The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will soon be ditching their BlackBerrys in favor of iPhones and iPads. We’ve seen several examples recently of large enterprises, even major multinationals like Halliiburton, going all-in on iOS, and it’s interesting to see the other half of BlackBerry’s traditional base, government, do likewise.

According to Joseph F. Klimavicz, NOAA Chief Information Officer and Director for High Performance Computing and Communications, they will support the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 running iOS 5 and above.

Going forward employees will no longer be supplied with BlackBerrys but iPhones and iPads instead, though it’s not specified when employees would the change over would begin.

Good enough used to be a mantra for both government and enterprise, and it used to mean user experience. Sure, the software wasn’t the best, but it was good enough, cheap enough, and ubiquitous enough that no one would ever get fired for buying more of it. But that’s begun to change, and Apple, with very little in the way of a business sales force, seems to be instigating that change.

I remember a few years back when I was working in a corporate environment that supplied BlackBerry, we weren’t allowed to use our iPhones even if we purchased them ourselves. RIM had a stronghold when it came to corporate clients. Now those same companies are looking for alternatives, testing iOS and Android and more often than not choosing iPhones and iPads.

Predictability and security are still big for government and enterprise.

Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 devices will certainly have something to say about that in the future, but with almost all of the Fortune 500 companies already testing or deploying iOS devices in one manner or another, momentum is certainly in Apple’s favor right now.

When you look around the desks and conference tables at your place of business, what devices are you seeing most often?

Source: The Loop

Halliburton, one of the world’s largest energy corporations with over 70,000 employees worldwide, will be making a huge move away from BlackBerrys, and converting their employees to iPhones. For those still not convinced about the iPhone and iOS’ place in enterprise, this decision comes after Halliburton did significant research into both Apple’s platform and the Android, and decided Apple was the way to go.

BlackBerry is undoubtedly still the best communications device on the planet, but increasingly users and businesses alike are requiring more than just communication — they’re requiring mobile computing platforms.

To give a sense of the breadth of this change, Energy Services Group (ESG) is Halliburton’s largest business segment and provides technical products and services for petroleum and natural gas exploration and production. Up until now Halliburton employees had been given BlackBerries. If they wanted an alternative the only option they were given were Windows Phones. BlackBerry have been part of Halliburton’s IT policy for over 10 years. Right now Halliburton supplies about 4,500 of their employees with BlackBerry smartphones.

BlackBerrys have long been the staple of enterprise — they performed well and lived up to what enterprise customers have come to expect. The iPhone and iPad have made great strides over the past several iterations of iOS in order to provide better support for business users. And it’s paying off.

More and more companies are starting to support iOS in enterprise on a regular basis, while others are letting the users choose with BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) initiatives.

Apple recently announced that pretty much all of the Fortune 500 were testing or deploying iOS devices within their organizations, which is startling considering how slowly enterprise usually is when it comes to responding to new technologies.

Even RIM has made moves to provide BlackBerry enterprise support for iPhone and iPad. Now we just need RIM’s new CEO to provide full on BlackBerry Connect functionality before other companies, like Good ride iPhone and iPad success to an insurmountable lead.

Are you using your iPhone in the enterprise? Let us know how wide iPhone and iPad deployment is where you work, and how they’re affecting productivity.

Source: AppleInsider

New images have leaked showing what may be code-name London, or the first of the next-generation BlackBerry 10 superphones expected to ship from RIM at the end of 2012 and… they look like Android phones that look like iPhones. Kevin Michaluk from CrackBerry.com pitches them a phone-sized PlayBooks but after being teased with the far more original looking, Porsche Design-style concepts we saw a few weeks back, I can’t help but be a little disappointed.

Sure, Apple didn’t invent the black slab form factor, but in an era that was then dominated by front-facing QWERTY devices, including the Treo, Windows Mobile Standard, Nokia communicators, and, yes, BlackBerrys, Apple inarguably popularized them. They popularized them to such an extent that Google smartly, swiftly switched gears from making Android BlackBerry-like to iPhone-inspired. RIM dabbled in that form factor as well, with the near disastrous Storm line, and now the expanded Torch line.

But to lead with it into the new generation of BlackBerrys, and now, some 5 years later? (And yes, once again, I informed you thusly.)

A big part of me hopes not. I’m tired of iPhone clones. Sure, Samsung has proven that the closer you are to copying Apple without being Apple, the more money you make in the not-Apple market (just look at Motorola and HTC profits by way of comparison), but Apple didn’t get to where they are — sitting on one of the largest bankrolls in history — by copying the BlackBerry or Treo back in 2007.

They looked at the market. They saw a problem with existing offerings. They tried to solve it with something new. RIM has had 5 years since then — 5 years to study Apple, look for the iPhone’s weaknesses, and figure out how to take then next great leap forward. To figure out how to do to Apple what Apple did to Palm and RIM.

They wasted a lot of that on the Storm and Torch and PlayBook. Hopefully they’re not wasting one precious moment of it now.

I want BlackBerry back. I want them putting pressure on Google and Apple. I want more great phones to choose from. I don’t want Jonathan Ive to be the lead designer-by-proxy of yet another me-too phone line.

Delight me RIM. Surprise me. You’ve got a new CEO. He has great contacts. I’m holding out hope for you.

Source: CrackBerry.com

It’s actually happened — after bringing BlackBerry from pager to the top of the smartphone world only to see the iPhone and Android all but demolish their share, RIM today announced founders and co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie would be stepping down, and current operations head Thorsten Heins would be taking over as the new, unified CEO.

And one of his first official acts was to call our own Kevin Michaluk, founder of CrackBerry.com and #1 BlackBerry fanboy.

It’s hard to express just how big of a change this is for RIM. Let’s put it this way. Since launching CrackBerry.com in 2007 I have been wanting to get an interview with RIM’s CEOs. It has never happened. With Thorsten, it happened in literally minutes, and it wasn’t even me who asked for it to happen, but rather it was the CEO wanting to do it. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Mike and Jim and all they have done for BlackBerry over the years, but it’s clear that for BlackBerry to thrive again RIM needed a shake up, and I think Thorsten is going to do an amazing job leading the way.

With their marketshare continuing to slide, lackluster PlayBook sales, and QNX/BlackBerry 10 superphones still months away, it’s clear RIM needed to do something to reassure investors and enthusiasts alike. Here’s wishing Heins every success. Strong BlackBerry competition is good for everyone. Bring it on.

Source: CrackBerry.com

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Chris, Ed, and Rene talk Apple value, RIM’s latest results, the uptake of Android, webOS going open source, Microsoft’s mobile chances, HTML5 platforms, the future of LTE, and the year ahead. This is Mobile Nations Stock Talk.

Hosts

• Chris Umiastowski
• Edward Zabitsky
• Rene Ritchie

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Kevin, Phil, Derek, Daniel, Georgia, and Rene take at look at the year in mobile, from BlackBerry to Android, webOS to Windows Phone, iPad to iPhone. Highs, lows, great new devices, frustrating delays, devastating losses, and a look ahead to 2012. This is Mobile Nations!

Hosts

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Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Mobile Nations network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

Two robbers on Columbia’s campus apparently only fancy robbing iPhone users. If you have a BlackBerry or Droid, they’d rather take your cash instead. In three separate incidents on 114th Street the men repeatedly asked victims to fork over their iPhones. While the first victim handed them an iPhone, the second victim handed them a Droid. They apparently aren’t Android fans and opted to take his cash instead. When the third victim stated she didn’t have an iPhone, they refused to believe her and pushed her into a fence and searched her.

So far the suspects haven’t been apprehended or identified but new security footage has been released that will hopefully help ID the two iPhone snatchers. One student apparently thinks it has to do with the high resale value of the iPhone –

“I think it speaks to the resale value of an iPhone,”

While the resale value of the iPhone may be higher than other devices, isn’t it just easier to steal cash than go through the trouble of hacking these things on eBay or Craigslist?

Source: NBC New York

RIM announced their Q3 2011 results today, including the bloodbath that is PlayBook sales, and clusterfrak that is BlackBerry 10 superphones not being available until late 2012.

RIM needs to either get it together and become the competition we sorely need, or hope their stock drops low enough that CrackBerry Kevin can buy them with left over watch money and turn them around himself.

Either way, it deeply angers me to have to say, I informed you thusly.

RIM today announced BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, something they’re touting as “The Next Generation Enterprise Mobility Solution for BlackBerry, Android and iOS Smartphones and Tablets”. Really. Says so right here:

We are pleased to introduce BlackBerry Mobile Fusion – RIM’s next generation enterprise mobility solution – to make it easier for our business and government customers to manage the diversity of devices in their operations today,” said Alan Panezic, Vice President, Enterprise Product Management and Marketing at Research In Motion. “BlackBerry Mobile Fusion brings together our industry-leading BlackBerry Enterprise Server technology for BlackBerry devices with mobile device management capabilities for iOS and Android devices, all managed from one web-based console. It provides the necessary management capabilities to allow IT departments to confidently oversee the use of both company-owned and employee-owned mobile devices within their organizations.

While RIM is still struggling to get PlayBook to 2.0 and BBX superphones into the hungry hands of the CrackBerry Nation, this could be an interesting way to hedge against Enterprise BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trends that skew users away from traditional BlackBerry’s and towards iPhones.

Still, consumers would probably still prefer BBM for iOS…

Source: CrackBerry.com

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Kevin, Phil, Derek, Dan, and Rene discuss the future of phone fashion, how to pick a tablet for the holidays, and what happens when all phones are smart. Plus, our holiday gift guide! This is Mobile Nations!

Hosts

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• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
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Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Mobile Nations network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

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Phil, Adam, Derek, Jay, and Rene talk Amazon Kindle Fire pros and cons, Porsche’s BlackBerry and phones as fashion, webOS indecisions, and Google Music vs. iTunes Match vs. Amazon Cloud vs. Zune Pass and more! This is Mobile Nations!

Agenda

• Amazon Kindle Fire
• Google Music
• Porsche Design P’9981 Smartphone from BlackBerry Video Unboxing!
• HP still not sure what to do with webOS, will take three-to-four weeks to decide
• iTunes Match

Hosts

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
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• Web: www.mobilenations.com

Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Mobile Nations network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

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Georgia and Ashley Esqueda talk Android Xoom 2, geek dating dos and don’ts, how to rock (and not rock) your BlackBerry, advice for celebrity sexters, iHelicopters and Whale Trail for iPhone and iPad, and the next creepy step towards robot apocalypse. This is Girls Gone Gadgets! [NSFW-L]

Spotlight

• Motorola Xoom II

Girl eyes for the gadget guys

• Smartphone dating dos and don’ts

We’ve got mail!

• “What are some killer tips for how to wear your BlackBerry? Hip holster hot or not? Playbook on a gold chain? Come on girls, we guys need all the help we can get!” – Kevin from Winnipeg

Techs and Apps

• Whale Trail – App Store link
• iHelicopter – Amazon link

Grab bag

• Scarlett Johansson on Those Nude Photos She Sent to Ryan Reynolds: “I Know My Best Angles”
• Makers of infamous BigDog robot unveil human version – PETMAN (w/ video)

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
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• Web: www.mobilenations.com

Hosts

• Georgia (@GeorgiaTiPb) of ZENandTECH
• Ashley Esqueda (@ashleyesqueda) of Techfoolery

Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Smartphone Experts network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

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Marc, Seth, and Rene iterate through Adobe Un-blur and CSS Shaders, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, TAT’s Cascade, interrogate webOS developer Zhephree with the help of PreCentral’s Derek, and answer questions on backups. This is Iterate!

• Photoshop un-blur demo
• Adobe CSS shaders
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• TAT’s Cascade frameworks for BBX
• Official Usability, User Experience & User Interface Guidelines From Companies

• Roboto vs. Helvetica

• Geoff Gauchet of Zhephree

Hosts

• Marc Edwards (@marcedwards) of Bjango
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford) of Nickelfish
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) of TiPb.com
• Derek Kessler (@dkdsgn) of PreCentral.net

Feedback

• Email: podcast@iterate.tv
• Twitter: @iteratetv
• Facebook: Iterate page

If you’re one of the best-of-the-best-of-the-best in mobile design for Android, BlackBerry, iOS, webOS, or Windows Phone, we’d love to get you on the show, or if you’ve found a drop-dead gorgeous app on any platform and really want us to talk about it, contact us and let us know.

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Kevin, Phil, Derek, Dan, and Rene talk Windows Phone from Mango to Tango (and Nokia!), BlackBerry DevCon and BBX superphones, Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich and Galaxy Nexus, webOS and the road ahead, and iPhone 4S and Siri. This is Mobile Nations!

Agenda

• Happy 1st Birthday Windows Phone!
• CrackBerry at BlackBerry DevCon 2011 -Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-nexus
• HP leaning towards un-spinning-off PSG
• HP using TouchPad to test Windows 8, meeting with webOS buyers? [rumor]
• Apple iPhone 4S and Siri Review
• iOS 5 Review

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
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Hosts

Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Smartphone Experts network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

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Georgia, Seth, and Rene are joined by Jim Dalrymple of The Loop to talk Steve Jobs biography, sneak in some iPhone 4S, and dig through iOS 5, battery life, PlayBook 2.0, Ice Cream Sammich tablets, and more. This is iPad Live!

Steve Jobs

• Steve Jobs biography now on sale
• ‘My boss is calling’
• Steve Jobs considered Android “grand theft” of iPhone ideas

iPhone 4S

• The Loop’s iPhone 4S review
• The Loop’s iPhone 4S review redux
• TiPb’s iPhone 4S review

iOS 5

• iOS 5 Newsstand’s impact is significant
• How to fix battery life problems with iOS 5 or iPhone 4S
• Apple announces iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour 2011

Music

• Hanging out with BAMM.tv

The competition

• Sweet Jesus, RIM announced another operating system
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Galaxy Nexus, RAZR, PlayBook 2.0 come gunning for iPhone and iPad

Apps

• Apps should seem almost magical
• Top 5 iOS 5 apps for iPhone and iPad

Contest

• We’re giving stuff away!

Hosts

• Georgia (@GeorgiaTiPb)
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)
• Jim Dalrymple (@jdalrymple of The Loop

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPad Accessory Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Music Hear me Roar by iPad Live theme song contest winner, DieselJesus!

Apple had their big Let’s talk iPhone event a couple of weeks ago and have now released [iOS 5](http://www.imore.com/iOS 5) and iCloud, and launched the iPhone 4S — now it’s RIM’s and Google’s turn.

Kevin and Adam from CrackBerry.com are live at BlackBerry Dev Con 2011, hoping to get their keyboard-crunching hands on a next generation BBX (QNX) based superphone and Playbook OS 2.0.

• Full BlackBerry Dev Con 2011 coverage

Phil and the gang over at Android Central are waiting for the big Ice Cream Sandwich and Galaxy Nexus (Prime) reveal from Google and Samsung tonight.

• Full Ice Cream Sandwich and Galaxy Nexus coverage

Keep an eye on both, then run — don’t walk! — back here and tell us how you think they compete with iOS 5, iCloud, and iPhone 4S. Did they raise the stakes?

Looking to switch from your beloved BlackBerry device to an iPhone or adding an extra line to grab a new iPhone 4s, well be sure to check out BerryMover. The information stored on your BlackBerry device has probably become quite sacred to you and odds are losing notes, tasks, or even your text messages. Previously there was no easy transfer method to move your information from one to the next, most of the time you lost your notes and text messages, but BerryMover is here to change that up. BerryMover will allow you to easily transfer all of your contacts, emails, calendar events, tasks, notes and text messages.

BerryMover will set you back $9.99 in the AppStore, but if you have a lot of information that you care about, and don’t want to take the time to sit around and manually transfer it all this is the best money you can spend.

[App Store Link]

Switching to an iPhone 4S from BlackBerry, webOS or Android phone and curious how to transfer your data over? We’ve already told you how to transfer data from an existing iPhone to the 4S, but crossing platforms can seem like a bigger headache. It doesn’t have to be. There’s lots of services available to help you transfer data from one device to another. Keep reading for some simple suggestions that can make the process of going from BlackBerry or Android to iPhone and iOS 5 just a little easier for you.

There are two main ways to move all your data over to iPhone: desktop sync via iTunes and cloud sync via Google, Yahoo!, Exchange, etc.

iTunes

If you want to move your music, TV shows, movies, photos, and other media over to your new iPhone and you already use iTunes on Mac or Windows PC then it’s pretty easy.

1. Just plug the dock cable into your iPhone and into your PC and your iPhone will show up in iTunes.
2. Go through the tabs and choose what information, media, and photos you want to sync.
3. Press sync

You can sync multiple iOS devices (if you already have an iPad or iPod touch) with one iTunes library or set up multiple iTunes libraries to keep things extra neat and tidy.

Google Sync

Here is a way to use Gmail or Google Sync to transfer your data. If you’re already using a Gmail or Google Account to sync your mail, contacts, and calendars, this process is dead simple. Just make sure you’ve done a sync on your current BlackBerry, webOS or Android device.

1. On your new iPhone tap Settings and go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars.

2. You’ll need to add your new account to your iPhone. Simply tap the new account and then Gmail option.
3. If you want full push, you can also set Gmail up as Exchange as well. Visit Google’s Exchange page for instructions on setting up this way.
4. After your account is verified, you can simply choose to sync what items you would like to sync by turning those options On.

5. If a message pops up asking what you’d like to do with the data, choose to replace your iPhone data or merge data. Whichever is appropriate to your situation.

After you’ve done this you can continue using Google Sync if you’d like or disable it and use iCloud going forward. Just delete the Gmail account or disable it. If asked what to do with the data on your iPhone, just choose to keep it on your device. Then sign in with iCloud and it will now sync everything up and everything new from here on out.

Note: One of our readers has pointed out that Google may have issues syncing your contacts unless they are in the “My Contacts” category in Google. He had some contacts listed in other groups and they wouldn’t come down. So make sure all your contacts are filed under the general “My Contacts” group if you’re having issues with your iPhone syncing into your Contacts app from Google. Thanks for the tip, Will!

Yahoo! Sync

To perform a sync with Yahoo!, you are essentially going to repeat the same steps you would for Google sync (see above), except you’ll choose Yahoo when you choose your new account type. All the options should be identical when it comes to syncing contacts, calendars, and email accounts. And again, when you’re done you can choose to continue using Yahoo! Sync or use iCloud.

Exchange and Hotmail

If you’re using Exchange at work, and/or Windows Live Hotmail at home, again the instructions are the same as above just choose Exchange ActiveSync as your account type, or hit the new iOS 5 Hotmail button and you’re set. (If you have problems with a work Exchange account, check with your IT department for the proper settings)

Transferring contacts and calendars from your computer with iTunes

If you don’t use any Google, Yahoo!, Exchange or any online service and you’re just looking to transfer your contacts to your iPhone, you can do that too. Whether you have Windows or Mac, you can transfer contacts from your current smartphone to your iPhone pretty easily.

1. Plug your old device into the computer and sync them with either Outlook, Exchange, or Mac Address book. This process is pretty easy but varies from device to device, so you may need to refer to your specific device instructions in order to do this. If you still have an issue doing this, head on over to the TiPb Forums for some expert switcher advice and help.
2. Once your contacts are already on your computer, you can plug your new iPhone into your computer.
3. Open iTunes and click the Info tab under your iPhone sync settings.
4. You will see a Contacts option. Select that and choose what contacts you would like to be synced to your phone.

5. Click sync and wait for iTunes to do its thing. When complete, your contacts should now be on your new iPhone.

Note: You may have noticed iTunes has native options to configure Yahoo! or Gmail sync. You are more than welcome to use these options as well. They are just as easy. You can also choose to sync calendars via iTunes as well. Use whatever process is going to be more convenient for you on an ongoing basis.

Transferring photos from your old device to your new iPhone [PC users]

1. Simply sync or transfer the photos from your old device into your photos on your Windows PC. Whether you choose to do this with your actual device, or from removable storage like an SD card is your choice.
2. Plug your new iPhone into the computer and open iTunes and navigate to the Photos tab.
3. Navigate your way to where you save your photos to your PC when choosing what photos to sync and make sure to choose the pictures you’d like on your phone.
4. Click sync and wait for iTunes to finish. Your photos should now show up in the Photos app on your iPhone.

Transferring photos from your old device to your new iPhone [Mac users]

1. Plug your old device into your Mac and open iPhoto. (If iPhoto doesn’t recognize your Android, webOS, or Blackberry phone, simply transfer the pictures from the removable storage in your device, if you have that option.)
2. Your device should show up in the left navigation pane of iPhoto.
3. Name your album and import the photos. Alternately, you could select just the photos you’d like on your new device if you want.

4. Open iTunes and go to the Photos tab. Select the albums or events you’d like to sync to your new iPhone.

5. Click sync and wait for iTunes. After the sync is complete, you should see your new Photos in your Photo app on your iPhone.

Next steps

The iPhone is a pretty easy device to transfer data to. Once you’ve gotten all your data from your other device into a cloud service or on your computer, it should be easy as pie. If you guys have any issues doing any of this, feel free to check out the TiPb Forums for answers to many questions.

For more on using your new iPhone 4S check out our iPhone Starters Guide, and then dive into our iPhone 4S Forums for help and community!

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

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Phil, Kevin, Derek, and Rene discuss Apple’s iPhone 4S event, the Nexus Prime, BlackBerry BBX and superphones, the Amazon Kindle Fire, and Amazon webOS rumors, and the hierarchy of tablet needs. This is MobileNations!

Agenda

• Let’s Talk iPhone event coverage
• Did Samsung just tease us all with a glimpse of the Nexus Prime?
• Exclusive: Research In Motion set to announce BlackBerry X (BBX) Platform at Developer Conference this month?!!
• HP looking to sell webOS, Amazon looking to buy?
• Amazon Kindle Fire

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
• Twitter: @mobilenations
• Web: www.mobilenations.com

Hosts

Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Smartphone Experts network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

There are hundreds of thousands of iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps for just about everything — so how come the one you need, the one you know just has to be there, is so hard to find? Enter TiPb’s new weekly feature where staff and readers alike sort through the App Store and help you find just the right App for That. This week, Jo asks:

I’m searching for a cross-platform Instant Messaging app that can employ a passcode. I need to be able to communicate with a BlackBerry user. And, I’d like to be able to passcode lock just that IM app, without passcode protecting my full phone. Any ideas?

To see what we found for Jo, follow along after the break!

KakaoTalk Messenger [Free - App Store link] is an SMS alternative for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry. One of it’s distinguishing features from similar apps is that it allows you to set a passcode on the app that must be entered every time you open KakaoTalk.

Some other features include group messaging, multimedia sharing, English, Spanish, Japanese and Korean support, and custom backgrounds.

As of now, the BlackBerry version for KakaoTalk is under beta, but it’s a public beta, so anyone can download it. Just keep in mind that there are probably some kinks that are still being worked out.

To learn more about KakaoTalk and to download for Android and BlackBerry, head on over to Kakao’s website.

Anyone else have any App for That suggestions for Jo? Let him — and all of us — know.

Having trouble finding what you need in the app store? Head on over to our App and Game Feature Forum and let us know what you’re looking for. The TiPb community will do our best to find you just the right App for That!

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Phil, Kevin, and Rene beta test a new video rig, survive technical problems, and talk RIM results, BlackBerry striking back, next generation Android phones, Windows 8 tablets, and a tale of two iPhones. This is Mobile Nations!

Agenda

• Research In Motion Reports Second Quarter Fiscal 2012 Results
• Thoughts from RIM’s Q2 Financial Results Conference Call
• Samsung Galaxy S II Sprint Epic 4G Touch now available online from Sprint
• Motorola Droid Bionic review
• Windows 8 Developer Preview now available
• Two new iPhones to be announced this month, iPhone 5 may be in short supply

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
• Twitter: @mobilenations
• Web: www.mobilenations.com

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Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Smartphone Experts network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

BlackBerry maker RIM is opposing Apple’s trademark filing for WebKit, the open source browser rendering engine they developer based on Linux Konquerer/KHTML. WebKit has become the most popular browser engine in Mobile, powering iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad Safari, as well as BlackBerry’s Torch Mobile, Google’s Android, Palm’s webOS, and other browsers — as well as Apple Safari and Google Chrome on PCs. So popular, in fact, that RIM couldn’t wait to advertise they’d finally joined the modern internet by getting a WebKit browser.

Could that be part of the reason for the opposition, fears that Apple would try to restrict use of the trademark? Even CrackBerry.com doesn’t seem to know for sure.

Now in what appears to be an odd move (as far as timing is concerned), RIM filed their opposition to the application on August 15th 2011, with an extension granted 3 days later that allows them to officially submit their Statement of Opposition by November 22nd of this year. This claim can be found on the Canadian Intellectual Property Office website. Right now we can only speculate as to why this is happening now. Torch Mobile was one of many developers that were widely known to further develop WebKit. Remember what happened in August of 2009? Well, RIM acquired Torch Mobile, which then enabled them to include a WebKit-based browser on their BlackBerry devices. It will be quite interesting to see what kind of opposition RIM can offer- hopefully it will carry a little more weight than the recorded “Used in CANADA since at least as early as November 2003.” We’ll be sure to report more on this claim as it develops.

Ditto.

[CrackBerry.com]

Microsoft offers subscription music via their Zune service, and now another iPhone and iPad rival, RIM’s BlackBerry, might be joining the party. Kevin from CrackBerry.com has the scoop:

• Users will have to download the new standalone BlackBerry music app from App World
• Once installed, there should be a free trial (may vary by country/carrier – but expect a month free)
• Once the free trial expires, the service will cost $5/mo.
• With the app installed, you can choose up to 50 songs of your choice. Apparently the catalog selection is pretty good!
• From there, you invite your contacts via BBM, etc. to also download the app if they don’t have it and join your music sharing network (invited contacts must pay the $5/mo. also to take part and remain part of the service).
• From there, you can listen to not only the 50 songs you’ve selected), but any of the 50 songs from your music sharing network. So if you have 20 contacts, you’ll have access to 1,000 other songs in addition to your 50. We’re not sure yet if there’s a limit to how many people you can share with, but essentially the more people in your music sharing group the more music you’ll have access to.

While Apple offers music downloads via iTunes, and will offer a music locker via iTunes Match, they don’t currently have a subscription service nor do they have a way to share music (though they do have a network of sorts — Ping).

That means iOS users who want subscriptions need a third party service like Pandora, Spotify, Slacker, Rdio, last.fm, etc.

Are Apple users missing out here?

[CrackBerry.com]

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Mobile Nations 5: A wedding and a funeral Phil, Kevin, Derek, Dan, Georgia, and Rene talk HP dumping webOS hardware, Google picking up Motorola Mobility, RIM’s new BlackBerrys reviewed, and what it means for Microsoft and Apple. This is MobileNations!

Agenda

• BREAKING: HP shutting down webOS device operations, will “continue to explore options”
• Could there be a suitor for webOS?
• Did iPad kill HP’s hardware business?
• Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility: Complete coverage
• Google’s $12.5 billion dollar Motorola insurance policy
• MSFT and Nokia stocks get a boost from Google’s deal
• BlackBerry Bold 9900 Review
• BlackBerry Torch 9860 Review
• BlackBerry Torch 9810 Review

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
• Twitter: @mobilenations
• Web: www.mobilenations.com

Hosts

Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Smartphone Experts network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

• Our podcast feed
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Rene and Georgia are joined by Chris/Bla1ze from CrackBerry.com and Android Central to talk iPhone 5, iOS 5 beta 5, can the new BlackBerrys compete, and Facebook Messenger for iPhone. This is iPhone Live!

• Show notes

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Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

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Phil, Kevin, Tim, Dan, and Rene talk Google vs. Microsoft patent slap-fight, new BlackBerrys (new BlackBerrys!!), waiting on Pre 3 and the TouchPad 3.0.2 update, and Apple eating all the mobile profits. This is Mobile Nations!

Agenda

• Google to Microsoft: ‘We didn’t fall for it’ [updated with Microsoft's retort]
• Google responds to Microsoft and vice-versa
• Research In Motion Introduces New BlackBerry 7 Smartphones
• Hands on with webOS 3.0.2 [video]
• Apple now owns 66% of mobile profits

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
• Twitter: @mobilenations
• Web: www.mobilenations.com

Hosts

Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Smartphone Experts network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

• Our podcast feed
• Download Directly
• Subscribe in iTunes
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Phil, Kevin, Derek, Dan, and Rene talk Netflix on Android, media on Mobile, the RIM-pire striking back, news execs at webOS, Nokia Windows Phones, 20 million iPhones, and hitting the budget buyer sweet spot. Bringing together the heads of state of Android, BlackBerry, iOS, webOS, and Windows Mobile for full on round-table action. This is Mobile Nations!

Agenda

• Netflix’s Android rollout an example of a good thing done badly
• CrackBerry Kevin goes to Waterloo
• HP’s move puts Rubinstein in Rahul Sood’s old shoes, an operations guy in charge of webOS
• New video of Nokia Sea Ray prototype running WP7
• Apple Q3 2011 results: 20.34 million iPhones, 9.25 million iPads, 7.54 million iPods, $7.31 billion in profit
• Mobile Technology and Automobiles… it’s an exciting future, and QNX is at the heart of it
• Apple’s layered user experience approach

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
• Twitter: @mobilenations
• Web: www.mobilenations.com

Hosts

Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Smartphone Experts network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

Jonathan Geller, the Boy Genius, reports that Mike Lazardis was convinced of BlackBerry’s superior design and feature focus, long after the proverbial ship hit the not-so-proverbial iceberg:

Picture yourself sitting in an executive briefing at Research In Motion. You’d hear Mike Lazaridis unequivocally state time and time again that BlackBerry smartphones would never have MP3 players or cameras in them because it just does not make sense when the company’s primary customers were the government and enterprise. “BlackBerry smartphones will never have cameras because the No. 1 customer of ours is the U.S. government,” Mike Lazaridis would say in meetings. “There will never be a BlackBerry with an MP3 player or camera.”

Compare and contrast with Steve Jobs who put sneaker to stage at WWDC 2007 and showed off the original iPhone, a device that eschewed the design of the market leaders of the day, RIM’s BlackBerry and Palm’s Treo line. Unlike almost everyone else at the time, the iPhone dropped the keyboard, and replaced the stylus with the finger and multitouch. RIM?

“When you hear Mike talk about the latest and greatest, it’s been the same thing for ten years: security, battery performance, and network performance. RIM has positioned battery life and network performance for years. People are not concerned with iPhone battery life,” one source told me. Network performance, to Mike, trumps any innovation a device like the iPhone offers. “Mike is convinced people won’t buy an iPhone because battery life isn’t as good as a BlackBerry,” a different source said. Mike apparently is in disbelief that people can use over 15GB of data on their iPhone and Android devices, and he feels that people will buy smartphones based on network efficiency, even though carriers with tiered data plans in developed markets love customers who use monstrous amounts of data.

Never mind that they eventually, reluctantly backtracked and shipped camera totting, MP3 rocking, Bold-ly branded, type-on-glass BlackBerrys of their own. They failed to see where the market was going, dismissed where it was, and seemed to only angrily react to where it had long since been. (And whether or not management has come to the personal realizations necessary to turn that around remains unclear.)

To their credit, Google rapidly switched Android from a BlackBerry clone to an iPhone clone. To their detriment, RIM just kept making BlackBerrys, the same ones that owned the world in 2006, long after the world had moved post-2007.

Steve Jobs, meanwhile, probably isn’t waiting on anyone to obsolete the iPhone. He likely has all of Apple working on doing that themselves.

[BGR]

Nixon went to China. Reagan went to the Berlin Wall. Moses went to pharaoh. Now our own Mr. Michaluk has gone to Waterloo, the “Cupertino of Canada” as he calls it — the BlackBerry mothership. Ostensibly there for the RIM shareholder event — and perhaps to break, Mission Impossible style, into their labs and liberate a BlackBerry Bold 9900 — odds are Kev will also see the first signs of whether or not BlackBerry is headed towards RIMAGEDDON, or if it’s finally time for the RIMPIRE to strike back. (If so, he’s already got the t-shirt!)

Firebrand that he is, the students of Waterloo are already gathering around him, ready to rise up against the Android onslaught they feel threatens their beloved BlackBerrys. But here’s the thing — with iOS 5 on the horizon, and the iPhone 5 (and maybe even a second new iPad) heading their way like a freight-train in a couple months, what can RIM pull out of their PlayBook just to keep pace, never mind catch up?

Keep your eyes peeled to CrackBerry.com for a week of thrills, chills, and device spills, and we’ll see just what 3 COOs, 2 CEOs, and the world’s number one fanboy can do to breathe new life into the BlackBerry brand.

[CrackBerry.com]

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Kevin, Phil, and Rene discuss whether or not Google should buy RIM, how BlackBerry can fight back, is Google MIA in the patent wars, Google+ is here, the TouchPad has landed, and will there be a second new iPad this year? Bringing together the heads of state of Android, BlackBerry, iOS, webOS, and Windows Mobile for full on round-table action. This is Mobile Nations!

Show notes after the break!

Agenda

• 10 Reasons why Google will buy Research In Motion
• The Way I See It CrackBerry Nation, We’ve Only Just Begun…
• Editorial: How long can Google and Android afford to remain silent on patents?
• http://www.androidcentral.com/android-app-review-google
• HP TouchPad
• Could 5 new iOS devices make up Apple’s fall family?

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
• Twitter: @mobilenations
• Web: www.mobilenations.com

Hosts

Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Smartphone Experts network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

• Our podcast feed
• Download Directly
• Subscribe in iTunes

Mobile Nations is our brand new podcast, bringing together the heads of state from Android, BlackBerry, iOS, webOS, and Windows Phone for full on round-table action. This week Phil, Kevin, Dan and Rene discuss Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, the new Verizon data caps, and the state of the BlackBerry. This is Mobile Nations!

Topics

• WPCentral Review: Windows Phone “Mango” (preview release)
• Verizon’s new data plans broken down in complete detail
• RIM results and what’s next for BlackBerry?

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
• Twitter: @mobilenations
• Web: www.mobilenations.com

Hosts

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Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj.

Thanks to the Smartphone Experts network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

Apple will be announcing iOS 5 on Monday and if the rumors are to be believed it will do pretty much everything from notifications to make you a tasty vanilla latte (okay, not really.) But it does beg the question — if you’re an Android or BlackBerry user, or a Windows Phone, webOS, or fan of any other platform, what would Apple have to do to win you over to iPhone and iPad?

Rene’s posted his want list. What’s yours? What would you need to see from Steve Jobs and Apple to make you switch (or switch back?)

President Obama has started to relax some of the technology use policies within the government, as more and more federal workers have opted to use the iPhone and iPad in place of devices like the Blackberry and PC.

The flashy consumer products that have been adopted in the corporate workforce — upending BlackBerrys for iPhones, Microsoft Outlook for Gmail, and lately laptops for iPads — are now invading the federal government. The State Department. The Army. The Department of Veterans Affairs. NASA.

The list of supporting government agencies goes on and on. Federal workers have found they’re more mobile and less tied down when using devices like the iPad instead of being strapped to a desktop PC — some even preferring the tablet over working on a standard laptop computer.

Even Obama, a longtime CrackBerry user, now totes around an iPad for productivity and connectivity, suggesting a driving force not only from front-line workers, but also from top officials.

Any corporate or federal workers seeing these changes in the workplace?

[Washington Post via Daring Fireball]

Our good friend CrackBerry Kevin has just gone hands-on with the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930, the new touch-enabled flagship phone from RIM. BlackBerry has always excelled at the front-facing QWERTY, and the Bold 9000 series has been the be very best of their best — and now with the 9900 and 9930 it’s going touch. Not touch like the Storm — thank Odin for that! — or even like the original underpowered Torch. No, this is doing it with BlackBerry OS 7, a 287dpi 640×480 screen, and a 1.2GHz processor.

Some questions remain, however. Can BlackBerry really do touch? The PlayBook says they can but this phone still runs BBOS, not the new QNX platform. Is the touchscreen and keyboard, like the old Palm Treo line, the best of both worlds or twice the compromises? And will “super apps” stop being a lame marketing quip and become truly killer software for BlackBerry?

The Bold 9900/9930 will debut this summer, which would typically put them head-to-head with a new iPhone, but this year iPhone 5 might only debut in the fall. Will that help RIM out? Will anyone get a Bold Touch to hold them over? Hit the link below, watch the video, and tell us if Apple and iPhone 4 have anything to worry about.

[CrackBerry]

Research in Motion has announced BlackBerry Enterprise Server support for iOS — namely BES and RIM’s newly acquired ubitexx technology, will soon be able to provide management and security features for iPhone and iPad.

“The multi-platform BlackBerry Enterprise Solution is designed to address a growing market and respond to requests from enterprise customers who want a secure multi-platform device management solution from a company that already delivers the gold standard for enterprise mobility,” said Peter Devenyi, Vice President, Communications Platform Group at Research In Motion. “We recognize the opportunity to continue leading in the enterprise market by providing customers with a common platform to help simplify the management of a variety of mobile devices.”

iOS — and Android for that matter — won’t get all the fancy features BlackBerrys on BES enjoy, including the new BlackBerry Balance feature which silos work from personal content, but they’ll get enough to make it very interesting for IT departments.

Microsoft once faced the choice of keeping ActiveSync a competitive advantage for Windows Mobile, hurting their platform but helping their devices, or licensing ActiveSync and gaining infrastructure share at the expense of device share. They chose the latter and now ActiveSync is a key part of iOS, Mac OS X, GoogleSync, and many Android devices. RIM had chosen to keep their technology for themselves… up until now and it begs the question — if they’re going to let BES go cross-platform, could BBM follow?

And what if any increased competition will Apple’s new “iCloud” services offer in the enterprise space?

Full BlackBerry World PR after the break! Anyone counting the days until you can hook your iPhone or iPad into BES?

[CrackBerry]

RIM Announces Multi-Platform BlackBerry Enterprise Solution for Smartphones and Tablets Device Management Solution to Provide Security, Management, and Control of BlackBerry Devices, Plus Secure Management for Other Mobile Devices

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM, TSX: RIM) is announcing today plans for a multi-platform BlackBerry Enterprise Solution for managing and securing mobile devices for enterprises and government organizations. The solution will make available the market-leading management, security and controls of BlackBerry® Enterprise Server and BlackBerry® Enterprise Server Express for BlackBerry® devices plus, through RIM’s pending acquisition of ubitexx (creator of the ubi-Suite device management solution), the solution is expected to incorporate secure device management for Android and iOS based devices and tablets, all managed from a single web-based console.

“The multi-platform BlackBerry Enterprise Solution is designed to address a growing market and respond to requests from enterprise customers who want a secure multi-platform device management solution from a company that already delivers the gold standard for enterprise mobility,” said Peter Devenyi, Vice President, Communications Platform Group at Research In Motion. “We recognize the opportunity to continue leading in the enterprise market by providing customers with a common platform to help simplify the management of a variety of mobile devices.”

The single web-based console is being designed to provide IT administrators with a simple and efficient way to distribute software and manage policies, inventory, security and services for BlackBerry devices, as well as other mobile devices. IT administrators will be able to manage devices over-the-air, including activating devices, distributing software and applications, locking or wiping devices, enforcing and resetting device passwords, setting IT policies, and managing optional mobile applications for end users. Certain features are expected to remain exclusive to BlackBerry devices because such capabilities are built into the design of a device’s operating system. Examples include RIM’s industry-leading push technology, network and data usage efficiency, behind-the-firewall access to enterprise applications and systems, and many of the over 550 IT policies available through BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The recently-released BlackBerry® BalanceTM technology (see separate press release issued today), which supports the use of a single smartphone for both work and personal purposes without compromising the security of corporate content or the privacy of personal content, will also remain exclusive to BlackBerry devices.

Overall, as is largely understood in the enterprise market today, organizations can expect a range of security, manageability and controls depending on different device platform capabilities, with some devices further limited by the design of their operating system.

The multi-platform BlackBerry Enterprise Solution will be comprised of optional architectural components based on the configuration of an organization’s mobile deployment and their operational needs. Optional components will include BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express for BlackBerry devices, and a separate, secure device management server for Android and iOS devices (based on the foundation of ubi-Suite from ubitexx). It will be possible to deploy multiple components in a virtualized environment on a single server. Note: Registration for a product preview of the ubitexx solution is open today at www.ubitexx.com/preview. The multi-platform BlackBerry Enterprise Solution is planned for general availability later this year.

The TiPb forums are naturally a great place to talk, commiserate, celebrate, get help, and offer advice to your fellow iPhone users. In order to create a new thread of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is easy and free so if you haven’t already, head on over and register now!

• iPhone 5 Details: 3.7-inch screen, home button with gesture area, etc… – What are your thoughts on these hardware specs?

• Former Blackberry users switching to iPhones – This is a thread for the many of you coming over to an iPhone from a Blackberry device.

• Sony releases Crackle into App Store – Discuss the new app that allows for some free streaming of a limited selection of movies.

• iOS 4.2.7 update for Verizon iPhone 4 – List bugs or issues you may have encountered.

See you in the forums!

RIM finally gets their 7-inch, QNX-powered iPad competitor to market and our sibling site, CrackBerry.com has your positively gargantuan BlackBerry PlayBook review piping hot and ready! From hardware to software literally nothing is left out. It looks a bit like webOS, runs Android Gingerbread apps, and is going after the iPad. So is it a triple threat or are we not quite sure yet?

As a BlackBerry fan and somebody who wants to see RIM hit nothing but pure homeruns, I’m of course a little choked up over the PlayBook’s first at bat performance. There’s no doubt it has some raw talent and killer moves that are going to attract some fans and loud cheers from the crowd (including me of course), but to be a real superstar it’s going to have to mature a little more and roundout its skill set. A little more practice time in the batting cage before stepping out on the field may have been the call to make on this one (as in waiting until native email and core app integration were complete before hitting the market).

So he loves where it’s going, if not exactly where it is right now and that’s fair. QNX is RIM’s future and this is their first step towards it. Hopefully it keeps Apple swinging for the bleachers as well. Competition is good for everyone, especially consumers.

So grab your iPad, hit the links below, and enjoy a quiet night of reading because Kevin has outdone himself bringing you everything you need to know about the BlackBerry PlayBook:

• CrackBerry’s Guide to the BlackBerry PlayBook
• Official BlackBerry PlayBook review
• BlackBerry PlayBook specs

Clorox used to give their employees BlackBerrys but when Ralph Loura took over as Chief Information Officer he decided to let employees choose their own smartphone and as a result, they’ve gone 92% iPhone. (They’re also piloting iPads.)

“We live in public cloud for mail and messaging. I don’t have to worry about security because I don’t sync data to the iPhones. It remains in the cloud,” he said.

Apple has been talking a lot about enterprise in recent conference calls, citing impressive deployment and piloting numbers. This has always been BlackBerry (and Microsoft’s) strongest market and something HP will no doubt target with webOS.

Is Apple already entrenching themselves in this non-consumer battleground? If you’re in enterprise, would this work where you work?

[Computerworld, thanks Anthony!]

BlackBerry maker RIM has just announced that they’ll be providing a way for developers to package, sign, and distribute Android apps for the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook. (They’ll also be able to develop BlackBerry Java and, soon, C/C++ apps). iPad has a huge head start, but this could prove an interesting way to mitigate that lead:

“The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet. The power that we have embedded creates one of the most compelling app experiences available in a mobile computing device today,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “The upcoming addition of BlackBerry Java and Android apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook on BlackBerry App World will provide our users with an even greater choice of apps and will also showcase the versatility of the platform.”

Support will be provided for Android 2.3 apps, so more Galaxy Tab 7-inch style big phone apps than Android 3.0 Honeycomb-style tablet apps on something like the Xoom, but it does immediately skyrocket the potential number of apps available for the PlayBook.

“Potential” because that devs have to choose on a individual basis to submit their apps to BlackBerry App world. It doesn’t look like PlayBook is getting the Android Market (or Amazon Appstore), or that all Android 2.3 apps can just be sideloaded and run on the PlayBook. I’m guessing if the process is easy — there will be some porting involved and the apps will run in a “player” on the PlayBook — and the money there — if PlayBook sells well — devs might just jump on the extra customer pool.

So does this change anything on the competitive landscape? Could it make PlayBook one of the strongest Android tablet alternatives in addition to its BlackBerry foundation? Could it pose even more of a threat to Apple’s iPad 2? Or do too many development choices harm the overall experience?

[CrackBerry and Android Central... sitting in a tree...]

Just as Apple brings us iPad 2, RIM finally reveals pricing and release information for the BlackBerry PlayBook and Samsung unveils new designs and lower price points for a couple of new Galaxy Tabs.

The 7-inch PlayBook Wi-Fi, which is available for order now from retailers like BestBuy and will be in stores on April 19, matches the iPad 2′s storage and price points with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB at $499, $599 and $699. Do the features make the smaller size worth the same price? (And does the BlackBerry logo on the bezel annoy you as much as it does Rene?)

The Android Honeycomb Galaxy Tab 8.9 Wi-Fi, which is actually going to be cheaper than the iPad 2 at 16GB and 32GB for $469 and $569, and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi, which is the same price at 16GB and 32GB for $499 and $599. Oh, and both are thinner than the iPad 2 at only 8.6mm (Oh yes, it’s on!)

Interestingly, Samsung is one of Apple’s largest manufacturing partners. Now that they’re competing so directly with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, could we see Apple try to separate themselves the way they did with Google after the Android launch, or is Samsung too big and too important for Apple to even think about cutting the cord?

Galaxy Tab video after the break. Watch it and let us know what you think, has the competition caught up faster than Apple expected, or are they still bringing specs to an experience fight?

[CrackBerry.com, Android Central]

BGR is reporting that BlackBerry maker RIM is looking into offering their BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service on other platforms, including the iPhone’s iOS.

As far as what Android and iOS users can look forward to, we’ve been told RIM will offer stripped down versions of the BBM experience BlackBerry owners know and love. That way, Android and iOS users can communicate with practically anyone who has a smartphone using BBM, but they might not be able to share photos, location, or videos (when RIM crosses that bridge). Users who want the full BlackBerry Messenger experience will still need a BlackBerry smartphone to get it. At the same time, RIM could own the entire messaging app category on every major smartphone OS platform and could potentially draw new users in because it has given them a taste of what BlackBerry Messenger is all about.

This is perhaps in response to apps like Kik, Whatsapp, and Facebook’s newly acquired Beluga offering very BBM-like apps on multiple platforms already, threatening to take over the space created by BlackBerry.

CrackBerry Kevin wrote an impassioned article about this several weeks ago and TiPb followed suit to see how popular the idea might be.

Android seems likely to get it first — um, why? — but iPhone could be on the roadmap.

Let RIM know whether you want it or not in the comments!

[BGR via CrackBerry]

One of the most persistent complaints levied against the iPhone and iPad were/are the lack of multitasking. This, of course, has always been silly. However, now that BlackBerry QNX PlayBook>, Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets like Xoom, and HP webOS 3.0′s TouchPad are set to launch, “true multitasking” is again finding its way into the bullet points of competitively positioned slide decks and ad campaigns. It’s still silly but it’s also more complicated now.

Does iOS offer “true multitasking”, does its competitors? Let’s take a look, after the break.

The no iOS multitasking myth

Going back to the original iPhone’s introduction in 2007, Steve Jobs’ demonstration clearly showed music fading out as a call came in, staying on a call while browsing the web or sending email, and music fading back in as a call ended. Those of us who had Treo’s at the time were astounded at how smooth iPhone multitasking was, and how it didn’t crash or reboot the phone once.

From launch, the iPhone had great multitasking. It just didn’t have 3rd party apps. Fast forward to 2008 and iOS 2, the App Store launched and while Apple’s own apps continued to enjoy great multitasking, 3rd party App Store apps weren’t allowed any background processes at all. This kept things nice and simple and stable for a certain group of consumers but frustrated power users to no end.

Fast forward again to 2010 and iOS 4 (specifically 4.2 for iPad) and Apple set up a system to allow App Store apps limited multitasking. Not fake multitasking. Not untrue multitasking. But limited multitasking. Apps that were transferring data could keep the connection alive in the background for a short length of time after exit to finish the transfer (like a photo upload or status stream download). Music apps like Pandora could be streamed in the background. VoIP (Voice over IP) apps like Skype to keep a process in the background to receive or continue calls. Turn-by-turn navigation apps like TomTom could keep giving voice directions in the background. True multitasking all, it addressed a huge percentage of mainstream needs. (Not all needs mind you, persistent internet connections for SSH, etc. would have been nice for power users…)

In addition Apple added a few others things to enhance the “appearance” of multitasking from a user perspective. Instead of just leaving apps running forever in the background, using battery power and system resources and requiring user intervention to manage, Apple created a way to “save state” on exit. So, the next time an app launches it’s in the same place it was when last it was used. They also (re-)set double click on Home to launch a fast app switcher dock. Hidden behind the regular dock, invisible to users who don’t need or want it, it can be called up to quickly jump between recently used apps (or to expose controls for audio, brightness, etc). Not at all “true” multitasking but important when it comes to the perception of multitasking.

It’s a compromise solution, one that tries to address the aforementioned battery life and resource issues with ease of use and convenience and while it’s not perfect and could use some improvement, it’s pretty good. (Especially when you see how fast some competing devices chew through battery life.)

It’s also something that might be addressed further when iPad 2 — with more RAM and processing power — and iOS 5 are shown off sometime this spring.

Competitive multitasking

RIM’s QNX-powered BlackBerry Playbook, HP’s webOS 3.0-powered TouchPad, and the slew of Google’s upcoming Android 3.0-powered tablets, spearheaded by the Motorola Xoom, are all more or less touting “true multitasking” as a competitive advantage over the iPad. These are the same companies and campaigns touting Flash as the “whole internet/web” and both statements are, ironically, untrue. (We won’t touch on Flash here but suffice it to say that while Flash is the most popular plugin on the web, it’s far from the only plugin on the web.)

Lest you think this partisan or apologist, Kevin from CrackBerry.com was quick to point this out back during CES when RIM first spoke about true multitasking — what functionality does it provide to the end user?

Having a movie or video game continue to animate while in card view (webOS or Playbook variety) is great eye candy but isn’t functionally any better or truer multitasking than having it save state or pause and then resume when brought back to the foreground. You can’t interact with it when in background and more importantly — you can’t interact with multiple cards the way you can with multiple windows on a PC which really does offer true pre-emptive multitasking. To the best of my knowledge you can’t watch a movie and play a game at the same time, or drag and drop content between browsers and document editors, for example.

Cards (again webOS or Playbook) are a brilliant and elegant way to visualize multitasking for end users but until you can start dragging and dropping data between them the way you can on a Mac or Windows they’re functionally no better than the fast app switcher on iOS.

iOS, in fact, used card view before either webOS or PlayBook — Pages in Mobile Safari date way back to the original iPhone — Apple simply lacked the vision to (or chose not to) exploit them throughout the OS. (Even in Safari on iPad I’d argue a tabbing system would be more functional than the grid of pages we now enjoy.)

So while I’d dearly love for Apple repatriate cards/page to the iPad multitasking OS, I’d really only love it if it came with that multiple usage functionality. And when/if that comes, I hope Apple can figure out a way that isn’t at the expense of mainstream usability. (If part of the success of iOS is attributable to Apple ruthlessly cutting away everything and anything that wasn’t simple and easy for consumers to use, is complexity creep — while desirable to power users — the best thing for the platform as a whole?)

Android 3.0 Honeycomb seems to be bringing more of the desktop metaphor to the tablet space, including more multitasking. Their user interface and user experience, however, still seem to be on the back-burner. (Apple’s priorities are almost directly inverse to Google’s in that regard.)

The truth about true

The iPad multitasks fine. webOS and the strikingly similar BlackBerry tablet OS multitask with better visualization but it’s arguable about whether or not that’s “truer” and I’d argue it isn’t. Further, I’d argue that at this point it really doesn’t matter in terms of end user functionality. Android 3.0 Honeycomb may multitask more like a desktop but that’s neither more true nor proven better for a wide swath of users. Buried in all that, however, are a few important truths. The pad/tablet industry is still in its infancy and Apple, Google, HP, and RIM aren’t anywhere near done exploring interactions and interfaces on their devices. They’re all getting better. And since there are a few really strong players (and perhaps Microsoft one day as well), consumers get choice and the competition drives all of them to get better so we consumers choose them.

Switching to the Verizon iPhone, or any iPhone, from BlackBerry or Droid (or another Android phone) and curious how to transfer your data over? We’ve already told you how to switch from AT&T iPhone to Verizon iPhone, but crossing platforms can seem like a bigger headache. It isn’t. There’s lots of services available to help you transfer data from one device to another. Keep reading for some simple suggestions that can make the process of going from BlackBerry or Droid/Android to the iPhone just a little easier for you.

There are two main ways to move all your data over to iPhone: desktop sync via iTunes and cloud sync via Google, Yahoo!, Exchange, etc.

iTunes

If you want to move your music, TV shows, movies, photos, and other media over to your new iPhone and you already use iTunes on Mac or Windows PC then it’s pretty easy.

1. Just plug the dock cable into your iPhone and into your PC and your iPhone will show up in iTunes.
2. Go through the tabs and choose what information, media, and photos you want to sync.
3. Press sync

You can sync multiple iOS devices (if you already have an iPad or iPod touch) with one iTunes library or set up multiple iTunes libraries to keep things extra neat and tidy.

Google Sync

Here is a way to use Gmail or Google Sync to transfer your data. If you’re already using a Gmail or Google Account to sync your mail, contacts, and calendars, this process is dead simple. Just make sure you’ve done a sync on your current BlackBerry or Android device.

1. On your new iPhone tap Settings and go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars.

2. You’ll need to add your new account to your iPhone. Simply tap the new account and then Gmail option.
3. If you want full push, you can also set Gmail up as Exchange as well. Visit Google’s Exchange page for instructions on setting up this way.
4. After your account is verified, you can simply choose to sync what items you would like to sync by turning those options On.

5. If a message pops up asking what you’d like to do with the data, choose to replace your iPhone data.

Yahoo! Sync

To perform a sync with Yahoo!, you are essentially going to repeat the same steps you would for Google sync (see above), except you’ll choose Yahoo when you choose your new account type. All the options should be identical when it comes to syncing contacts, calendars, and email accounts.

Exchange and Hotmail

If you’re using Exchange at work, and/or Windows Live Hotmail at home, again the instructions are the same as above just choose Exchange ActiveSync as your account type. (If you have problems with a work account, check with your IT department for the proper settings)

Transferring contacts and calendars from your computer with iTunes

If you don’t use any Google, Yahoo!, Exchange or any online service and you’re just looking to transfer your contacts to your iPhone, you can do that too. Whether you have Windows or Mac, you can transfer contacts from your current smartphone to your iPhone pretty easily.

1. Plug your old device into the computer and sync them with either Outlook, Exchange, or Mac Address book. This process is pretty easy but varies from device to device, so you may need to refer to your specific device instructions in order to do this. If you still have an issue doing this, head on over to the Verizon iPhone Forum for some expert switcher advice and help.
2. Once your contacts are already on your computer, you can plug your new iPhone into your computer.
3. Open iTunes and click the Info tab under your iPhone sync settings.
4. You will see a Contacts option. Select that and choose what contacts you would like to be synced to your phone.

5. Click sync and wait for iTunes to do its thing. When complete, your contacts should now be on your new iPhone.

Note: You may have noticed iTunes has native options to configure Yahoo! or Gmail sync. You are more than welcome to use these options as well. They are just as easy. You can also choose to sync calendars via iTunes as well. Use whatever process is going to be more convenient for you on an ongoing basis.

Transferring photos from your old device to your new iPhone [PC users]

1. Simply sync or transfer the photos from your old device into your photos on your Windows PC. Whether you choose to do this with your actual device, or from removable storage like an SD card is your choice.
2. Plug your new iPhone into the computer and open iTunes and navigate to the Photos tab.
3. Navigate your way to where you save your photos to your PC when choosing what photos to sync and make sure to choose the pictures you’d like on your phone.
4. Click sync and wait for iTunes to finish. Your photos should now show up in the Photos app on your iPhone.

Transferring photos from your old device to your new iPhone [Mac users]

1. Plug your old device into your Mac and open iPhoto. (If iPhoto doesn’t recognize your Android or Blackberry, simply transfer the pictures from the removable storage in your device, if you have that option.)
2. Your device should show up in the left navigation pane of iPhoto.
3. Name your album and import the photos. Alternately, you could select just the photos you’d like on your new device if you want.

4. Open iTunes and go to the Photos tab. Select the albums or events you’d like to sync to your new iPhone.

5. Click sync and wait for iTunes. After the sync is complete, you should see your new Photos in your Photo app on your iPhone.

Next steps

The iPhone is a pretty easy device to transfer data to. Once you’ve gotten all your data from your other device into a cloud service or on your computer, it should be easy as pie. If you guys have any issues doing any of this, feel free to check out the TiPb Verizon iPhone Forums for answers to many questions.

For more on using your new Verizon iPhone, check out our iPhone Starters Guide.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Switching from BlackBerry Storm, Bold, Tour, Curve, or Torch to iPhone — maybe the new Verizon iPhone? — and curious which are the best, most must-have apps you need to make yourself feel at home? Well read on for TiPb’s top 5 most recommended, most must-have apps to get your Android experience maximized on iPhone.

Google Sync (Push email, calendar, contacts)

While you’re giving up BIS and BES, you don’t have to give up your addiction to super fast push email, calendar, or contacts and since Google has licensed ActiveSync, you can even get it for free! If you already have a free Gmail or paid Google Account, you’re good to go. Just set it up as an Exchange account on your iPhone and get your push on. If you don’t already have Gmail, go grab an account and then set it up as Exchange. You can even forward your old account or have Gmail fetch it for you so your transition is smooth as silk. [Built-in - Gmail link]

Also check out:

• MobileMe is Apple’s paid push email, calendar, and contacts service that also gives you iDisk cloud storage, photo galleries, and a host of Mac features. [$99/year - MobileMe link]
• Good for Enterprise is for those who want extra secure Exchange or Lotus email on their iPhone. (You’ll need Good on your IT sever side as well.) [Free - iTunes link]
  

Kik (BBM)

BBM put the crack in CrackBerry and leaving it behind is hard to say the least. The good news is you’re leaving a BlackBerry locking but now have access to cross-platform replacements like Kik. It gives you all the real-time sent, received, and read status you crave and if you get your friends onboard, you’ll never miss BBM again — and can probably save on SMS text messages as well. [$0.99 - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• WhatsApp Messenger is similar to to Kik and works on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and Nokia. [$0.99 - iTunes link]
• BeeJive isn’t BBM but it is IM and if you’d rather use something more universal, that supports AIM/MobileMe, MSN/Windows Live, Yahoo!, GoogleTalk, Facebook, MySpace and Jabber [$9.99 - iTunes link]
  

Boxcar (Notifications)

While we can’t turn the iPhone 4 LED flash into a notification light for you (yet!) a lot of apps come with built-in push notifications and local notifications that will give you popup alerts, badge number counts, and sounds. Boxcar takes this to the next level with push notifications for Twitter, Facebook, Email, RSS, Growl, Github, Google Voice, Google Buzz, App Recommendation, and more. [Free - iTunes link]

Reeder (RSS/News Feeds)

BlackBerry 6 includes feeds and while that’s far from being a mainstream feature power users will want their RSS — enter Reeder. It syncs with Google Reader accounts and it’s lightning fast. Just tap the app open and start browsing, reading, and sharing your feeds. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• NetNewsWire isn’t as fast but it’s widely popular and it’s free! [Free - iTunes link]
• Twitter might sound crazy but many sites push their RSS to Twitter so you can follow them or makes lists of your favorite sites and get your news that way. [Free - iTunes link]
  

Jailbreak [Themes/settings]

The App Store has 350,000 apps but due to Apple’s policies there are just some low-level, system-side things they just can’t do. Jailbreak — which “breaks” open the root “jail” and lets you install non-Apple approved apps is an option. With Jailbreak you have access to the Cydia Store, themes and customizations, notifications and easy settings access, and pretty much everything else you can think of and Apple would never approve. Check out our Jailbreak Starters Guide to get you going, our Top 5 Jailbreak apps and Top 5 Jailbreak themes for some of our favorites, and head on over to the Jailbreak Forum for expert help and discussion.

More iPhone apps and games

Once you’ve gotten that Google fix and you’re ready for the best of the rest, check out TiPb’s Top 10 iPhone apps where we list off some of the best, most must-have social networking, communications/IM, productivity, music/internet radio, photography, utility, and location apps, along with casual, time management, and hard core games. We’ve also got an ongoing series of top app lists in different categories and we’re adding more all the time, so keep your eyes peeled!

Your top apps?

So there you have them, our top 5 best iPhone apps for Droid/Android switchers. Be sure to check out our Picks of the Week and iPhone App and Games Forum for more recommendations, and if we missed any of your favorites leave them in the comments below!

The Verizon iPhone is almost upon us and it looks like many of you are making the big switch! Whether you’re leaving the AT&T iPhone or moving from BlackBerry or Droid, you’ll have to move your data over and maybe look for ways to keep some of the functionality you’re used to. That’s the topic for this episode of TiPb TV!

Sure the iPhone is popular and famous for being easy to use but It can be stressful to leave a network or device you’re used to and comfortable with and pick up something new. The good news is if you’re going from the AT&T iPhone to the Verizon iPhone you’re just an iTunes backup and restore away from the simplest switch imaginable. If you’re going from BlackBerry or Droid, however, the differences will be more pronounced.

Rene and I go over how cloud services like Gmail can help you get your contacts over (and provide push email, contacts, and calendars!) and App Store apps like Kik Free – (iTunes link], Waze [Free - iTunes link] and others can help replace things like BBM and Google Navigation.

If you’re used to rooting on Android or themes on BlackBerry we’ll also introduce you to Jailbreak and the new ThemeIt store for iPhone. And if you need any extra help we have Verizon iPhone Forums just waiting for you as well as our TiPb Guides and TiPb Tips and How-to sections with tons more info.

So are you ready to make the switch? Watch the video above and let us know how it’s going for you in the comments!

Following a pilot of iPhone and iPad, Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore says there is no going back to BlackBerry:

The result “was a fantastic experience as it was easier/faster to access data (touch UI) than on the Blackberry. It was also great to only have to carry one device for personal and corporate email access.”

They’re using Good [iTunes link] for messaging so users complain about the lack of background email receipt, and they do miss the BlackBerry notification light but the positives “far outweigh these issues”.

Apple reported over 80% of Fortune 100 were piloting or deploying iPad, an unheard of adoption rate for new technology.

For any of you in enterprise, is iOS an option yet?

[Finextra via 9to5mac]

The Verizon iPhone is coming February 10 and some of the big questions are: who will leave the AT&T iPhone for the Verizon iPhone, who will leave the Verizon Droid for the Verizon iPhone, and most importantly, what will the next huge wave of Verizon feature phone upgraders choose?

AT&T’s reception — or the lack thereof in some areas — will certainly propel some current iPhone users to switch networks (our poll shows about 19% of TiPb readers are considering doing just that). Some wanted the iPhone badly enough that they tolerated a poor network experience for years but now that they have the choice they’ll switch to a network that better suits their needs as soon as contract and/or cash allow.

On the flip side some wanted the iPhone but just couldn’t or wouldn’t live with AT&T service in their area so stuck with Verizon and got BlackBerry Storms or, especially lately, Verizon Droids. I’m deliberately using Droid and not Android because, like it or not, Android is not a mainstream brand. And no matter how much market metric companies like to graph it, it’s not a phone any consumer can buy. Droid is, in several models, and thanks to Verizon’s massive advertising campaign coupled with Google’s powerful software, it’s a phone that gained some mainstream mindshare.

(Samsung’s Galaxy S, while popular, has a fragmented brand with different names on every carrier so despite incredible sales it collectively doesn’t enjoy the same level of mainstream mindshare.)

No doubt many people bought Droids because they love Android. They’re probably the same people who know what Android is and specifically why it’s great at what it does. They also know Galaxy S and the other models. Many others just wanted a smartphone and Droid did — original, Pro, 2, Incredible, Bionic, etc. They went into the store and it was a brand they recognized thanks to Verizon’s advertising and, with the only other recognizable brand being BlackBerry, they probably picked one or the other (increasingly Droid based on the share numbers).

Now those same customers will walk in and see iPhone. Money Verizon used to spend on marketing Droid is now also being used to market iPhone on Verizon. Apple is also marketing iPhone on Verizon. AT&T will continue to market iPhone (Verizon and AT&T will be competing not just for users but for iPhone users and that benefits the iPhone brand). No one else is marketing Droid.

Some who previously bought BlackBerry Storm or Droid will switch to iPhone, also when cash and/or contract allows. Some will stay with both (productivity mavens and power users), but those who wanted the iPhone and couldn’t get it will switch when they can.

Existing smartphone users are also only the tip of the iceberg. The giant, ship-crushing base of the iceberg is feature phone users who either waited for the iPhone or see the iPhone as just another phone they’ll enjoy using (as opposed to other, more complicated even if more powerful smartphones). The partial migration of AT&T iPhone users and Verizon BlackBerry and Droid users is one thing. The inevitable migration of mainstream feature phone to mainstream smartphone users is another. Because right now iPhone is almost synonymous with mainstream smartphone.

Right now Verizon customers going into a Verizon store to get a new phone might recognize BlackBerry or Droid. Next month they absolutely will recognize iPhone. Just look at how Verizon is positioning it:

• iPhone is front and center on the Verizon home page
• Click on Verizon’s Phone menu and what choices do you get? iPhone, smartphone, feature phone.

Not only is iPhone listed first, Droid and BlackBerry aren’t listed at all. You have to dig for them. [Daring Fireball]

The number of Droid users — of all Android users — on Verizon today is small compared to the number of iPhone users on AT&T. Collectively, across all US networks, Android phones have numbers that equal or beat iPhone just on AT&T. [New York Times]

Next month iPhone will be on Verizon as well. How many will switch to iPhone from Droid? How many will switch to the Verizon iPhone as their first smartphone? No one knows for sure but the number will pass 1 million very quickly, probably in the first week, and several million, probably the first quarter.

Up until now the choice may have been iPhone on AT&T or Droid on Verizon. It also may have been iPhone on AT&T or no-iPhone on Verizon. We’ll find out which next month. My suspicion is Apple’s investment in brand will pay huge dividends and will be something other OS makers and manufacturers will have to start taking much more seriously.

Are you switching to the Verizon iPhone and if so what smartphone or feature phone are you switching from? We know some AT&T iPhone users are making the big switch as are some Verizon BlackBerry and Android/Droid users but also a lot of feature phone users might be making the smartphone plunge for the first time. (Bye bye flip phone!)

Let us know where you’re coming from in the poll above and tell us your story in the comment below!

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The Cell Phone Junkies, Joey Koppes and Mickey Papillon host a special edition round table podcast rounding up all the news from CES 2011 with yours truly for TiPb.com, out EiC Dieter Bohn serving duty for PreCentral.net and WPCentral, Kevin Michaluk of CrackBerry.com, Phil Nickinson of Android Central. We talk all things Android, BlackBerry PlayBook, iPhone and iPad, webOS, and Windows Phone, along with Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Listen in!

We’re on the ground for CES 2011, looking for iPhone and iPad apps, games, accessories, and general awesomeness. Tonight is CES unveiled, and we’re going to keep running from there. So if you want to see all the new stuff that’s coming your way in 2011.

The Smartphone Expert Network is here in full force, so make sure you keep up with Android Central, CrackBerry.com, PreCentral.net, and WPCentral for the latest in Android, BlackBerry, weOS, and Windows Phone news. (And if you want the gory, behind-the-scenes details, give a Twitter follow to @reneritchie @philnickinson @crackberrykevin @backlon — if you dare!)

Again, if you’re a developer or manufacturer and you want to amaze us, let us know: news@tipb.com!

[Note: Pic above is CES 2010, we'll make new memories soon enough!]

Over the weekend a former RIM employee stated that when Apple unveiled the first iphone at Macworld 2007, RIM had several emergency meetings which culminated with the BlackBerry maker deciding Apple was lying — the iPhone wasn’t possible. In RIM’s opinion a phone with all of the 2007 iPhone’s functionality and large touchscreen could not be used without being near a power supply at all times. Shacknews poster, Kentor, heard from his former colleagues:

The iPhone couldn’t do what [Apple was] demonstrating without an insanely power hungry processor, it must have terrible battery life. Imagine their surprise [at RIM] when they disassembled an iPhone for the first time and found that the phone was battery with a tiny logic board strapped to it.

RIM’s “Apple Killer”, released as the BlackBerry Storm in 2008, was their response, but it wasn’t until 2010′s Torch that they began to close the multitouch and web browser gap. 2011 will see the introduction of their next generation platform, the QNX-powered BlackBerry Playbook, though in tablet form, not smartphone.

Could RIM, Microsoft, and Palm really have been in denial about the iPhone in 2007? Could Apple be in denial about any competitors today?

[ Electronista ]

Why is RIM running away from BlackBerry in order to try and keep up, never mind compete, with Apple’s iPad, never mind iPhone? Georgia, Chad, Ally and I spoke about this at length on last Sunday’s iPad Live! podcast but given RIM’s financial results and accompanying comments this week, I think it’s appropriate to get some text behind it now as well.

Note: I’m not going to use direct quotes in this piece. I need a translator to understand RIM’s co-CEO’s, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. They don’t speak any language I’m familiar with, not English, French, Klingon, or marketing. There’s no app for translating what they’re saying lately, and certainly no web service (zing! reserved, as you’ll see later). I’ve read what CrackBerry Kevin and Sascha Segan, geniuses both, have managed to extract but I’m still baffled. Or RIM is still baffling. I think it’s the latter.

End of life equations

BlackBerry is the ultimate communications device for those whose hierarchy of needs are founded on communication. While competition from third-party IM apps is growing, for those who need instant, addictive, information exchange and the best tiny keyboard in the business, BlackBerry still has no equal. It also has no future. It grew from a pager and has been bound and gagged and kept from growing further by the increasingly outdated, increasingly restrictive Java2ME-based architecture. Push-wise their technology is fantastic. Hardware-wise their build quality is among the best. OS-wise they’re dead in the water.

Apple faced this with OS 9, bought NeXT, and now we have Mac OS X and iOS. Microsoft faced this with Windows ME and Windows Mobile 6.5, merged NT on the desktop and re-architected on the mobile side, and now we have Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7. Palm faced this with Palm OS and the Treo, went back to the drawing board and came out with webOS and the Pre. Google began making a BlackBerry clone, took one look at iPhone, switched gears, and now we have Android 2.3 Gingerbread (and Chrome OS, perhaps after seeing webOS).

In each of those cases a company whose core technology was at its end of life brought in or rebuilt a new foundation to take them forward another step with their core products. Apple didn’t buy NeXT and launch a gaming console. Microsoft didn’t bring in NT and launch a walkman competitor. Palm didn’t build webOS to get into the printer game (listening HP?), and Google — well, Android was additive for them; their advertising business is doing just fine thanks. RIM has done the first part, they’ve bought QNX but instead of using that to build a 14 million a quarter selling iPhone competitor, to make a better BlackBerry… they’re deploying it on a tablet to take on the 5 million or so a quarter selling iPad. Instead of using it to regroup, retrench, and relaunch, they’re using it to branch out and buy time. And they’re making incredible compromises to do it.

Webapps for that

First, RIM is playing the HTML5 card for developers, the one Palm played with webOS 2 years ago. Now HTML5 is great for webapps and maybe webapps are the future but we’re nowhere near that future yet. RIM’s co-CEO Jim Balsillie suggested Apple’s App Store-class apps are only necessary on iOS because iOS can’t handle the web as well as the PlayBook (a product which does not yet exist for consumers). He said “you don’t need an app for the web”.

Except of course you do. The browser is an app, a generic frame app that’s good for most things but not great for all things. My Mac and Windows PCs can all handle the web well — better than any PlayBook real or imagined — and I like many others still use native apps all the time. (MailPlane does things with Gmail that Gmail.com stuck in a browser just can’t do.) Google, the king of webapps, makes all sorts of native apps because they — being the king — they understand the internet pipes better feed native apps at this point than the browser. (Witness the exception that proves the rule — Chrome OS.)

It’s become a cliche but when Steve Jobs announced sweet, sweet webapps as the original iPhone 2G SDK back in 2007 he was met — rightfully so — with the jeers and condemnation of the developer community. Now it’s 2010 and mobile apps have proven so successful that web browsing is actually down on iOS. People like using apps better than the web on mobile because internet-enabled apps currently work better than the web browser on mobile devices.

Destiny dependent

Second, RIM is using Adobe’s AIR as stop-gap SDK and Flash as a presentation layer. While that’s great news for Flash developers because it allows for the mythical “code once, run anywhere” travesty that’s tortured users for over a decade, it’s the same trap RIM was was in with Java2ME on BlackBerry OS. It’s an intermediary, code-intepreting layer based on outdated, historically poorly performing technology that RIM can’t control. If AIR and Flash languish and fall far behind the curve, as Adobe has let them do in the past, or if Adobe takes AIR and Flash in a direction that’s at conflict with RIM and their users, what can RIM do? They’re once again not masters of their own destiny, something Apple, Microsoft, Palm, and Google decidedly are.

Forgetting phones

Third, QNX and the AIR layers don’t seem to be able to run on phones, which are RIM’s core business. It demands too much processing power and consumes too much battery life to actually power the products RIM sells. In 2010. iOS has been powering iPhones well since 2007. Android, UI challenged as it was, worked fine on the 2008 G1. webOS did wonders with the Pre in 2009. Microsoft, who had their head in the sand (to put it politely) for years still managed to launch a new OS that ran on phones by 2010. That it took one or two years post-iPhone is understandable. That it took three is perplexing. That RIM will take four, maybe five is as flabbergasting as the PlayBook itself.

The BlackBerry inexperience

Fourth, given RIM doesn’t have a native development environment of their own or a next-generation OS that can run on current generation phones, the tablet-style PlayBook might seem like a smart, place-holder play to keep the BlackBerry faithful, well, faithful.

Except the PlayBook is a BlackBerry in name only. As I mentioned at the beginning, BlackBerry, OS-challenged as it is, still leads the industry in enterprise push, messaging, and overall communications. Those are their core strengths and competencies. Say what you want about the BlackBerry OS user experience — and I’ve said plenty, as have lots of BlackBerry lovers — tens of millions of people use it everyday. And the PlayBook is nothing like it. The PlayBook, which RIM can only hope to sell to Enterprise and BlackBerry addicts, has a user experience completely alien to BlackBerry. It’s interactivity is all Apple iPad and its UI metaphors are all taken from Palm’s webOS.

Apple was criticized for not doing something more original with the iPad, of simply scaling up the iPhone. But that’s exactly right and Apple said why at the introduction — there were already tens of millions of users who knew how to use iPhone and would instantly know and feel comfortable using iPad.

How many BlackBerry users will instantly know PlayBook based on their BlackBerry use? BlackBerry users are BlackBerry users — if they’re still BlackBerry users — because they don’t want iPhones or Pres. They want BlackBerrys. If they wanted iOS they’d have already gotten iPads and if they want webOS they’ll wait for a PalmPad.

PlayBooks sound like they’re for play. BlackBerrys are known, trusted, and loved for work. Even the name shows the utter disconnect at the core of this device, and at the core of RIM.

Love is blind

Like Ballmer at Microsoft and Colligan at Palm, Lazaridis and Balsillie at RIM probably thought they were so entrenched, so far advanced, that no upstart like Apple (or Google) could challenge them. By the time they did start responding with their “Apple killer”, the BlackBerry Storm in 2008, the negative reaction should have shown them that what they were doing wasn’t and wouldn’t work, that they needed to think different and leap ahead.

I’ve always thought Android and Windows Mobile suffered because the CEOs of Google and Microsoft didn’t care about them. They’re just another screen that needs to be owned. Steve Jobs loves the iPhone. Jon Rubenstein went to Palm to make the Pre. Lazaridis and Balsillie obviously love the BlackBerry (maybe even more than Kevin). But the love that can launch and platform can also blind a company to the platform’s decline. Founders have a tough time recognizing when change is needed. Witness the BlackBerry Torch.

It’s taken RIM over three years to recognize the trouble they’re in and since they wasted so much time they’ve now become desperate not to waste any more. That’s why Balsillie is firing away at Apple and that’s why Lazardis came off so poorly when interviewed by Mossberg and Swisher at the Dive into Mobile conference. Unable to show off anything but the PlayBook prototype, unable to concede the failure of the Torch and risk the Osborn effect on existing BlackBerry OS devices, and unable to tell a story about smartphones that can’t be told until next year at the earliest, he’d have been better off not doing the interview at all.

Why is RIM running away from BlackBerry to battle Apple?

RIM doesn’t have Windows and Office, or online advertising to keep them afloat while they (re)invent their smartphones. They’re like Apple when Jobs came back or Palm when Rubenstein came in, only it’s not then it’s now and the space is accelerating faster and the climate is more competitive than ever before.

That’s why RIM has to make so many compromises, playing the HTML5 card, getting in bed with Adobe, going with a tablet instead of a phone, and creating an alien experience, and why they’ve had to run away from the Blackberry to battle Apple — because today’s BlackBerry has proven can’t battle Apple and tomorrow’s BlackBerry is still way more than a day way.

They waited too long and now they’ve bet on the PlayBook to to keep them going until chips and batteries let them re-enter the smartphone game. It’s a huge gamble and not one that’s guaranteed to pay off .

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Rene, Leanna, and Craig discuss MobileMe improvements, BlackBerry and Android at All Things D, Nexus S, PlayStation Phone, AT&T and Verizon exclusivity, aftermarket white iPhones, top 5 Jailbreak themes, international promo codes, Infinity Blade, Latitude, and more. This is iPhone Live!

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

According to the latest data from The Nielsen Company, Apple’s iOS for iPhone and RIM’s BBOS for BlackBerry are neck-and-neck for total U.S. smartphone operating system market share sitting at 27 percent each. Android OS, which powered a bunch of phones from Motorola, HTC, Samsung, and others, is hot on their heels now sitting at 22 percent of total U.S. Market share.

Among users planning to get a new smartphone, current smartphone owners showed a preference for the Apple iPhone (35 percent), while 28 percent of both smartphone and featurephone planned smartphone upgraders indicated they wanted a device with an Android operating system as their next mobile phone.

Featurephone owners planning to get a smartphone are less likely to have made up their mind about the OS they will choose: 25 percent were “not sure” what their next desired OS might be compared to 13 percent of smartphone owners. Those over 55 were markedly less certain than younger mobile users, with 27.8 saying they weren’t sure what kind of device they wanted next, compared to 12.2 percent of those 18 to 24.

Apple’s iPhone and devices with the Android operating system were the “most desired” among likely smartphone upgraders, with Apple showing a slight lead among those age 55+ , 18 to 24, and 25 to 34.

Women planning to get a smartphone are more likely to want an iPhone as their next device, with slightly more males preferring Android.

We know if you’re reading TiPb you probably like the iPhone but what’s your opinion on the survey, do the results match what you’re seeing with your friends and colleagues?

[ Nielsen via Engadget ]

According to Gfk’s recent survey, iPhone users remain the most satisfied and claim they’ll stick with their iPhones instead of jumping ship to another smartphone platform. Out of all the users surveyed, only 25% of them plan to stay loyal to their current smartphone platform while 56% of those surveyed plan to keep their options open when buying their next smartphone. Out of those users who say they’re staying loyal to their current smartphone platform, Apple users made up 59% of that number. Microsoft phones showed the lowest user loyalty base at only 21%. RIM, Nokia, and Android fell between the 24-35% ranges.

Lead analyst, Ryan Garner had this to say about smartphone loyalty -

“Loyalty with a handset is a lot more complicated these days in that people buy into experiences at the high-end level,”…”If a phone doesn’t do what it says it will do or what the owner hopes it will do, the maker will lose loyalty.”

Most smartphone users rely on owning a smartphone that’s not only user friendly but reliable and stable. Those are the types of things Apple has managed to nail. Not to mention Apple having the most extensive choice of applications available via their App Store. These things all combined could be what keep Apple users loyal. I know a huge factor for me is the amount of money I’ve already invested in the platform through purchasing applications. If I switched platforms, those applications would be rendered useless to me. So to all the members of the TiPb community, what is it that keeps you loyal to the iOS platform?

[via Reuters]

Every WWDC keynote we’ve joked that Mike Lazaridis from BlackBerry maker RIM would surprise everyone by joining Steve Jobs on stage to announce BlackBerry Connect and BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) for iPhone. Then we laugh and marvel out our new copy and paste, multitasking, or whatever Apple chooses to invent that year.

Our sibling site CrackBerry.com has put the whole BBM on iOS (and every other platform) issue right back on their front page, however, with Kevin asking the question:

So should RIM do it? Personally, I think they should. I get the reasons why they wouldn’t. RIM makes money from selling smartphones, and right now BlackBerry Messenger is one of those hooks that keeps people on BlackBerry and actually attracts some people to BlackBerry (I’ve heard stories from carrier reps where individuals walk into the store and ask for the phone that does BBM). But I don’t think this reasoning holds up long-term. As soon as a cross-platform BBM-style client emerges in the smartphone space and attains critical mass (ie. Kik or another), even if not as fully-featured as BlackBerry Messenger the hook of BBM starts to diminish. If it’s inevitable that a cross-platform BBM alternative is going to emerge down the road, is it not better for RIM to be the ones who put it out? There are some iPhone owners out there who no matter what are never going to own a BlackBerry (Apple fanboys!), but I bet those same people would rock BlackBerry Messenger on their iPhone.

I agree with Kevin. Look at what licensing ActiveSync has done for Microsoft. I’d prefer to a non-proprietary protocol — I like that I can switch from iPhone to Android, Windows to Mac, Outlook to Mail.app and my email stays my email — but I use Twitter and that’s the same model BBM could take.

What do you think? Should BBM be available on iPhone? Head on over to CrackBerry.com’s poll and let your vote be heard, then come back here and tell us why or why not.

Apple shipped 20% more iPhones than RIM shipped Blackberrys during Q3 2010, according to Strategy Analytics. PC World got a look at the report and says:

With the shipments, Apple grabbed a 15.4 percent share of the market during the period, while RIM finished well behind with a 12.3 percent share. Top dog in the kennel, though, remains Nokia with 26.5 percent of the worldwide market.

With Apple adding global distribution channels all of the time, not mention the increased chances we might see a Verizon iPhone next year, could we soon be looking at even better numbers coming out of Cupertino? Could they ever overtake Nokia, the current top-dog in the mobile space?

[Strategy Analytics via PC World]

by Andrew Wray

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We’re taking iOS back to the Mac with FaceTime and App Stores and Folders, oh my! Plus, Steve Jobs tells us what he really thinks about BlackBerry competition and Android openness, and we’ve got the body-bags to prove it. This is iPhone live!

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

It looks like US President Barack Obama will be meeting with Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs today. Business Insider reports:

“President Obama is flying to the Bay Area from Seattle this afternoon. He’s speaking at Google exec Marissa Mayer’s house in Palo Alto this evening. Before that, says a source familiar with the details, he will have a one-on-one meeting with Steve Jobs.”

We aren’t exactly sure what they’ll be discussing, but we have a sneaking suspicion that Obama might just have heard what Steve Jobs had to say on Apple’s most recent conference call and is now rethinking the Blackberry device he’s been using since he won the 2008 presidential election.

Perhaps The President will be reaching out to Jobs in order to see how viable the iPhone would be as an alternative — and given the number of apps now available in the App Store for his consumption, we don’t think it’ll be a very challenging pitch for Steve Jobs to manage.

All joking aside, what do you think they’ll be talking about during this one-on-one discussion? Let us know in the comments!

[Business Insider]

by Andrew Wray

RIM has just announced their iPad tablet competitor, the BlackBerry PlayBook. They’re marketing it as the world’s first professional table and the specs look great, almost as though it was specifically designed to counter-program the iPad:

• 7-inch screen
• 1GHz dual-core processor (or is it 2GHz Cortex A9?)
• 1080p video with HDMI out
• Front and rear cameras
• HTML5 and Flash 10.1
• BES support (of course)
• Up to 1GB of RAM (?)
• Built on QNX OS

Check out the video after the break and CrackBerry.com via the link below for ongoing coverage straight from Dev Con, and let us know what you think. Is Apple finally in trouble in the very space they created?

[CrackBerry]

Angry Birds, the hit iPhone game that’s spread to Android, webOS, and Symbian is finally coming to BlackBerry.

Who says iPhone competitors aren’t competitive in gaming? Screenshot after the break.

[via @joshuatopolsky]

iPhone is being tested at JP Morgan and other large enterprises as an alternative to RIM’s BlackBerry, Bloomberg reports. They have 220,000 employees. UBS AG with 63,000 employees is doing likewise and Standard Chartered Bank will have 15,000 iPhones distributed by end of year.

Cost savings and employee preference were the two biggest factors cited by companies for the shift in the Sanford Bernstein survey. Employees would rather own an iPhone and are increasingly willing to buy the device themselves, which helps cuts costs as companies look to rein in spending, said Sanford Bernstein’s Ferragu.

Wells Fargo previously switched to iPhone and iPad. Enterprise is a momentum game and it looks like that momentum is changing.

Are you using iPhone in your enterprise?

[Bloomberg]

Did BlackBerry maker RIM just buy DataViz, maker of Documents to Go for iPhone and iPad (and other platform)? CrackBerry.com has multiple sources saying they did, and for about $50 million cash.

This might just be why Docs to Go has cancelled their webOS app before ever releasing it. What does this mean for the iPhone and iPad version? We don’t know yet. We like having it as an option and with 120 million iOS device on the market, there’s a lot of money on the table for DataViz… er… RIM if they want it.

Apple has made iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) for iPad already, and rumors persist of an iPhone version. There’s also QuickOffice, though with Microsoft have Office mobile, Google having Docs, and now RIM having Docs 2 Go, HP might just want to snatch them so they’re not the only platform without a home grown office suite.

UPDATE: DataViz has told Macworld that RIM bought some of their assets and hired the majority of their employees to work on the BlackBerry version of Documents to go. They have since updated Docs to Go for iOS, but we’ll see what kind of support that gets going forward.

The folks over at OkCupid have performed a little study where they analyze photography from a numerical angle. The finding we found most interesting is that iPhone users have more sex than other smartphone users.

The above chart compares the number of sexual partners of 30 year olds who use an iPhone, Blackberry, or Android phone. They also broke down the data of the number of sexual partners by age. The iPhone wins on that chart too.

The mathematical part of me has to ask, are iPhone users attracting more partners because they use an iPhone, or is that that these people prefer iPhones (perhaps because of all those dating apps)? In the chance that it’s the former, any Android users ready to make the switch?

[OkCupid via Daring Fireball, Andy Baio]

CrackBerry Kevin decided to put the brand new BlackBerry Torch 9800‘s brand new BlackBerry OS 6 WebKit browser up against iPhone 4′s iOS 4 Safari and Captivate’s Android 2.1 Chrome in a good, old-fashioned browser battle royal.

The results? Win, lose, or draw, RIM has certainly come a long way when it comes to browsers. See the video above and CrackBerry.com‘s play-by-play for more. Let us know your thoughts below.

Kevin has done his usual monstrous job of reviewing RIM’s new BlackBerry Torch 9800 and BlackBerry OS 6. It almost seems hard to remember but before Android came around almost every competitive article here on TiPb was BlackBerry focused, and with the Torch 9800 RIM is hoping to regain that mindshare. Will they succeed? It’s $199 and exclusive to AT&T — familiar ground to US iPhone users. Then they took the best-in-class BlackBerry Bold 9700 keyboard and melded it with the, well, not-so-classy Storm touchscreen, absent SurePress, and gave it a Palm Pre-style slider. Is it the best of all worlds, sum better than the parts?

We’ll have to see. The specs don’t impress but RIM’s genius has always been battery and push messaging, not duking it out with the Apple’s and Android’s of the world on hardware. Is BlackBerry OS 6 then enough to keep the BlackBerry faithful happy? To bring those who have strayed back to the fold? To convert iPhone 4 users? Check out CrackBerry.com’s review then come back here and let us know your thoughts…

BlackBerry maker RIM has registered BlackPad.com. No, I’m not making that up.

Research In Motion has recently taken over the domain name “BlackPad.com”. Now, despite what you think of the name itself, many folks are eluding to the fact that this URL could be one of many used for the rumored upcoming BlackBerry Tablet. Now while we here would like to believe that as well, the fact is Research In Motion owns over 4,000+ registered domain names already.

Phew. But so help me if this time next year we have iPad, PalmPad, and BlackPad — someone’s getting punched in the marketing department.

[MobileCrunch via CrackBerry.com]

One of the greatest tricks Apple pulled off at the iPhone 4 press conference was changing the dialog from death-touch — a single point of antenna trouble on iPhone 4 — to death-grip — a device-wide point of antenna trouble faced by the entire industry.

Apple for their part did cop to making iPhone 4′s point of attenuation very external and incredibly visible. Steve Jobs called it “x-marks the spot”, but then Apple very quickly moved on from this death-touch to a wider death-grip and demonstrated it on handsets from RIM’s BlackBerry to HTC’s Droid to Samsung’s Windows Mobile.

I initially thought this was a mistake on Apple’s part — that they were spending too much time deflecting onto the competition. Turns out I underestimated Apple, but not as badly as the competition. What Apple very neatly managed to do there was conflate their own widely reported iPhone 4 death-touch into the very real but widely under-reported death-grip phenomena that does indeed affect the entire industry.

What’s more, by those very competitors responding that the death-grip either didn’t affect their devices, was minimal at best, or wouldn’t affect future devices, they cinched it for Apple. They became part of the problem. Why?

Because their devices absolutely suffer from the death grip. Instead of pointing out that yes, Apple was correct, the death-grip was an industry-wide problem but the death-touch was thus far unique to Apple, RIM BlackBerry, Samsung, and Nokia denied the death-grip, thus ensuring everyone with the issue — or just an itch for attenuation attention — would fire up YouTube and make a video clearly discrediting their statements.

HTC for their part just said they didn’t have many reports of the problem. However, as David Chartier points out, HTC effectively white-labels their phones to Verizon and they didn’t make it clear whether the number of complaints they reported included Verizon numbers. This is similar to Apple citing AT&T return numbers for iPhone 4, not gross Apple return numbers. It’s what brought about the saying “lies, damn lies, and statistics”.

My original take on Apple’s press conference was that Steve Jobs should have just stressed that making the iPhone 4 antenna the way they did was a trade-off, better battery life and stronger signal in many cases in exchange for that single point of problem — the lower left hand corner death-touch. Andy Ihnatko made the same point, if more eloquently. Arguably a modern smartphone has any number of tradeoffs — AMOLED screens offer better color and blacks that utterly fail in direct sunlight. (Free sun-screens anyone?)

I still think Apple should have been crystal clear about that trade-off, but it’s looking increasingly like they didn’t have to. In their rush to get comments out in front of the media RIM, Samsung, Nokia, et al have let the conversation get changed from death-touch to death-grip, and they’ve let videos on their own handsets propagate across the web. One look at BlackBerry on Boy Genius, Nokia on Electronista, Samsung on InformationWeek, HTC on Engadget, many others via Daring Fireball, and even manufactures’ own warnings against touching their antennas in their own manuals via 1FPS shows how they’ve become part of a story that last week was all about Apple.

Sure a few sites like Ars Technica and When Will Apple? will raise a fuss over it, but it’s done. Competitors dove headlong into it. And since Apple has now effectively priced the death-touch problem as one free case per phone, all that remains to be seen is if competitor’s denials + customers videos = free cases for other phones too.

So I underestimated Apple but they didn’t underestimate their competition.

Note: this editorial is based on a Twitter conversation with Seth Weintraub from 9to5Mac who is absolutely right, one day college courses will be taught on these PR tactics. Check out his article on Fortune.

Update 1: Dilbert‘s Scott Adams comes to the same conclusion, which he calls the “high ground maneuver”, and wonders if Jobs has had hypnotist training.

Update 2: I said above that while many smartphones have the death-grip, only the iPhone has the death-touch. Daring Fireball links to a YouTube video showing the Samsung Galaxy S having, if not the death-touch, then at least the death-finger. Again, from now on no smartphone is safe.

Co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have released an official response from RIM to Apple’s iPhone 4 press conference yesterday and Steve Jobs’ demonstration of a BlackBerry Bold 9700 suffering from similar signal-drop when death-gripped:

“Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.”

CrackBerry Kevin ran a death-grip poll on CrackBerry.com and as of this writing 14% had the death-grip, 72% did not, and 14% saw bars drop but come back.

When you factor in that we don’t know how RIM calculates bars, what dropping and coming back up means, and add the crucial crazy that makes iPhone 4 antenna issues so maddening — that not everyone has them, and the whole situation has snowballed into equal parts fact and frenzy,

Steve Jobs might have done better mentioning the industry-wide death-grip problem as a bullet point and saving the videos for the Q&A if he got called on it because there was every chance it could come back to bite him in the a$$. Likewise, RIM might have been better off not making a public statement, going with humor, and letting the public weigh in for a while because this can now come back and bite them in their own co-a$$es. Why?

Same reason Steve Jobs’ should never have sent that “hold different, get a case” email response. RIM has now cued everyone in a weak signal with a BlackBerry to rev up their YouTube engines and start asking for free cases. TiPb’s already getting email:

I reported last week to [that] I could do just what Apple said in their news conference today, it was nothing against Blackberry. I own a Bold 9700 and a iphone 4 and my statement was it was no big deal. This is my third Blackberry and third iPhone. For you to say you have avoided the problem is in fact a misstatement. Your phone does the same thing without a case on it that the iPhone does and it does no harm to either phone.

Now for the big question Since my Bold 9700 does what the iPhone does are you going to fix my phone because it must be defective.

Thank You, Dwight

TiPb’s own Alli Kazmucha, who’s in a weak signal area, has been able to reproduce the BlackBerry Bold 9700 death-grip as well:

I managed to replicate [the death-grip] on a 9700 in less than 15 seconds, and on a 3GS.

We have bad coverage around a certain area in town, and like Apple said, in poor coverage areas it can be replicated. People forget that key point.

I’ve replicated it on my iPhone 3GS as well.

Nokia and RIM have both chosen to respond. We’ll see if Samsung does as well, and if HTC and Motorola decide to get into “antennagate” as well. One thing’s for certain, Phil Nickinson from Android Central is right when he says any new phone that gets released from any company now is going to be under increased — and in some cases ridiculous — antenna scrutiny.

Good.

Video after the break.

Update: Boy Genius shows the BlackBerry 9650 on Verizon dropping to one bar when death-gripped in the second video after the break…

[CrackBerry.com]

As part of Apple’s iPhone 4 press conference today, CEO Steve Jobs took the opportunity to bring out a BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eric, and Samsung Omnia 2 and highlight each of those devices dropping from 4 to 1 or 0 bars as well.

Jobs also pointed out that the formulae used to calculate and display bars isn’t standardized and everyone works out for themselves how they’re going to do it. (As of iOS 4.0.1 Apple is now using AT&T’s recommended formulae).

Lastly, he pointed out that Apple’s highly visible black bar at the bottom left of the antenna array made the problem spot easier to find on iPhone 4.

[Slashgear, Android Central's response]

Want to tether your iPad to your BlackBerry? Bla1ze over at CrackBerry.com found himself in just that situation, so he put together a quick how-to:

The process requires you to download a cydia app called iBluever and a BlackBerry application called PDANet. After a few setting adjustments you technically should be up and running using your BlackBerry data plan with your WiFi enabled iPad. That said, you should keep in mind that anytime something is interacting with your carrier data, you could incur extra charges. if you decide to set this up, you do so at your own risk.

Have you tried tethering your iPad to your BlackBerry? If so, let us know how it worked for you.

[CrackBerry.com]

iPhone 4 with its 960×640 retina display, easy-peasy FaceTime video calling, high quality 5 megapixel, back-illuminated camera that shoots 720p 30fps video, and the silky smoothness of iOS 4 convincing you to switch from RIM’s BlackBerry to Apple’s newest handset? Worried about moving over your personal data like contacts, finding apps, getting used to the differences? Wondering where to get help?

Stop. Smile. We’re here to help. Follow along after the break for everything you need to know (more properly, everything the iPhone Forums have taught us) about switching from BlackBerry to iPhone 4 and iOS 4.

(And yes, we’ve done Android, webOSWindows Mobile switcher guides as well).

RIM to iPhone – Yin and Yang

Perhaps you’ve used an iPhone before but work or hard core messaging needs demanded you back on the BlackBerry? Perhaps the missing mail and multitasking kept you from trying an iPhone at all until now? It’s all good. The past is the past and this is about the future — your future with iPhone 4 and iOS 4. This is about getting you from BlackBerry to iPhone as fast as possible.

And here’s the good news — of all the smartphone platforms, no two complement each other more than BlackBerry and iPhone. Ultimate communicator to paramount web and app platform. So even if you’re not really switching but just lining up a little iPhone action on the side — we got you covered. Dual wielders most definitely welcome.

Moving over contacts, calendars, and email

If you’re on an Exchange server at work, you can just plug your credentials into iPhone and ActiveSync will do the rest. No BES required. That is if IT allows it — they can get super-controlling with all the super-functionality BES provides. If they won’t let you give up the Berry, you can still sneak the iPhone in on your own time. (And if you have or can get the direct Exchange info, you can probably still access your data on the down low).

For personal email, Gmail (and Hotmail soon as well) can also be added via ActiveSync. iOS 4 supports multiple ActiveSync accounts. Just tap the Settings icon on the Home Screen, tap Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, choose Exchange, and enter your info.

If you don’t like ActiveSynch, you can setup MobileMe (Apple’s expensive push service), Exchange, or pretty much any POP3 or IMAP service you have via the Other button.

Since the iPhone already has a WebKit browser — the leading WebKit browser — you can load up gmail.com and most other web mail sites right in Safari.

What to do about BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)

Ah, there’s the lock-in. RIM operates their own, industry leading, completely proprietary messaging service and since there’s not much chance they’ll announced BlackBerry Connect for iPhone any time soon, leaving BlackBerry means leaving BBM.

Don’t panic! (Crash cart ready!. It’s for the best, really. Communication protocols shouldn’t be proprietary and if they are (like Twitter) they should at least be supported on every platform — especially the web. That way you can log out of one machine and in to another and all your stuff is just there. Like email. Like IM. Like Twitter. Like pretty much everything popular aside from BBM.

You’re moving on and if your friends are real friends, they’ll move with you. (Ha, sorry, couldn’t resist!).

Now there are iPhone apps that try to mimic the BBM experience, even cross-platform, but we’re not going to recommend them because they tend to be just as proprietary as Twitter without the mass adoption… so just use Twitter. Or AIM. Or Windows Live Messenger. There are tons of great iPhone app clients for all of those. Here are the official — and free — Twitter [iTunes link], AIM [iTunes link], and WLM [iTunes link] clients for iPhone. You can find several premium, multi-protocol apps as well, including BeeJive [iTunes link] and IM+ [iTunes link]

Finding other apps (and games).

Truth time — Apple doesn’t have a creaky old J2ME operating system awkwardly opening APIs and offering fractured support for technologies like WebKit and OpenGL. (They save partial support for messaging and multitasking! Zing!)

Okay, so Apple may not have invented mobile apps but they’ve revolutionized them sure as BlackBerry revolutionized mobile communications. What this means to you is 225,000 apps ready and waiting, and surprisingly most have nothing to do with farts. You’ll find cutting edge productivity, amazing entertainment, top of the line social networking, and scores and scores of other amazing apps. And sorry Brick Breaker, but the iPhone also owns (and pwns) on games, from the casual farmers to full-on 3D shooters. TiPb reviews several a week and we’ve got a whole iPhone Apps and Games Forum ready to help you out as well.

Jailbreak

Jailbreak and Cydia are two words you might here come up around these parts. Okay, iPhone 4 probably won’t be Jailbroken (root jail broken open to allow side-loading of unsigned apps — if you don’t know what that means, skip this section) on launch day but it probably will eventually, maybe even soon. If you’re a diehard tweaker and customizer, you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled to our Jailbreak coverage, and more importantly — our Jailbreak Help Forum, and Jailbreak Apps, Games, and Themes Forum.

Say farewell to fracture

Seriously, you don’t have to worry much if at all about versions and hardware compatibility any more. With very few exception, iPhone apps past, present, and future will just work on your iPhone 4. Sure the screen is bigger but it’s exactly 4 times bigger at the same physical size so existing (pre-iOS 4) apps will look the same and new (post iOS 4) apps will, frankly, blow your eyeballs out the back of your head.

There’s no Pearl vs Curve vs Storm vs Bold, keyboard vs no keyboard, flip vs no flip, SureType vs SurePress vs full QWERTY.

Apple is all about user experience and they’re doing a lot of abstraction behind the scenes to make sure things look great in front of them.

Say hello to iTunes

A mixed blessing if ever there was one, iTunes runs okay on Mac, kludgy on Windows, but is the local sync client required to activate your iPhone 4 and to transfer large media and document files from your computer to your phone. But why are we telling you this, you’ve probably used BlackBerry’s desktop app, maybe even Outlook. You know how to handle pain.

You can do a lot of things OTA (over the air), including syncing all your personal data via ActiveSync (including Google Sync) or MobileMe, download apps, and buy or rent iTunes music, TV shows, movies, podcasts, etc. (20MB or under over 3G, any size over Wi-Fi). You can find apps that let you access your Google Docs, DropBox, Box.net, and other online storage. You can even convert and stream content on the fly with apps like AirSharing [iTunes]. But at some point, be it to install a software update like iOS 4.1 (probably due this fall) or backup your data, you’re going to need to plug in to iTunes. So 2007, we know. If it’s any consolation, Apple should release iTunes.com at some point…

Say WTH to weak, interruptive notifications

For all the huge usability advantages iOS 4 has over BlackBerry — and make no mistake they really are huge — notifications are sorely lacking.

You get one notification popup at a time that you have to view or close before you can resume what you were doing (or about to do) and once you close it — or another notification pops up on top of it — it’s gone forever.

There’s also no notification light — not even a big glowing Apple logo. Nothing.

Hopefully Apple will fix these omissions in a future update. (Because we know RIM’s getting a better browser.)

No. More. Keyboard. Or. Stylus.

No front facing QWERTY, no SureType. No physical hardware keyboards of any kind. Apple hates buttons and keyboards are nothing if not homes for dozens of buttons. If you’re coming from a Storm this won’t be as big a deal. If you’re coming from the Bold…

Okay, here’s the thing. Apple prefers the flexibility of a virtual keyboard, and they do flexible keyboards better than anyone in the business. Seriously. Despite what Big Mike says, multitouch capacitive interface of any kind on glass can be a transformative experience.

Apple likes their keys virtual so they go away when you don’t need them (without creaking, oreo’ing, popping batteries, or coming to the rescue when virtual keyboards just won’t do). On the plus side, if you’re multilingual or international, the iPhone keyboard can easily be switched to any alphabet, script, stroke, or pictographic symbol you want to use. It can also become optimized for numbers, games, or pretty much anything you (technically, a developer) can think of.

Best of all, if you really miss your physical keyboard, with iOS 4, you can tether up a Bluetooth one and knock email — and yourself — out.

More BlackBerry to iPhone help and information

If you haven’t already, check out our complete iOS 4 feature walkthrough. There’s an incredible amount of stuff in iOS 4 and you can save yourself some serious time cribbing off of us.

If you need help, or have a story to share, check out TiPb’s iPhone forum — we’ve got a special switching from BlackBerry to iPhone 4 thread going just for you!

And if we forgot anything or just plain got something wrong, let us know and we’ll add it or fix it.

With Apple all but certain to announce a the 4th generation iPhone (iPhone HD/iPhone 4G) with iPhone OS 4 at WWDC the week of June 7, and AT&T to release it later the same month, why would AT&T want to release the new BlackBerry 9800 slider running OS 6.0 at around the same time?

Since 2007 the iPhone has been AT&T’s summer blockbuster. It’s been the phone that got the users and made the numbers, quarter after quarter. Some would go so far as to say iPhone exclusivity is the only thing that’s kept AT&T competitive with their arch-rival, Verizon.

Rewind. Back in March our sibling site CrackBerry.com did a Q&A roundup about the BlackBerry Slider, which could end up being part of the Bold lineup. A full, capacitive touchscreen device with a Palm Pre-style vertical slider it would give the BlackBerry faithful the Storm-like experience needed to compete in today’s mainstream smartphone market, but keep the industry-leading physical keyboard those same faithful are so loathe to do without. And CrackBerry thought it was going to be released on AT&T, and in the summer.

Today Boy Genius added fuel to that fire, saying the BlackBerry Bold 9800 slider would launch on AT&T in June, be exclusive for 3-6 months, and that AT&T had placed an incredibly large order for the device — easily exceeding 1,000,000 units.

Repeat. Why would AT&T want a huge order of an exclusive, powerfully branded, touchscreen smartphone with keyboard differentiation at the same time they’ve traditionally, and successfully launched their heretofore exclusive new iPhones?

Since I’ve sworn off Verizon iPhone rumors this week, including rumors of Verizon iPhone ads, manufacturers and equally large manufacturing runs, and increasing chatter, I’ll let you answer that in comments.

Apple has shown off iPhone OS 4 and now BGR has the first preview of BlackBerry’s attempt to maintain their messaging advantage and close the web-browsing and UI gap with BBOS 6.0.

BlackBerry is an email and BBM monster, no two ways about it, but until now we’ve been able to make fun of their ridiculously bad web browser and their inability (like Android) to store a large amount of large-sized apps (infinite app potential, tiny little onboard storage). And their java-based OS.

The bad news (for BlackBerry-faithful, good news for Apple) is that RIM doesn’t seem to have fixed the core problems behind the increasingly outdated OS, but the good news (for BlackBerry, decidedly not for Apple) is that they seem to have done more than enough to make those problems theoretical and almost complete non-issues for current users. (There don’t seem to be enough large apps to make the app limit a problem yet either — we’ll see when they get their texture-mapped OpenGL games on).

The biggest news looks to be the WebKit browser, based on the same engine Apple uses for Safari, along with complete OS-wide support for rubber-banding, pinch to zoom, and other multitouch gestures and user interaction behaviors. (Which raises the interesting issue of whether or not Apple decides to sue RIM the way they’re using HTC, or if RIM has enough patents to hold them off, like Palm presumably does).

There’s a lot more as well, including swipe-able homescreens, RSS in email, etc.

So what do you think? Did either Apple or RIM take a new-OS leap over the other, or will 2010 be much like 2009 — two devices still top of their respective categories, keeping up but not taking the lead?

[BGR via CrackBerry]

UPDATE: TiPb was sent a transcript of the TD Newcrest Technology Conference, including the comments by RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridi, so here they are in their entirety. On tablets:

Well. The trends we’ve been following have been an — there’s been, over the last three to four years, organizations have discovered the value of smartphones clearly, and that’s why we’re here, and that’s what we’re talking. And smartphones are always starting to space the need for laptops, but not all laptops, and not all needs. And I know that there are risks organizations that ask their customers when they join, when get hired, do you want a smartphone or a laptop very few get the opportunity to have both. So I think that’s an important thing, those are differentiated.

So the question you have ask yourself is when it comes to tablet, what market or what opportunities still it’s solving, what problem is it solving, and is it just a replacement laptop. I think that’s a difficult one to judge. But I think again if you look at what’s happening with smartphones are getting bigger, screens are getting bigger and getting more powerful and faster CPUs, more memory, we go in the 4G networks, we’ve got Wi-Fi, it’s just got everything, the operating systems are becoming more, more powerful, the tools are becoming more, more powerful, more applications are being developed, and are being used in more and more both enterprise and consumer spaces. So, I think at this point if you have to take the whole thing into consideration, you can’t say what’s the market for tablets in exclusion of the other devices, you have to put the whole thing together and I don’t think it’s that clear yet.

On touchscreen phones:

Well, I mean, clearly the best thing to do is to provide the choice and let the consumer and the customer to ultimately decide. I think what we’re seeing in the market though is that, it’s not clear if one side fits all and it really isn’t. And you can see it because a lot of people are realizing the incredible value and lifestyle improvement that are well-designed QWERTY push messaging experience brings to table. It’s really, really important. We’re finding — if you look at the surveys, you can see that large amount of the customers that have purchased touchscreen devices in last two years, they intend to get a device with the QWERTY keyboard on it now, right. I mean, they’ve got into a point where they’ve realize that a touchscreen alone is not enough; so that’s important.

I think with the trackpad technology is going into the BlackBerrys now, we provide a gesture and an elegance to control. Again, that’s unmatched. So, I think that is a third dimension, because you talk about touchscreen devices, you talk about QWERTY devices, but I would argue this is third, the whole control, command and control of things like well-designed trackpad technologies. I think, that’s really, really important. And I think, we continue to evolve with the research and invest in the Storm technology to make sure we get those right, we learned a lot and we continue to evolve that platform. I think that again what’s important is we provide that choice and we don’t lose sight of the fact what’s made us famous and what’s driving our sales, which is our QWERTY keyboards and our incredible track [indiscernible].

So not as cut and dried but we still have to wonder what surveys he’s reading that say people want to swap their touchscreens for QWERTYs because they’re not the ones we’re seeing.

And again, Apple’s sold 85,000,000 iPhone OS devices — including iPhone, iPod touch, and now iPad — to date.

[ORIGINAL STORY: Electronista via DF]

When the first Apple Tablet (now iPad) rumors hit years ago, I made the little mock-up above as a way of having some fun with our buddies over at CrackBerry.com because there’s no way RIM would ever make BlackBerry Tablet, right?

Right?

This week I received a bunch of emails, phone calls and BBMs from industry contacts seemingly out of the blue that were all to the tune of So what’s this I hear about a BlackBerry Tablet?! It took a little digging to figure out where this BlackBerry Tablet stuff was coming from all of a sudden, but I got to the bottom of it. The source is from a research firm that specializes in component supply chain information – and the company sent out a brief report this week touting “RIMM to Launch Own Tablet in Late 2010″ which got the industry insiders buzzing. The text in the image above that was sent in to us is from that report, which states three sources have confirmed that RIM has placed an order with supplier Hon Hai for 8.9″ displays for use in a tablet.

So let’s pretend the StormPad is for real, what could they bring to the table to compete with Apple’s iPad? BES/BEX/BIS integration and a BBM client are obvious. Full hardware keyboad (BoldPad?) is a possibility. Anything else?

Research firm Crowd Science says that almost 40% of Blackberry owners they polled are willing to ditch their device for an iPhone when next they need new hardware, and 32% said they would jump ship to a Nexus One. That leaves a dismal 28% willing to rough it with their Blackberry.

“These results show that the restlessness of Blackberry users with their current brand hasn’t just been driven by the allure of iPhone,” said John Martin, CEO of Crowd Science. “Rather, Blackberry as a brand just isn’t garnering the loyalty seen with other mobile operating systems.”

There are two main reasons that Blackberry users are wanting to jump ship. For years Blackberry has always been known as a business tool and not a device someone would purchase for regular day to day use. RIM has made two attempts to embrace the growing full-screen form factor, the original Storm and Storm 2, but neither have managed to catch on.

Then there is the lack of apps available for Blackberry devices. 7 days prior to the survey, 67% of Blackberry users did not download a single free app and 91% did not purchase any apps. Now when compared to Apple hitting the one billion download mark last April or even the successful Android market, things don’t look that good for RIM in app terms.

Before this survey was completed I personally witnessed this trend take place while spending a lot of my time within our forums as well as the Android Central forums. I was astounded to see so many people abandoning their Blackberry for a Motorola Droid or iPhone 3GS.

When it comes to iPhone and Android users, 90% plan on being loyal with their current platform for their next phone upgrade.

How about you, did you come to the iPhone from a BlackBerry?

From the Forums is a great way to see what all of the current hot topics are on the TiPb forums. In order to create any new threads of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is a simple process that will only take a few minutes out of your day, so if you have not already already done so, head on over and register now.

• It’s week 3 of our Smartphone Round Robin and this week Casey from Android Central needs your expertise. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
• What is an iPhone without all of the applications within the App Store? Apps are essential to our beloved device so this particular forum, iPhone Apps and Games, is a great place to visit for anything app related!
• If you are interested in the jailbreak process or perhaps you need to unlock an iPhone for a friend or relative, this forum is a must – iPhone Jailbreak and Unlock.
• It’s really great to see so many people leave their old phones for a new iPhone, especially when the user is leaving their old school BlackBerry behind. If you left the BlackBerry platform stop by this thread and chime in!

See you on the forums!

Week 2 of the 2009 Smartphone Round Robin sees me take on TiPb’s Public Frenemy #1, the almost-diametrically opposed BlackBerry — or is it? This year in addition to the new flagship BlackBerry Bold 9700, we officially have an actual touch-screen ‘Berry in the ‘Robin — the Storm2. What’s an iPhone blogger to do? Well, first go on the Cell Phone Junkie podcast with Mickey and all the SPE editors to discuss RIM’s platform, that’s a given.

Next, of course, I hit up the world’s foremost BlackBerry lover , CrackBerry Kevin Michaluk himself, and as if that weren’t enough, I enlisted the million-strong CrackBerry Nation to help me out as well!

Remember, every day you post on my CrackBerry Forums thread, you’re entered for a chance to win the BlackBerry of your choice. (And there’s a total of 6 smartphones up for grabs — one per SPE site — so check them all out!)

Now grab your hotdogs, popcorn, and spicy drink, because after the break CrackBerry Kevin gives me a guided tour of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and Storm 2, and everything new in hardware and BlackBerry OS 5.0.

[YouTube Video link]

Hot on the heels of Verizon pretty much burying the Storm2 in favor of their latest lust, the Droid, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion used their annual developer conference to announce a few improvements for the platform. No, not word one about a next generation BlackBerry OS (hey, Palm spent their time in the desert to get to webOS, and Microsoft is still trudging towards Windows Mobile 7, so RIM needs to pick up that canteen and get to stepping!).

Still, Kevin and the CrackBerry crew have been tearing up the coverage, so check out their DevCon 2009 liveblog, and here are a couple more handy links to help you keep track of all the pushy news:

• Open GL ES Support, Java GUI Builder and Theme Studio to Help BB Developers Generate Dynamic User Experiences
• BlackBerry Application Platform Enhancements to Foster Rich Content Development
• RIM Unveils New Services Platform for BlackBerry Developers
• RIM and Adobe to Simplify Delivery Of Rich Content and Applications for BlackBerry Smartphones
• RIM Announces BlackBerry Academic Program

So, what do you think, in the face of iPhone 3.x, Android 2.0, and webOS 1.x, is RIM doing enough to keep the BlackBerry competitive?

BlackBerry Storm2, RIM’s second bite at Apple’s multi-touch, black slab iPhone form factor, is just about ready for prime time, and as always, our sibling site CrackBerry.com has the complete Storm2 review. Kevin sums it up thusly:

The Storm2 fixes many of the BlackBerry Storm’s outstanding issues and makes a ton of incremental improvements, all of which add up to something that feels noticeably better. In a way that never quite applied to the original Storm, the Storm2 could legitimately be called the flagship BlackBerry.

Sounds fair to us! The Storm too got little-to-no love for RIM, even from RIM, but Storm 2 sounds like it fixes a lot of what went wrong the first time around. The build quality is better and that monstrous single-button screen of carpal tunnel has been replaced by a more sophisticated, and natural-typing friendly multi-press technology.

Sure, it’s still got that trusty, rusty BlackBerry J2ME OS and middling browser (for now) but with App World this time around, and Verizon’s network power (hey, it’s better than their chart-making power!) behind it, those users whose venn-diagram intersects CDMA with BlackBerry with touchscreen might finally have a usable option.

Check out the full review, then let us know if Apple has anything to worry about, berry-wise…

While TiPb is still waiting for an iPhone 3.1.1 bug-fix update, not to mention iPhone 3.2 betas to start dropping, it looks like the competition is getting their OS on this week:

• Palm webOS 1.2 didn’t re-enable the iTunes hack (kudos Palm!) but did bring some nifty new features including Amazon MP3 downloads over 3G, the foundations for paid apps in the App Catalog, improved cut and paste, and much more.
• Android 1.6 Donut is expected to hit now’ish as well. A new Android Market is coming with it, but not multi-touch — at least not yet.
• BlackBerry OS 5.0 still doesn’t seem to be official, but is leaking out all over the place (would that Apple had such porous pipes!). It’ll make your Berry more Berry, though it doesn’t seem to integrate a real browser yet, despite what the commercials say…
• Windows Mobile 6.5 might be on 30 Windows Phones by 2010, though even Ballmer is finally admitting Windows Mobile 7 should have been out this year. Bottom-line, it’s a skin-job, and even though it looks hawt’er than a old style centurion, it’s still a machine on the inside.

What does that mean for the iPhone? Even if RIM looks locked in stasis, Palm and Microsoft appear to have up-hill battles re-gaining their traction, and Android is still slowly ramping up, Apple can’t afford to coast. A new OS from RIM, a Palm-style rebirth from Microsoft, and webOS and Android gaining marketshare are all possibilities. Many of these updates have interesting new features that hopefully Apple is looking at and working their own magic on.

So, let’s get on with the 3.2… and 4.0. March is only 6 months away, after all, and Apple needs something else to wow Smartphone buyers with at the next SDK event…

Sorry. Had. To. Be. Memed. But as long as we’re being so predictable, we might as well make it a contest. A caption contest, of course. So let’s set the stage:

iPhone 3GS, blockbuster selling, uber-popular, satisfaction levels off the hook, has just won the smartphone of the year award, and is about to give its heartfelt speech, in front of proud Pappa Jobs, no less, when the boldest of Kanye West-inspired BlackBerrys storms the stage, speaker on full, auto-tune set, and just has to interrupt and say…

??

What? That’s where you come in. Head on over to our TiPb iPhone Forums and let us know. Be creative, be comedic, be original, and the caption we love best will get an iTunes gift certificate!

Do you prefer the singular, solid piece of glass that is currently the iPhone screen, the big honking button/piezo electric multi-clicker that powers the BlackBerry Storm and its upcoming second edition, or do you yearn for the ability to customize haptics on your touch screen?

That’s the question our sibling site, CrackBerry.com asked yesterday and the one we’re repeating today. Since you’re reading TiPb, we expect you’re already super-elite when it comes to using the iPhone multitouch screen, so no explanation needed here.

For the first edition BlackBerry Storm, RIM floated a similar screen over a giant button that you had to press down every time you wanted to do something. It allowed separate navigation and execution, but arguably each at the expense of the other. With Storm 2 — well, nobody knows what they’re doing for sure (you can read CrackBerry Kevin’s guesses) but it appears you can click on multiple locations simultaneously, mitigating the linear process of the older model.

Since the BlackBerry Storm 2 has no “clickability” when off, Kevin wonders if users will be able to control how much “clickability” it has when on as well, potentially allowing it to be turn on, turned down, or turned up.

Given each of these options, are you happy with the iPhone screen input method as-is, or does the Storm’s way interest you?

CrackBerry.com is reporting that RIM has acquired Torch Mobile, makers of the WebKit-powered Iris mobile browser.

Apple-backed WebKit is the open-source rendering engine behind Mac Safari and Google Chrome, which isn’t a very large segment, all told. Mobile WebKit, however, powers the portable world with the iPhone (and iPod touch) Safari, Google Android Chrome Lite, the Palm Pre/webOS browser, and some Nokia devices. Add BlackBerry to the mix and it pretty much looks like the mobile world vs. IE6 on Windows Phone — strangely inverse the desktop landscape where IE dominates and Firefox brings up the rear. (FireFox’s mobile Fennec browser is still in development).

It was just a couple weeks ago that RIM promised an iPhone-class browser from BlackBerry by next summer, and it looks like this might just give them one heckuva jumpstart in getting there.

Bla1ze over at CrackBerry.com has posted up a video by Salomondrin that shows off and explains the BlackBerry Storm 2‘s new “piezo electric” screen technology. In a nutshell, when the Storm 2 is off, the screen is hard just like an iPhone. When the Storm 2 is on, however, it becomes like a sponge beneath a screen coating, so a user can “push” into it to register a click, double-click, or multi-clicks.

Looks nifty, and it will likely make the Storm 2 much more palatable than the Storm 1 to die-hard QUERTY CrackBerrians. iPhone users? Well, I like tapping, swiping, pinching, etc. so I’m not click dependent, and at the end of the day, it’s the OS behind the input method(s) that Apple’s nailed oh-so-elegantly for me.

Only time, hands-on, and perhaps this year’s Round Robin will tell!

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Join Rene, James, and Chris for more iTablet, iPod touch, and iTunes 9 rumors, Apple VP Phil Schiller’s email spree, the latest competition from BlackBerry and Microsoft, and all the news. Listen in!

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News

New Product Watch

• Apple Shoots Top Secret Commercial for New Product?
• Updated: Apple Going Social? More iTunes 9, “Social App”, and App Organization
• iTunes 9 to Add iPhone App Organizer, Blu-Ray?

App Store

• Apple VP Phil Schiller Responds to Ninjawords iPhone App Store Incident
• Apple VP Phil Schiller Emails Steven Frank, No E-Book Rejection Policy, Working to Improve App Store
• Google to Launch Google Voice on iPhone as WebApp
• iPhone 3GS-Specific Apps Start to Land in App Store

The Competition

• Zune HD to be Priced $100 Less than iPod touch?
• BlackBerry to Get iPhone-Class Web Browser… Next Summer
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Caught on Video
• Sony, Warner, Universal and EMI to Launch iTunes “Cocktail” Album Competitor?

More News

• Would You Give Up Using Your iPhone in the Car for Increased Safety?
• Deposit Checks Via iPhone Photos
• Still No MMS on AT&T — But Would You Use it Anyway?
• Patent Watch: Apple Taking Stand Against Abused iPhones

Forums

• From the Forums: iPhone Jailbreak?, Yahoo vs Gmail, Tom Tom Car Kit, Wallpapers & Ringtones

Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

Our fearless friend, CrackBerry Kevin has been watching videos again and this time the take away has him happy: analysts who might be “in the know” say RIM may be fixing their infamously buggered browser by “next summer”.

While the iPhone uses the mobile version of the Apple-supported WebKit rendering engine, as does Palm’s Pre, Google’s Android, and some Nokia devices, RIM has thus far been content to roll their own rendered — with JavaScript turned off by default. No word on whether RIM will turn to WebKit or stick with the custom code, but it does look like the analysts are at least saying they’ll address some of the major gripes.

Our take? If RIM is serious about becoming a world-class web experience, Apple better get just as serious about matching them on messaging.

CrackBerry.com‘s Kevin got his hands (and signature green coffee table) on RIM’s next-generation touchscreen BlackBerry, the Storm 2, aka 9550, aka “Odin”. And his early thoughts?

• the hardware is much nicer
• the click screen is more user-friendly
• the operating system is basically the same

Is 2/3 enough? Says Kevin:

In going hands-on with the 9550, it becomes clear that this next-generation Storm is really an evolution of the original Storm. Yes, it’s better in every respect, but I’m getting the impression it’s sort of like when a new model year of a car comes out – it doesn’t make the old one instantly obsolete.

TiPb was pretty tough on the original Storm, though so were many BlackBerry faithful (it was basically cast as the Vista of Smartphones, after all). Any chance the Storm 2 will turn the touchscreen form factor around for RIM? Anyone see it as a threat to the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3.0? Or is it still about RIM providing that diversity to people who want the BlackBerry experience, and would never consider another device, touchscreen or no touchscreen? And if it disappoints, will RIM still lay the blame on consumer expectations in a post-iPhone world?

Via CrackBerry.com:

RIM has officially announced that BlackBerry Desktop Manager software for MAC will be available this September. THANK YOU RIM. You can visit blackberry.com/mac to sign up for updates and learn more or visit the Inside BlackBerry blog to see a few screen captures of it in action.

Yeah. Good luck with that. Any guesses how long that lasts before Apple releases a patch to disable BlackBerry sync?

(Kidding! Joking! Don’t panic, Kev! We’re happy for you — now you’re at least half-way towards restoring your childlike sense of wonder…)

The Wall Street Journal (via MacRumors) published a report stating that while Apple’s iPhone, and RIM’s BlackBerry make up only 3% of mobile phone sales last year, the gobbled up a huge 35% take of the profits. iPhone specifically was pegged at 1% of sales and 20% of profit. Boom! indeed.

Says Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff:

The disparity will become even starker this year when the two will take 5% of the market in unit terms but 58% of total operating profits.

While feature phone maker Nokia can compete due to vast economies of scale, their profits have been declining, as have Sony Ericsson. Palm’s Pre is seen as something of a wildcard, depending on developer support and distribution reach.

For their part, Apple is set to announce Q3 results tomorrow, July 21, at 5pm ET. TiPb will provide our usual coverage of the conference call, especially as results pertain to the iPhone.

In a write up nonchalantly titled “Lies, damn lies, statistics, and Apple…“, our good friend Phil Nickinson over at sister-site WMExperts rightly points out that Apple gave Windows Mobile a full on shunning during the WWDC 2009 keynote:

Windows Mobile isn’t even mentioned. Sure, Microsoft hasn’t yet launched its dedicated app store, Windows Marketplace for Mobile. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t stores from which to buy apps – ahem, here’s one – and it’s an insult to all of the developers of the 20,000 Windows Mobile applications available.

Windows 7 did get a mention (and a ribbing, as usual, from OS X head Bertrand Serlet), but in the smartphone space…?

Nothing.

That might seem callous from Apple’s part — but here’s the worse problem for Microsoft: Windows Mobile was missing from a lot of post-WWDC analyst and media commentary as well.

Apple still owns significant smartphone mind-share and the Palm Pre has captured the attention of the blogsphere and, since RIM is holding fast, that’s coming at the expense of Microsoft (and maybe Android, which was last year’s next big thing).

Realistically, with so many platforms now, when someone writes “Apple iPhone and…” “BlackBerry and…” and now “Palm Pre and…” there’s only room for so many others in the sentence, and those places are becoming increasingly competitive.

With Windows Mobile 7 pushed out until 2010, and 6.5 not in consumer hands yet either, and with iPhone 3G S about to hit, things might not be changing any time soon either…

While the iPhone vs. Palm Pre is the current darling of the blogerati (we’re not sure anyone in the mainstream is even aware of it…), we can’t forget that most iconic of rivalries: iPhone vs. BlackBerry. Not when Infoworld has written up the provocatively titled: “Deathmatch: BlackBerry versus iPhone — It’s time for us to bury the BlackBerry and move on to modern mobile — even for e-mail”.

In the massive, 8-page-jump article, the author contends that while the BlackBerry still scores points for security, non-Exchange email, hardware keyboard, and lack of good web browsing (for bosses who don’t want their employees using WebApps), the summation states:

For everyone else, the BlackBerry is yesterday’s mobile messenger, way past its prime and heading toward retirement. The iPhone is light-years ahead of the BlackBerry on almost every count. RIM should be ashamed.

Ouch. We’re sure our friends over at CrackBerry.com would beg to differ, but… ouch.

Can RIM fight back with new devices like the BlackBerry Tour and impending Storm 2, or — like Palm with the Pre and Microsoft with Windows Mobile 7 — will RIM have to “spend time in the desert” and come out with a rebuilt, revamped, new BlackBerry OS for the next wave of mobile computers?

[Thanks to Matt and everyone who sent this in!]

Digital Trends was gracious enough to invite CrackBerry Kevin, editor-in-chief Dieter, and yours TiPb-truly to:

Smartphone Wars: iPhone vs. BlackBerry vs. Palm pre vs. Android – Our panel of smartphone experts from all different corners of the Web duke it out over some of the most contentious issues facing the smartphone industry today.

• Listen now (MP3 download)

Our sibling sites, WMExperts and CrackBerry.com have both, coincidentally, just put up posts that show how to make your Windows Phone or BlackBerry “slide to unlock” just exactly like the iPhone. This may be nothing new, as themes and indeed the ability to theme other platforms is almost as longstanding as it is popular in some circles. iPhone Jailbreakers can even get in on the action with WinterBoard. But here’s the thing, if you’re running a Windows Phone or a BlackBerry, why would you want it to look or behave more like an iPhone? (and yes, the same holds true if you hack your iPhone to look/act like something else).

Do you love the iPhone UI but need functionality it doesn’t offer? Are you locked to a non-iPhone carrier and can’t get the iPhone, so will make do with a skin until your contract expires? Do you just love to be able to configure your phone, your way, and change it up as the mood strikes you?

Personally, I re-install and restore stuff so often, I’ve just gotten used to leaving almost everything I can in its default look and with its default settings, so I’m curious as to how the other side rolls.

Those of you with iPhones, any desire to skin it up like a WinPho or a BBerry? Maybe a Palm Pre? (Have you already?) And to those rocking other smartphones and going for an iPhone-look, how’s it working for you?

No, we’re not talking about Bono. Sigh. We’re talking about Don Lindsay, who was, according to Apple Insider:

Design Director of the Mac OS User Experience Group, he led what was called the “Mac OS X interface concept project” and directed the design team responsible for the user experience of Mac OS X 10.0 “Cheetah” through Mac OS X 10.3 “Panther,” which included the company’s first-generation of iLife digital lifestyle applications.

From there he was hired away by Microsoft to create — wait for it! — Vista. More specifically, AERO Glass, Flip3D, and Windows Calendar. Redmond start your copiers, indeed.

So what do you get if you copy a copy? Aside from artifacts and banding galore, RIM’s new VP of user experience, it seems. There’s only one problem with this, of course, and it should be obvious to RIM or to anyone who’s seen Vista or the Star Wars prequels.

Great artists need great editors. The best kindergarten teachers know when to pull the paper away from the kids. Steve Jobs is a great editor, a great kindergarten teacher. Word is he would scrutinize the UI down to the pixel level.

Hiring the guy who was already hired away by the other guy doesn’t give you the iPhone. It gives you the Storm. And RIM already learned how that worked out. Vista on the Storm… Good luck with that.

If you’d like a better idea, instead of trying to get the guy Microsoft got from Apple, and trying to dupe the dupe that is Vista, find someone new. Find something new…

Think different!

We previously mentioned that RIM was picking up Apple’s leftovers and sponsoring U2′s next tour under the BlackBerry brand. Seems even that wasn’t enough for Bono. Not considering this quote he dumped on Canada’s Globe & Mail (via BGR):

“I’m very excited about this. Research In Motion is going to give us what Apple wouldn’t — access to their labs and their people so we can do something really spectacular.”

Memo to Bono: you are not a product engineer. While you may also have a pseudo-Britannic accent, you’re certainly not Jonathan Ive. You’re a singer; and just lucky enough to live in a time when singers make tons of money rather than getting spoiled fruit thrown at them. Let’s try putting this in a context you might better understand:

“Steve Jobs said U2 is letting him do what John Mayer never would: go into the recording studio and solo on their new album…”

And RIM, what are you thinking? Bono pretty much owns most of Palm these days, and even they won’t let him in the labs. You’re making tons of money. Leave the cheap celebrity debacles to LG…

Remember that rejected — and highly physically impossible — video a few weeks back that CrackBerry.com was preening over? The one where a BlackBerry “bullet” tore through what was obviously a fake, tranquilized, like Waterloo fabricated Apple in a bizarre attempt to make the BlackBerry Storm less… Apple pwnd?

Well, now someone has found the real video, and likely the reason RIM never launched the fake one (Oliver Stone would have found it and humiliated them, ‘natch) and we bring it to you in full embedded glory above.

APPLE SMASH? Indeed.

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Last night’s iPhone Live! was pretty darn good — so good, in fact, that it created a cross-border, pan-dimensional bug that kept us from recording the first 20 minutes properly. We recapped it a bit, but those who it hit it up live got a special treat. Rest assured, though, we have more than enough to talk about with the new Kindle iPhone App, what it means for Apple, Amazon, and when it might go international – so if you missed iPhone Live!, go ahead and check out this here podcast.

Background Reading

• Review: Belkin TuneCast Auto with ClearScan for iPhone 3G
• Amazon Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch Now in the iTunes App Store
• Could an Apple iTablet be a Kindle e-Book and e-Comic Killer?
• Speculation Alert: Does This Mean March 24 Will be iPhone 3.0 Beta? iTablet? What?!

• Attack of the iClones: It’s a Small BlackBerry App World After All!

• Bonus Dieter Recommended Reading: The once and future e-book: on reading in the digital age by John Siracusa, Ars Technica

Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat, or sent in questions!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

So, RIM has made their big App Store — sorry — App World announcement and the big news from over on CrackBerry.com is that it will have regulated pricing tiers. What does that mean?

Apple, who is often (and often rightly) accused of being near-fascist in the control they exercise on the App Store still lets developers charge what they want for an App, be it free, $0.99, $2.99, $9,99 or whatever. RIM on the other hand, has created a menu of prices from which developers have to choose. Most surprisingly — and upsettingly it seems to the CrackBerry Nation — is that after free, the next cheapest tier is $2.99. Yup, no $0.99 apps for the BlackBerry, fart fueled or otherwise.

So here’s the question: is that a Good Thing? Will forcing developers to choose between free and $2.99 make them put more work into making better apps to warrant the higher price point? Will it clear out the shoddy, quicky, apps that glut up Apple’s App store? Or will it mean all $0.99 apps just go free and take the ad-supported route?

If Apple decided turn about was fair play and iCloned RIMs apparent ban on $0.99 apps, would that make the App Store better or worse? Would it make you happy, or just [redacted] you off?