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Eldar Murtazin gives RIM six months to win back customers, says Nokia is selling its soul to Microsoft

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:18:40 +0000

Murtazin is a guy well known for scoring handsets way ahead of even their debut showing. He also has an uncanny knack of knowing exactly what mobile companies are plotting — sometimes. He’s a guy worth listening to, especially for his often outspoken views on company failings. In his latest (lengthy) editorial, Eldar Murtazin takes umbrage with two companies that have weathered a tricky 2011; RIM and Nokia. He reckons that the BlackBerry makers have around six to eight months to convince people and the markets that there’s still a future — a worrying deadline given that we’re not expecting to see its OS successor until the second half of 2012. Regardless of when these long-awaited QNX handsets do appear, Murtazin maintains that even if they arrived with the kind of OS that dreams are made of, they are unlikely to recover the ground lost in recent years — especially on corporate handsets.

However, he saves most of his ire for the Nokia-Microsoft partnership, claiming that Nokia executives have lost their ability to sensibly judge the state of the mobile world. With apparently the “most valued” engineers and developers leaving the good ship Nokia, the shuttering of Nokia’s own Ovi sync services are apparently talismanic of a shift closer to Microsoft. Murtazin thinks that Nokia CEO Elop has only two aims while at the helm; to ruin the company’s chances of recovering in the mobile market and increasing Microsoft’s own share and influence in the same sphere. He also reckons a Microsoft buyout of Nokia is still plausible, and while we’re sure you’ve been reading Eldar’s missives with a hefty side of salt, it would make for an even more interesting 2012.

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RIM To Miss Earnings Goals After Half A Billion In PlayBook And Outage Charges

admin — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:33:29 +0000

RIM has announced that it will be taking over half a billion dollars in charges related to two major failures this fiscal year. First is the immense overproduction of the Playbook tablet, the writedown of which inventory amounted to $485M on its own, or $360M after tax. The second charge is related to the prolonged network outage in early October, though it’s unclear whether that money is directly related or being reserved for dealing with ongoing costs like lawsuits . Sales of handsets and services were as forecasted, but a lack of growth must be inferred by their waning market share, and at any rate the sales weren’t enough to put RIM at their expected revenue of $5.3 billion for the upcoming quarter. Quarterly earnings are at a level with (low) predictions of around $1.20 per share, but yearly earnings will miss the expected $5.25 per share, and analysts are calling for as little as $3.50. That enormous PlayBook charge really indicates how serious a misstep the device was. While there are plenty …

Bose unveils OE2, OE2i headphones

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:40:34 +0000

Bose has always put out products that are sleek and classy, and with the expensive price tags that usually accompany their products, we guess that’s the market they’re trying to attract. However with the Beats by Dre headphones starting to gain more popularity among the youth market with its street style and striking colors, Bose has decided to respond in kind with the OE2 and OE2i headphones.

Bose unveils OE2, OE2i headphones, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Blackberry Bold 9900 Review, Motorola Photon 4G Review,

YouTube mobile offers a new experimental layout

admin — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:34:51 +0000

Websites/services that have been optimized for mobile phones are always welcome. It makes for easier browsing and it’s a lot neater than attempting to view a full website on a small screen, and now it looks like YouTube has enabled a new experimental layout, which by all accounts appears to attempt to further optimize the browsing experience on mobile phone browsers, such as Safari.

YouTube mobile offers a new experimental layout, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Epic 4G Touch Review, Blackberry Bold 9900 Review,

Microsoft App Store Approach for Windows 8 Metro Apps

admin — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 05:22:11 +0000

It’s hard to deny that the (Apple) App Store is not a huge success, and it looks like Microsoft is taking a page from Apple’s book, as it announced at the BUILD conference this week that Windows 8 will have an app store that users will have to use in order to purchase/download content for the tablet. Fortunately it’s only going to be for the Metro UI version of Windows 8 – “Classic” Windows 8 will still have apps that don’t have to be purchased from the app store. So if you’re a firm believer of purchasing software that’s still distributed in boxes or apps that probably won’t have a chance of making it in the Windows 8 app store, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Windows is still an “open” OS in that respect.

Microsoft App Store Approach for Windows 8 Metro Apps, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Blackberry Bold 9900 Review, HP TouchPad Review – With Our Deepest Condolences,

BBM Music launched by RIM

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 07:06:53 +0000

RIM is launching BBM Music (beta), a new social music service that lets users setup a musical profile of 50 songs (I think of it as your musical “DNA”) that can be streamed or downloaded to their Blackberry device. Users can then invite BBM (Blackberry Messenger) friends to join them and share their own favorite songs. Once connected every member of a group can listen to the 50 songs from others. Large BBM Music networks can then have an impressive array of songs available at any time for listening. It is possible to shuffle songs from the whole network.

BBM Music launched by RIM, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Xperia Play Review, HTC Sensation Review,

RIM to launch BBM Music social platform?

admin — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 08:06:50 +0000

After the outlandish news of RIM rumored to create a media box we reported this week, it looks like RIM has more plans up its sleeve to diversify BlackBerry. According to the folks at BlackBerry Sync, who received a tip from their own sources, RIM is planning to launch a social music platform that will be dubbed BBM Music.

RIM to launch BBM Music social platform?, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : HTC Sensation Review, Samsung Infuse 4G Review,

Check Back Here In An Hour For News From Blackberry World

admin — Mon, 02 May 2011 11:59:38 +0000

I’m here at Blackberry World in Orlando and I’m waiting patiently for news of a/many new phone(s). Keep your eyes on the prize here and I’ll be posting the news as soon as it happens at 8:30am Eastern/5:30am Pacific. BGR appears to think we’re talking about a new BlackBerry Bold.

Apple, Google, Amazon, And Pretty Much Everyone Else Sued Over Smartphone Patent

admin — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 03:59:18 +0000

Imagine, for a second, that a patent is granted for the following: “A software platform in an Internet Protocol (IP) phone having the ability to be used with different communication infrastructures such as broadband, wireless communication and Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) service. Further, the software platform in the IP phone has the ability to be used with different applications operating on the IP phone. Further, the IP phone has the ability to perform additional functionality than traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) phones, such as searches and advertising, given its ability to converge voice and data within a single terminal.” Think about how many companies that would impact. Pretty much everyone with an App Store, or, hell, pretty much anyone with any sort of retail sales application, right? Yep! Turns out, that patent exists — and the company that owns it is looking to sue juuuust about everyone. The patent in question was …

RIM’s Next Full Touchscreen BlackBerry Caught On Camera, Might Not Carry The “Storm” Name

admin — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 22:27:40 +0000

As hard as they tried, RIM just couldn’t find a fanbase with the BlackBerry Storm. Between a mild critical reception, a handful of hardware issues in the first batches, and the super wonky SurePress touchscreen that people came to know it for, the “Storm” name has been… tainted, in a way. Seems like RIM agrees. A handful of mega clear shots of the next full touchscreen BlackBerry device, currently codenamed “Monza” (or “Monaco”, if we’re talking about the Verizon version) just leaked out, and word on the street is that it might not carry the Storm name. According to BGR , the name currently being tossed around RIM for this one is the “BlackBerry Touch” (As opposed to the BlackBerry Curve Touch, or BlackBerry Bold Touch.) As long as the rumor mill’s churnin’ out the right details, we should see this thing announced in May (at BlackBerry