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, 3D colors maps, traffic alerts, and more. Of course, if you want this luxury, you'll have to pay an additional $9.99 per month. While the GPS is great, you lose the Wi-Fi found on the recently released RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8120. (Is it asking too much to have both?)

The rest of the Pearl 8110's features are pretty much in line with the latest models. There's Bluetooth 2.0, a 2-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD/SDHC expansion slot. The smartphone is also compatible with AT&T's push-to-talk service and AT&T Mobile Music. If this sounds like your cup of tea, the BlackBerry Pearl 8110 can be yours for $149.99 with a two-year contract and after discounts and rebates, and you have a choice of a red or a titanium model.