Both the iOS and Android versions of BBM are tipped for an October-time release to the public, but apart from that there has been little news or leaks claiming to purport to offer an insight into what is around the corner for BBM.
Despite the fact that BlackBerry looks in more than a spot of bother just now, the planned effort to bring the famed BlackBerry Messenger service, or BBM, to Android and iOS is still going ahead as planned. Whether owners of said devices actually require this impromptu resurrection of a dying brand - particularly in light of services like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger - remains to be seen, but by the looks of a new landing page on the Canadian arm of the company's website, the wait is almost over.
The tech lines have been buzzing with after BlackBerry announced over the last couple of days that it was considering "joint ventures," which, in simpler terms, indicated that the Canadian firm was gearing up for a potential buyout. Now, the company has gone a step further by officially hanging the "for sale" sign at its headquarters, and the once-mighty brand's monumental fall from grace has been certified.
In an attempt to try and reestablish itself in the smartphone market it was once a key component of, Canadian outfit BlackBerry announced earlier on this year that it was bringing its famed, exclusive BlackBerry Messenger service to iOS and Android. Neither of the big two ecosystems are short on IM services already, but with BlackBerry short on ideas, the decision to open up BBM could well be the catalyst needed for the brand to reemerge as a giant. Today, a beta version of both the iOS and Android versions are now available on the BlackBerry Beta Zone, and although not all members have been offered a chance to test out the unfinished software, it would appear that we're drawing ever closer to the official release.
BlackBerry is on the cusp of turning its proprietary BlackBerry Messenger service (BBM) into a multi-platform experience. Keeping BBM specific to the company's own devices worked wonders when the company was flying high atop the market, but in looking to reestablish its presence in the iOS / Android-dominated market, BlackBerry is now looking to spread its popular messaging tool to users of those two pivotal platforms.
BlackBerry has spent the past year preparing and reinventing itself for another serious assault on the smartphone market, and although the company did try sticking with the old formula and essentially flogged a dead horse for far to long, the company looks ready to be taken seriously again. BlackBerry 10 looks like an intuitive, innovative operating system much more in line with the likes of iOS and Android, and with the BlackBerry Z10 certainly strong enough to hold its own against many of the market's considered elite, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company is looking for customers once more.
Handheld gaming consoles are desperately trying to cling onto a market which smartphone and tablet devices are readily muscling away from them, and it’s also quite evident when we consider adoption rates. So how fitting, perhaps, that the first PSP emulator for iOS (jailbroken devices only), BlackBerry, Android, Windows and Linux should be a smooth, impressive experience which, besides a few to-be-expected frame rate issues, is surprisingly well put together. It's named PPSSPP, and as you'll see from the video below, its performance is exceptional for such an early build hardware emulator.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is finally here, and having already compared the device against the HTC One and iPhone 5, we're back with another face-off. This time, the new handset will be pitting its wits against two devices which have been presented with the mammoth task of rejuvenating the fortunes of two once-mighty brands in the mobile industry. Both Nokia and BlackBerry have enjoyed vast successes over the past decade, but as both have struggled in the wake of iOS and Android, the Nokia Lumia 920 on Windows Phone 8, and the BlackBerry Z10 on the BB10 OS, have some real ground to make up if they are to compete with the Galaxy S4. Here, we compare them with yet another like-for-like table of the vital specifications.
The majority of the smartphone world keenly awaits the release of BlackBerry 10 and its associated devices. Perhaps not with the kind of excitement it once might have, it has to be said, but out of respect for the power the brand used to possess, it's hard to ignore the traction Research in Motion has managed to gain over the past year or so. To give us an idea of how far BlackBerry has come its quest to reestablish itself, one German site has compared the BlackBerry Z10 with the iPhone 5, and you may be surprised by the results. Details after the break.
Keen to show businesses that there is a world outside BlackBerry Enterprise Server, Samsung has aired a new ad that it believes shows its own business solution as a real competitor for RIM's. It may have fallen wide off the mark, however.
