The Indonesian government has threatened to ban Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Messenger and BIS services in the country following the company’s decision to install a server in Singapore instead of in Indonesia. “Because RIM has not been cooperative, it is possible that we will soon end BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service) and BBM service,” a member of the Indonesian Telecommunication Regulatory Authority BRTI told The Jakarta Post. “BlackBerry therefore, would just be like other cellu...

BGR exclusively reported earlier today that Research In Motion was facing serious challenges getting native apps such as email, BlackBerry Messenger and more working on the BlackBerry PlayBook. In a post blog a few minutes ago, the company has confirmed that the PlayBook OS 2.0 update won’t be released until February. Additionally, RIM also relayed issues with BlackBerry Messenger integration, noting that BlackBerry Messenger will not be included in the native apps bundle of PlayBook OS 2.0, instead com...

BGR exclusively reported in March that Research In Motion was working to bring its popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) platform to Android smartphones and the iPhone. Now, images that purportedly show a beta version of the chat application running on an Android device have been leaked by TechRadar. Reportedly, the app is set to launch on Android before next year and RIM is already in the final stages of testing the solution. The leak lines up with BGR’s original report that RIM would develop an Android c...

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has agreed to work with London authorities as they begin their investigation into recent riots. According to some Londoners, rioters were using RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger service, along with social networks such as Twitter, to organize the attacks. “It is clear that technology is being used, including in demonstrations, to direct people and undermine the police,” London’s deputy assistant commissioner Stephen Kavanagh told Bloomberg. “It is not...

One of the most important features Apple announced at WWDC 2011 was iMessage. It’s not only a direct competitor to Research In Motion’s extremely popular BlackBerry Messenger service, but could serve as the start of a much larger social initiative. Looking at the big picture, iMessage isn’t just a text / photo / video messaging service that will work with all iOS devices including the iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad, but it could also be the backbone for Apple to launch its own IM network tha...

Look, people that know me know that I’ve been a BlackBerry fan from the beginning. The entire reason BGR was started was because I was breaking information on upcoming BlackBerry devices, mainly because I was obsessed with RIM and wanted to share that information. As we’ve all seen, however, RIM isn’t the market leader any longer. The company really isn’t innovating, and even worse, it’s not even competing with the titans of the smartphone space now: Google and Apple. All three...

During the BlackBerry World Keynote in Orlando this morning, Research In Motion announced that it is working with foursquare to include support for the social-network in an upcoming version of BlackBerry Messenger. Users will be able to share their location information as their BBM status, but RIM execs didn’t go into much detail on how check-ins will work or just how feature rich the implementation will be. The native foursquare client, for example, allows users to find nearby deals, compete with frien...

PlayBook owners over on the CrackBerry forums have discovered that, after applying a new BlackBerry Bridge v1.0.0.83 update, they were able to use BBM on their BlackBerry PlayBooks. The feature reportedly only works with BlackBerry 6 devices right now, although there are rumblings that a BlackBerry OS 5 version is in the works as well. You’ll also need to update your BlackBerry Messenger application to the newest version first, and that should be available from RIM’s BlackBerry Beta Zone. Unfortun...

With BlackBerry World set to kick off early next month, you can expect BlackBerry-related leaks to keep rolling in hot and heavy for the next few weeks. We’ve already exclusively handled RIM’s upcoming flagship smartphones — the BlackBerry Bold Touch, the BlackBerry Torch 2 and the BlackBerry Touch (Monaco/Monza) — but there are plenty more goodies just waiting to be unearthed. Expected to launch alongside BlackBerry OS 6.1, screenshots of BlackBerry Messenger have been posted to a BlackBerry ...

We knew this story was a hoax when we first saw it, but we reached out to Research In Motion to get an official comment from the company. RIM tells us that rumors that BlackBerry Messenger might launch as an app for Apple’s iPhone on April 26th, is false. “RIM did not hold a conference in Toronto this week, and Jim Balsillie did not speak at any event in Toronto this week.” We’re not saying it isn’t coming at some point in the future, but BlackBerry Messenger is definitely not hi...

RIM may be forced to shut down its services in India if it can’t provide government intelligence agencies with access to its corporate email system by March 31st. According to a new report from Reuters this morning, India’s junior telecoms minister, Sachin Pilot, said that India isn’t satisfied with the access that RIM has provided to its BlackBerry messaging services. India has asked for access to RIM’s corporate email system in an effort to thwart terrorism and maintain security, but...

Robert Crow, a VP for Research In Motion, recently told The Wall Street Journal that India’s security agencies are making “rather astonishing” demands for access to RIM’s secure messaging and email networks. India and RIM have been up in arms since October 2010 when India gave RIM until January 2011 to comply with India’s intelligence laws. RIM fired back in January saying that there was no possibility to provide access to its secure email services, but has allowed Indian authori...

BGR has learned from multiple trusted sources that Research In Motion is planning to bring its beloved BlackBerry Messenger app and service to Android, and eventually to iOS as well. According to our sources, RIM has not yet finalized details surrounding timing or pricing, but we have heard that the company might make the software free to all users. We’re also told strategy is still being developed, however, and RIM may end up charging users a one-time fee or even a recurring fee for access to its BBM ...

Following our press briefing with the PlayBook early today, we wanted to get a bit more up-close and personal with the BlackBerry Bridge software. Bridge, for those that don’t know, is the bit of technology that connects the BlackBerry handset to the PlayBook and allows for the use of BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry Email, and BlackBerry Calendar on the PlayBook itself. For the time being, Bridge will provide the PlayBook with all of its email, calendar, and BBM functionality — there are no stand...