If there's one thing people like to do, it's compare sales metrics for smartphones. Potentially one of the best ways to ascertain just how well a device is selling when compared with its peers, average selling prices show just how willing buyers are to pay substantial amounts of money in order to get their fingers on the latest and greatest technology from their manufacturer of choice.
BBM for iOS has just received an update over at the App Store, bringing with it support for the iPod touch and the Wi-Fi only iPad. More details as well as direct download link can be found right here.
Apple often likes to point to how people use their iPhones and iPads in the real world when they have any kind of press meeting. It was evident once again at the new iPad and MacBook Pro event that we witnessed earlier this week. And with good reason, because iOS devices have generally changed the way we do so many things that Apple is right to show off about it.
The practice of paying for fake reviews, otherwise known as "astroturfing," seems to be growing in prevalence in the digital industry, and on a day that has seen Samsung fined a hefty some for engaging in such behavior, it looks as though the ever-desperate BlackBerry has been doing some astroturfing of its own. The Google Play Store review page of the newly-released BlackBerry Messenger has been inundated with suspiciously similar looking reviews from a number of "consumers," and although we already knew how much was at stake for BlackBerry with regards to the release of BBM, this move seems a little excessive.
BlackBerry finally rolled out BBM for iOS and Android earlier today. But there is a catch. It requires iOS and Android users to sign up for a waiting list before using it. In short, if you don’t have the invite for BBM from BlackBerry, you cant use it on your Android or iPhone just yet.
After quite some delay and uncertainty surrounding the launch of BBM, or BlackBerry Messenger for both iOS and Android, BlackBerry has just released a press statement revealing that both versions will manifest at their respective stores in the coming hours. Such is the way things have been for BlackBerry over the past couple of years, this is arguably the most exciting thing the company has announced since BB10, and with six million consumers having signed up to the progress update feed of BBM's wider launch, it looks as though the wait is now finally, almost over.
Earlier on this year, BlackBerry cited unwavering faith in its BB10 ecosystem as the primary reason for spreading BlackBerry Messenger to the Big Two mobile platforms, but not everybody was so naive as to believe the utterances of a company in abject free-fall. The subsequent revelation that BlackBerry was for sale came as a shock rather than a surprise, which was ultimately followed by the news of BlackBerry’s pulling out of consumer market, but today, we're hearing that a suitor may have been found for the one-mighty brand. According to a press release issued by BlackBerry itself, has agreed a deal with Fairfax Financial to the tune of $4.7 billion, and considering this particular entity already has a large stake in the company, the sum is not necessarily reflective of the Canadian outfit's overall value.
Things have looked bleak for BlackBerry for quite a while now, with Apple and Google eating its lunch both in the enterprise and consumer markets. As Microsoft's Windows Phone also begins to take aim at what was once a proud BlackBerry market share, the Canadian firm was rumored to be on the verge of a reshuffle that would see approximately 40% of its workforce cut. Today, that news was confirmed in a press release by BlackBerry themselves.
BlackBerry is no stranger to the smartphone world - the company did make some of the best smartphones ever, especially when that was the only choice for the business community. Although they’ve gradually fallen since then, the recent attempts seem to indicate that BlackBerry is looking to get back in business, and it’s serious this time around. Their latest smartphone, the BlackBerry Z30, has just gone official, and if the specs indicate anything, it might be a phone worth looking out for.
BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is coming to Android and iOS really soon. The faltering company announced back in May of this year that they were in the process of porting their once popular messaging platform to multiple platforms, but it looks like the Android version has managed to make an appearance a little prematurely. That's right folks, BlackBerry Messenger for Android has somehow managed to leak out to the public, but executives don’t need to worry just yet, as it's entirely unusable without prior permission being granted.
