Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook product manager, Michael Clewley, has confirmed through his Twitter page that the company is planning to release a beta version of its 2.1 Playbook OS by the “end of May.” After signing up as a BlackBerry developer, the update will be pushed to eligible devices once it is released. The company’s previous update brought native contacts, calendar and email to the tablet. Details surrounding the PlayBook OS 2.1 beta are not yet available. (moreR...

The majority of mobile subscribers in the United Stated now own a smartphone according to the latest numbers from Nielsen. The research firm found that 50.4% of all U.S. mobile subscribers owned smartphones in March, up from 47.8% in December 2011. Consumers purchasing new phones picked smartphones more often than featured phones, with Apple called the top manufacturer and Android as the top platform. During the first quarter of 2012, 48% of smartphone owners had an Android-powered device, while 32% of device...

J.K. Shin, president of Samsung’s mobile business, sat down with The Wall Street Journal and revealed that the South Korean manufacturer has begun aggressively hiring foreign software engineers in an effort keep pace with Apple’s iPhone. Samsung, which has traditionally developed its own hardware, is also embracing the possibility of making key acquisitions in the mobile space. “The technology industry is growing very quickly and it is too much of a burden to try to do everything in-house,&#...

Research In Motion CEO Thorsten Heins at a press event on Wednesday confirmed that a 4G LTE PlayBook will launch by the end of this year. According to The Canadian Reviewer, the tablet will be equipped with an updated dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHZ, will include NFC technology and look similar to the current BlackBerry PlayBook. BGR in January exclusively reported details about RIM’s plans to introduce a new PlayBook tablet around May or June that will be equipped with a 1.5GHz processor, built-in...

The global smartphone market grew by 42.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2012, as the worldwide mobile phone market declined 1.5%. According to market research firm IDC, vendors shipped a total of 398.4 million mobile phones in the first quarter compared to 404.3 million units in the same quarter last year. Samsung ousted longtime leader Nokia to become the world’s largest mobile phone vendor, and it topped Apple to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor. The South Korea-based vendor�...

Former Research In Motion co-chief executive Jim Balsillie sought a radical shift in strategy before he stepped down, Reuters reported on Friday. Citing two unnamed sources, the publication claims Balsillie wanted to allow wireless companies in North America and Europe to use RIM’s proprietary network for services on non-BlackBerry devices. The plan would help carriers entice customers to upgrade from feature phones to smartphones and allow them to offer inexpensive data plans that were limited to socia...

Trend Micro on Wednesday named Research In Motion’s BlackBerry 7 OS as the most secure mobile operating system in a new report titled “Enterprise Readiness of Consumer Mobile Platforms.” The security firm compared four of the top mobile operating systems — Android 2.3, iOS 5, Windows Phone 7.5 and BlackBerry 7 — and found the Waterloo-based company’s platform best met the demands of enterprise users. BlackBerry 7 scored a 2.89 rating, which was based on a number of factors includi...

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry line remains the platform choice for nearly half a million federal workers, including President Barack Obama. While the company struggles with consumers and the enterprise market, sales of BlackBerry devices are growing within the U.S. Government, Bloomberg reported on Monday. “Compared to the enterprise over the last year and a half or so, the federal business on whole is up,” said Scott Totzke, who runs RIM’s U.S. government sales business. “The employee...

Chrysler’s Mopar division plans to become the first car manufacturer to eliminate power cords from cars. The company on Monday announced its new in-vehicle wireless charging technology, which will be available in the 2013 Dodge Dart. “At Mopar, we look for every single opportunity to make our customers’ lives easier,”said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar, Chrysler Group LLC’s service, parts and customer-care brand. Our industry-first in-vehicle wireless charging system is the p...

Research In Motion will be removing the ability to sideload applications on the BlackBerry PlayBook in a future software update, RIM’s VP of developer relations Alex Saunders said. After the update, PlayBook owners will only be able to download and install applications through BlackBerry App World. Saunders said the reason was to prevent piracy, claiming that more than 25% of Android apps are downloaded illegally. “Piracy is a huge problem for Android devs, and we don’t want to duplicate t...

Research in Motion has lost a number of senior-level executives in recent days amid a broad review of the company’s strategic options, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Alistair Mitchell, RIM’s vice president of the BlackBerry Messenger instant-messaging platform, is among several executives who have left the company according to the report. A company spokeswoman confirmed to the Journal that Mitchell is “no longer with RIM.” The spokeswoman also confirmed that Alan Brenner, a...

Research in Motion’s BlackBerry operating system has gone from being a leading smartphone platform to the struggling OS it is today. While adoption rates may be slowing with consumers and businesses, the same cannot be said for U.S. Government workers, a new report claims. The Washington Post on Tuesday reported that nearly half a million federal workers, including President Barack Obama, are still using BlackBerry phones. That number hasn’t dipped over the past few years despite RIM’s plum...

Over the past three months, Apple’s iOS operating system and Google’s Android mobile platform both continued to grow — according to comScore, they now account for a combined 80.3% of the U.S. smartphone market. The research showed that 234 million Americans aged 13 and older use mobile devices. Samsung is the most popular manufacturer with a 25.6% share of the U.S. mobile market, followed by LG with a 19.4% share and Apple with 13.5%. Motorola and HTC round out the top five with 12.8% and 6.3%, ...

Wealthy smartphone users are more likely to own an Apple iPhone and less likely to play games or post on Twitter than average users. According to research from The Luxury Institute, 62% of U.S. consumers earning at least $150,000 per year own a smartphone. 45% of people falling to that category own an iPhone, 35% use an Android-powered device and 25% have a BlackBerry. More than 80% of wealthy smartphone owners download mobile apps, with the most popular categories being weather (63%), news (51%), travel (42%...