In a cost-cutting move connected to the BlackBerry’s inability to keep pace with smartphone competitors in the United States, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion revealed plans to slash its workforce by 10 percent, losing 2,000 jobs. [More]
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Traditional Texting Slows As Instant Messaging Grows In Popularity
By 6.13.11
Texting? That is just so 2010. The cool thing these days is instant message texting with applications like BlackBerry Messenger, or Apple’s upcoming iMessage, which use the Internet to send texts instead of service carriers. [More]
Android Surpasses BlackBerry As Most Popular Smartphone OS
By 3.9.11
BlackBerry’s reign as the king of peoples’ pockets has ended, usurped by Android. [More]
Block Unwanted Calls And Texts With PrivacyStar
By 2.28.11
It’s always puzzled me why smartphones are smart enough that I can toss virtual birds at virtual pigs, but they’re somehow too stupid to let me block unwanted calls or texts. Well now there’s PrivacyStar, an app for Android and Blackberry that lets you do just that. [More]
Survey: Many People Likely To Leave Android For Verizon iPhone
By 2.7.11
Ruh roh! Seems the Verizon iPhone is very popular, which is good news for Verizon but not so good for Android and BlackBerry. A new survey says many users of the Google and Research in Motion Smartphones would likely switch to Verizon’s new offering. [More]
My "Blackberry" Isn't Working, Man Tells Fruit Vendor
By 12.23.10
Good for a laugh, here’s a sketch from the BBC “The One Ronnie” show with a man seeking tech support from a fruit vendor for his “blackberry” which is “frozen.” A series of fruit and gadget puns ensue and it’s worth sticking around for when it gets a little saucy. One thing that you should know before watching the clip is that “Orange” is a cellular network in Great Britain. Yes, you can see where this is going… [More]
Actor Josh Duhamel Kicked Off Flight For Refusing To Turn Off Blackberry
By 12.8.10
Actor Josh Duhamel, who plays Captain William Lennox in the Transformers series, was kicked off a flight last week after he refused to stop texting on his Blackberry while it was taxiing. The Air Wisconsin plane was forced to return to the gate and disgorge the actor. Now he says he’s learned his lesson. [More]
What IT Does While On Hold With Blackberry Tech Support
By 10.22.10
The next time you’re on musical hold trying to get through to customer service, don’t get mad. Be like this IT guy and use it as an opportunity to express yourself through the transformative power of dance. You’ll feel less powerless and burn a few calories too. Watching this is the Law of Increasing Returns in action; each time I watch it, it amuses me more than the last. [More]
Mom Threw Away Blackberry, T-Mobile Charges For $6,000 In Fraudulent Calls
By 9.3.10
Before leaving the country, Fermin left his Blackberry on his table along with some junk mail. His mother came over while he was gone to clean up, and swept up the phone along with the junk mail and tossed it. Someone found it in the garbage and used it to make $6,000 in fraudulent calls. Fermin negotiated with T-Mobile to pay $2,000, then they changed their minds without notice and decide to hold him on the hook for $4,000. What’s a consumer to do? [More]
AT&T Still Wants Some People To Have Unlimited Data: BlackBerry Users
By 7.8.10
Michael writes that his wife uses a BlackBerry for her work e-mail, but pays for the service herself. It’s part of a family plan with Michael’s iPhone, to be precise. When Michael tried to put their phones on a limited data plan, he learned something interesting and hilariously backwards: customers can only pay $15 for Enterprise access (e-mail on a Microsoft Exchange server) if they’re also paying $30 per month for unlimited BlackBerry data. What if they don’t use that much data? Well, too bad. [More]
AT&T Capping Data On New iPhone, iPad Plans
By 6.2.10
AT&T has officially delivered on the threats made by its consumer business director Ralph de la Vega last December: it’s switching to usage-based pricing on data plans for smartphones and the iPad. Starting Monday, all new AT&T customers who buy an iPad, iPhone, Blackberry or other smartphone and purchase the necessary data plan will have two options: $25 for 2 gigabytes, or $15 for 200 megabytes. [More]
Is Microsoft Trying To Buy BlackBerry?
By 2.22.10
While Microsoft is still basking in the glow of the announcement of their new Windows Phone 7 software, the company isn’t just hoping to wedge its way into the mobile market by selling a platform for other people to put on non-Microsoft hardware. According to a new report, Microsoft is in the market for an existing smartphone company to jump start their efforts. [More]
iPhone Users Sucking Up 5 Times As Much Data As Blackberry Users
By 2.10.10
Just in case you didn’t already know this from all the times you’ve seen someone bust out their iPhone just to pull up imdb.com or Wikipedia to settle a bar bet, a new study published by our hot cousins at Consumer Reports shows that users of Apple’s super phone are using up to five times more data each month than Blackberry owners and nearly double that of other smart phones. [More]
Second BlackBerry Data Outage This Week Now Over
By 12.23.09
Blackberry users on all mobile carriers in North and South America experienced e-mail and Internet outages for about eight hours late on Tuesday. This follows a shorter outage on December 17th that only affected e-mail services. [More]
Block Spam Callers From Your Blackberry With Call Control
By 11.11.09
You can always just not answer your phone, but if a telemarketer calling you on your Blackberry sends you into a rage, you might want to look at Call Control. The app relies on the telemarketer database at everycall.us to screen out known spammers. The free version screens out the top 100 telemarketers; an $8 version uses the entire database and includes updates.
New Blackberry Desktop Manager For Mac Still Worse Than Windows Version
By 10.2.09
If you’re one of the approximately three Mac users who uses a BlackBerry instead of an iPhone, today is an exciting day. BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac OS debuted this afternoon. CNET had an early copy and has checked it out for us.
No Palm Pre For Verizon Wireless?
By 9.25.09
If you’ve been holding out on a phone upgrade or carrier switch until the Palm Pre comes to Verizon, you may need to give up the dream. The carrier has “reportedly ditched plans to offer the Palm Pre early next year,” says PC World. Apparently poor sales of the device at Sprint, combined with Verizon’s interest in upcoming Blackberry devices, killed any enthusiasm the carrier once had. Update: The no-Pre rumor may be false, according to these two analysts.
