Research In Motion executivess took the stage during BlackBerry DevCon Europe on Tuesday to clear up a few facts about the company’s success with its BlackBerry App World marketplace. RIM’s new CEO Thorsten Heins said BlackBerry App World is now home to more than 60,000 applications, which is a fraction of what’s available in the Android Market or iTunes App Store, and that BlackBerry devices are among the most popular smartphones purchased in the United Kingdom. RIM’s vice president o...

At last month’s Consumer Electronics Show, Research in Motion previewed the company’s upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 update, which we exclusively reported would land in mid-February. The anticipated update will give PlayBook users the ability to use Android apps that have been compiled for RIM’s platform, but getting developers on board remains the issue. RIM is taking steps to get the attention of developers, however, and one of the first is to offer free BlackBerry PlayBook tablets to ...

Research In Motion’s latest BlackBerry 7 devices has=ve been granted Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 certification by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC). FIPS certification is required before a device can be used by a government agency in either the U.S. or Canada. ”The FIPS 140-2 certification for BlackBerry 7.0 and 7.1 illustrates RIM’s continuing commitment to providing industry-leadin...

BlackBerry owners tend to be older and wealthier than other smartphone users according to a new report released this week. Data from comScore Data Mine suggests BlackBerry users are “more likely to have a household greater than $75,000 when compared to average smartphone owners.” BlackBerry owners were also more likely to have at least part of all of their monthly mobile bill paid for by their employers. We’re not surprised, taking into consideration the vast number of enterprise users that ...

Research In Motion will be getting a new chief operating officer shortly, replacing current co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. RIM named Thorsten Heins, previously the company’s chief operating officer, as the company’s new CEO. Though Balsillie and Lazaridis will step down as CEOs, they will remain on the board though both have relinquished their co-chairman roles and Barbara Stymiest has been named chairperson of the board. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the company’...

Research in Motion’s BlackBerry OS has been the platform of choice for the Department of Defense for many years thanks to RIM’s robust security. However, with the rise of Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS operating systems, the DoD may be moving away from BlackBerry devices. In a recent Security Technical Implementation Guide, the DoD approved the use of Android-powered devices by its staff, but the Dell Venue is currently the only phone that qualifies. The DoD states that a device mus...

RIM has responded to an exclusive BGR report published on Thursday in which our source claimed BlackBerry 10 was delayed not because the vendor was waiting for a new LTE chip, but because RIM’s developers have not yet been able to resolve many of the issues plaguing the new OS. “RIM made a strategic decision to launch BlackBerry 10 devices with a new, LTE-based dual core chip set architecture,” RIM told AllThingsD. “As explained on our earnings call, the broad engineering impact of this decisio...

Research In Motion reportedly cut short takeover talks with Amazon and other companies, preferring to instead attempt to solve its own financial woes. Reuters broke news of the discussions Tuesday evening. Amazon allegedly hired an investment bank to help guide discussions with the BlackBerry maker, but it’s unclear how far along the talks got before RIM turned the retail giant away. Sources speaking to Reuters said RIM is not currently interested in a sale or a joint venture and would instead prefer...

Two former RIM executives who were recently removed from an Air Canada flight on its way to Beijing after causing a drunken raucous apparently gnawed their way through plastic handcuffs and tape, new court documents reveal. The two men, aged 38 and 45, were allegedly intoxicated before boarding the plane and then “drank, passed out, and woke up to continue consuming alcohol and yelling at one another,” CBS said. One of the executives laid down in the aisle and kick the floor while he was being re...

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...

As we suspected, Research In Motion might not be ditching the QWERTY keyboard after all. CrackBerry leaked a photo of what may be one of RIM’s first BlackBerry 10 devices, the BlackBerry Milan, on Wednesday. The Milan will no doubt sport a touchscreen display — there isn’t a touchpad in sight — but there aren’t any other specs available just yet. Additionally, RIM appears to have omitted the send/end call keys that have been used on BlackBerry smartphones as far back as we can remember. T...

Research In Motion has changed the name of its next-generation operating system to BlackBerry 10 following a trademark dispute over the BBX name. BBX was originally introduced as RIM’s next mobile software platform that will be deployed on the company’s tablets and smartphones. RIM was forced to change it after Basis International won a court ruling in a federal court in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Tuesday that barred RIM from using the “BBX” brand name during a technology conference in...

Research In Motion’s top executive in Indonesia is facing charges from the government after more than 90 people were hurt when chaos broke out during the launch of RIM’s BlackBerry 9790 in Jakarta. Police confirmed Monday that Andrew Cobham, who has been identified as RIM’s Indonesia CEO by Reuters, will be charged with negligence, which has a maximum sentence of 9 months in jail. Cobham has not been detained. An event organizer, a shopping mall manager and a RIM employee involved with sec...

Two Research In Motion executives were so drunk on a recent Air Canada flight that the airline was forced to make an emergency landing to remove the men from the plane. The pair, George Campbell and Paul Alexander, were ordered to pay a total of $71,757 in restitution fees, The Record reported on Friday. The two men were apparently so drunk that the crew on the flight from Vancouver to Beijing needed to handcuff them to their seats before the plane was forced to make an unscheduled landing back in Vancouver...