BlackBerry Bold 9900 users are receiving an official update today. OS 7.1.0.428 is now available for download from SmarTone HK. No word on what’s new in this update. Nonetheless, let us know if you find anything nice in this build.

• Download BlackBerry Bold 9900 OS 7.1.0.428 from SmarTone HK

Make sure you join our community to share your thoughts on this!

• How to: load an OS on your BlackBerry

BlackBerry P’9981 Porsche Design users are receiving an official update today. OS 7.1.0.428 is now available for download from SmarTone HK. No word on what’s new in this update. Nonetheless, let us know if you find anything nice in this build.

• Download Porsche P’9981 OS 7.1.0.428 from SmarTone HK

Make sure you join our community to share your thoughts on this!

• How to: load an OS on your BlackBerry

RIM has recently made some changes in the App World categories, which include modifying existing categories and adding new ones to help users navigate easily and find or discover apps faster. These are some of the main category changes and additions:

• News:  The News category has been expanded to include magazines.  This category is now calledNews and Magazines and includes Blogs as a subcategory.
• Beta:  The Beta category is discontinued.  The apps located the Beta category have been moved to relevant categories.
• Reference and eBooks & Education:  The Books and Reference category has been divided in to separate categories so that these are now individual categories respectively.  The Referencecategory includes Education.  This new category is Education & Reference.
• Shopping:  The Shopping category has been renamed Lifestyle.
• Maps & Navigation:  The Maps & Navigation category now includes Travel and has been renamedNavigation and Travel.
• Music Creation (*NEW*):  There is a new subcategory Music Creation available under the Music and Audio category.
• Children’s Categories (*NEW*):  There are two new children’s focused categories:
  • New Children’s Games category within the Games Channel
  • New Children’s Books subcategory within the Books category

Vendors should log in to their portal to review their existing applications and make any changes where necessary.

Gameloft has released 9mm, one of their most popular shooter, for the PlayBook! The game reminds me a little of GTA and Max Payne. 9mm has some very cool graphics and is said to be one of the largest games in App World at 850 MB acoording to BerryReview. You can buy this game from App World for only $0.99, which is a very good price for this game. Check out the trailer below!

On a BlackBerry? Click here for mobile video view

Buy 9mm HD for $0.99 from App World>>

RIM has added some new features to BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.0.1 to help improve and protect your applications from piracy. These are some of the things they improved:

• Backup Files Tied to a BlackBerry ID- Your backup files created with Desktop Manager are now tied to your BlackBerry ID to prevent users from sharing backup files between devices, but still be able to switch devices.
• Backup Files are Encrypted- Each user has a different encryption key for their backup file.

You might be asking yourself what if I just stay at OS 2.0.0? In a month, App World Vendor Portal will let developers set a minimum tablet OS version required for their product, so if they want to protect their app from piracy they can set the minimum OS to 2.0.1, which includes all the new features. For more info check out BBDev Blog.

Vision Critical conducted a survey on behalf of Research In Motion studying how smartphones helped youth between ages from 18-24 to keep them organized. Eighty (80) percent of the respondents said that they use their phones to keep track of their daily life and ninety-two (92) percent said their smartphone would help keep them organized in 2012. More details of the study:

• Sixty-seven (67) percent use calendars and scheduling apps to keep them on deadline,
• 62 percent count on GPS tools to help navigate while travelling,
• 53 percent rely on social media and instant messaging to connect with friends when arranging get-togethers.

The study shows how youth uses and relies on their smartphones to stay organized on a daily basis. How do you use your BlackBerry to stay organized? Let us know in the comments below!

Press Release

Kodak Receives Notice of Initial Determination in ITC Patent Infringement Action against Apple and Research In Motion

ROCHESTER, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Eastman Kodak Company today announced that it has received notice of the Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ) initial determination in the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) action brought by Kodak against Apple Inc. and Research In Motion Limited (RIM). The ALJ concluded that the Apple iPhone 3G and the accused RIM BlackBerry devices infringe Kodak’s patent, although his recommendation is that the patent claim is invalid.

The patent at issue (US Patent No. 6,292,218) relates to a technology invented by Kodak for previewing images on a digital camera-enabled device that is fundamental to how those devices take pictures. In the face of two separate challenges, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office analyzed this particular Kodak patent and confirmed its validity in December 2010. The final decision of the ITC, based on the deliberation of the full Commission, is expected by September 21, 2012.

“We are pleased the ALJ has concluded that Kodak’s patent is infringed by Apple and RIM. We expect to appeal to the full Commission his recommendation on validity. The ALJ’s recommendation represents a preliminary step in a process that we are confident will conclude in Kodak’s favor,” said Timothy Lynch, Kodak Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Officer. “In a previous ITC investigation, a different ALJ found this same Kodak patent to be valid and infringed by Samsung, whose products are similar to those offered by Apple and RIM. Kodak has invested billions of dollars to develop its pioneering digital imaging technology, and we intend to protect these valuable assets.”

 

The ’218 patent at issue in this case is one of 1,100 digital imaging patents in Kodak’s industry-leading patent portfolio. Kodak licenses its technology to numerous leading technology companies, including LG, Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung.

Three new BlackBerry TV commercials have rolled out in the UK. The first ad is advertises the BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone browser and how fast it is, second ad show how easy it is to use NCF payments with a Bold 9790 and last, but not least, BBM Music on a Curve 9320. Check them out below and let us know what you think!

On a BlackBerry? Click here for mobile video view

On a BlackBerry? Click here for mobile video view

On a BlackBerry? Click here for mobile video view

Ingram Micro announced today a new deal to distribute RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook to resellers in the UK. Ingram Micro is an official distributor for BlackBerry devices, software and technical support. Here’s what RIM’s managing director in the UK said:

They also an exclusive distribution partnership with GPXS, an authorised supplier of BlackBerry training courses, targeting from users and support personnel, to administrators and application developers.

via PCR

Press Release

Sydney, Australia - In conjunction with the release today of the BlackBerry® 7.1 Operating System in the Australian market, Research In Motion (RIM) announced that BlackBerry® smartphones running the BlackBerry® 7.0 and 7.1 Operating Systems (BlackBerry 7) have been successfully evaluated and approved for Government use by the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) of the Australian Government. The certification from the DSD affirms that the BlackBerry 7 Operating System meets the Australian and New Zealand Government’s strict security standards for a wide range of the Governments’ information classifications, representing the majority of day-to-day operational communications.

BlackBerry 7.0 and 7.1 Operating Systems, when used in accordance with Government guidance, can be used to secure information with a classification of up to and including PROTECTED for the Australian Government and up to and including RESTRICTED for the New Zealand Government.

“With the DSD approval of BlackBerry 7, Research In Motion continues to lead the industry when it comes to meeting the security certification requirements of governments around the world,” said Scott Deacon, Manager, Security Certifications, Research In Motion.

Tim Dillon, Associate Vice President Asia Pacific End User & Mobility Research, IDC Asia/Pacific, said, “As organisations continue to embrace mobility across all facets of their operations, the security risk escalates considerably. In today’s environment, mobile security is more than just device management. Organisations need an integrated capability that spans device, network, applications and data.”

BlackBerry 7 powers the new generation of BlackBerry smartphones and includes significant performance enhancements as well as many new features and functionality including Liquid Graphics™ technology, fast BlackBerry browsing and NFC technology. BlackBerry 7 continues to set the standard for information protection, with support for ECC (Elliptical Curve Cryptography), AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and the ability to protect enterprise data transmitted between a BlackBerry smartphone and internal systems.

To find out more about BlackBerry security certifications, please visit
www.blackberry.com/go/security

For more information about the BlackBerry 7 Operating System, please visit
http://au.blackberry.com/services/blackberry7/
About Research In Motion

Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

Forward-looking statements in this news release are made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used herein, words such as “expect”, “anticipate”, “estimate”,  “may”,  “will”, “should”, “intend,” “believe”, and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by RIM in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that RIM believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause RIM’s actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including those described in the “Risk Factors” section of RIM’s Annual Information Form, which is included in its Annual Report on Form 40-F (copies of which filings may be obtained at www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov). These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on RIM’s forward-looking statements. RIM has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.  RIM, Research In Motion and BlackBerry are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be pending or registered in other countries. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. RIM assumes no obligations or liability and makes no representation, warranty, endorsement or guarantee in relation to any aspect of any third party products or services.

Want to use Bridge on your PC? The wait might be shorter than you think. There’s a new app coming up for the BlackBerry PlayBook called DesktopBridge by developer Xitij Ritesh Patel which will let you use Bridge on your desktop PC over SSL, allowing you to use BBM on your computer! DesktopBridge will let you wirelessly connect to the PlayBook and open all Bridge apps via a browser. The app is not yet available, but was just submitted to App World and is waiting for approval. If RIM approves the app, you’ll be able to buy it for $4.99. Keep it locked to N4BB and we will let you know when it’s out!

RIM has at last released BlackBerry Desktop Software 7.1 in the Beta Zone. The new update brings support for the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha and 4G PlayBooks. The new version also includes:

• Media sync enhancements including individual selection, sync by album, and customizable columns in collections mode
• Support for 4G PlayBooks
• Support for new BlackBerry 7 OS devices
• Major bug fixes and PIM sync improvements as highlighted in the Release Notes (in downloads section)
• Support for BB10 Alpha Developer devices

If you’re a developer, you can finally back up your device or re-load it’s firmware using the new 7.1 of Desktop Software. Get it now from Beta Zone here.

There is one word that comes to mind when you think of BlackBerry’s shortcomings and we all know it: Apps! Research In Motion has put all of its talent behind the implementation and development of BlackBerry10, BUT they absolutely understand that with no apps it doesn’t matter how amazing the software might be.  That’s where RIM has made the best decision it could, which was to put in place a new Developer Relations team.  Lead by the man himself , Alec Saunders, this team absolutely stole the show at BlackBerry 10 Jam.

RIM has already paved the grounds with the developer hackathons. They have been relentless in offering free PlayBooks and any advice you might need. You know what the outcome has been? It’s working! The success stories are there. Look at Angry Birds, Madden and the other awesome games that have been released.  The app catalogue is expanding in a time where everyone is ready to bury our beloved company. Transforming a company won’t happen over night. While we may still lack apps like Netflix and Skype, after BlackBerry World and BlackBerry Jam 10 I am CERTAIN all these companies would be insane not to push their apps to the platform! Why am I so sure? I saw the amazing jobs the RIM employees are doing. Let me share some of my personal experiences from these events:

During my walk-through at BB10 Jam, I met Luca Sale, who I believe is one of the rising stars within RIM.  Luca is a developer evangelist and HTML 5 expert. After chatting with him for a while, I realized how passionate he was about the company. The next day I was at  BlackBerry 10 Jam ran into Luca again by the HTML 5 booth. I introduced him to a group of friends I made in a great BBM group chat. I walked away for a bit, while I greeted other RIM employees, and returned back to the booth within 5 minutes. To my surprise, their conversation had gone FULL HTML5 with Luca showing them how easy it can be to develop and passing his card out, telling them, “Email me, any question any time I am here for you guys”. He showed us all some amazing stuff you could do with HTML.

Conversation with my friends continued on about developing for BB10! Five of my friends who never thought about developing for BlackBerry, were now in serious thought of what and how can they build their first BlackBerry app. One of them wanted  to create a sports app, another a special weather app for pilots.  So many awesome app ideas were being thrown around I was shocked. My initial reaction was, “Are you guys seriously going to give this a go?” They all replied, “Hell yeah”, “Absolutely” and “Why wouldn’t we if we have RIM there to help.”  Today my friends are all working on apps for BB10 for the simple reason that they know they have some one to contact in case of an issue. All of this was due to one RIM employee who took the time to sit with them for 30 minutes to listen and offer his help! RIM successfully gained five new developers in that moment. Luca Sale deserves a lot of credit for his achievements during BlackBerry 10 Jam and I thank him for taking the time to speak to us.

The next RIM employee I’d like to talk about is “THE HTML5 Guru” also commonly known as Adam Stanley (Though, I believe he enjoys that nickname). Adam for one more time, spent 3 days pouring all his knowledge and hard work into developers trying to pass his message about what BB10 can do.  Adam is simply the best. It doesn’t matter what is going on, if you needed help, Adam was there. Not once did he say he wasn’t available or that he had an obligation. I was glad to find out he went on vacation right after BB10 Jam, he deserved it.

Last, but not least, I want to bring up one of RIM’s Evangelists, Patrick Mollins. Patrick is currently running a hackathon in Bogota, Colombia. I ran into Patrick at the Innovations Booth and we started chatting.  A few minutes later the rest of the group joined and I had the pleasure to introduce them to Patrick. They engaged in conversation about HTML5, cascades and other capabilities of the platform. Patrick immediately picked up on their interest and quickly offered his services.  He offered them assistance and devices if they set up a BB Dev Group. He promised he would attend their meetings and invite them to other shows. It’s a great incentive to know that if you do get together with a couple of developers and create  a group that BlackBerry will be there for hands-on support! Cards were exchanged along with ideas and now a much better relationship has been formed between a handful of Devs and RIM.  Patrick’s character is exactly how an evangelist needs to be. RIM is lucky to have his services.

These are three examples that I witnessed at BB10 Jam. There were plenty more and some amazing sessions and labs that took place.  The seeding of a developer device was an amazing incentive for developers to attend the BlackBerry 10 Jam event. RIM guaranteeing 10,000 dollars for a good app gives a developer a great drive towards succeeding. RIM will also give out a limited edition BlackBerry 10 device if your app qualifies and you return the Dev alpha. The Developer Relations team is building the Relationships RIM needs for BB10 to succeed. After the BB10 Jam event I am now more confident than ever that success is finally within reach.

Still rocking a Curve 8520? Then you might want to get ready for an OS update. Vodacom South Africa has released a new OS for the 8520, OS 5.0.0.1075.  We saw this one leak a while back, not expecting to see any leaks for this OS. No changelog for this one, so if you find anything let us know in the comments or forums!

Download BlackBerry Curve 8520 OS 5.0.01075>>

• Discuss this in the forums >>

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• How to: load an OS on your BlackBerry

eBuddy XMS was updated today to version 2.0, adding some cool new features. As requested, the team added support for group messaging with up to 30 friends in one conversation. You can send messages, pictures and more to the groups. The app also now supports OS 4.6 and up. The update is now live and available in the App World. Check it out and let us know your thoughts!

Download eBuddy XMS 2.0 from App World>>