BlackBerry

Research in Motion (RIM), maker of Blackberry, has acquired German social game developer Scoreloop for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition is part of RIM’s strategy to further develop social gaming applications for its devices. RIM executives are hoping they can provide a more valuable gaming experience to their users through the use of such an ecosystem.

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TuneWiki understands that to survive in the highly competitive world of social media it’s essential to evolve. That’s why the free music app — already doing quite well for itself on Android-based devices — is looking to expand even further through its new update.

The initial gimmick behind TuneWiki was its ability to supply kareoke-style lyrics as a song plays, something that worked to enrich the usual listening experience. BlackBerry users heavily supported the app, turning it into one of the most prominent music downloads available on App World and providing plenty of incentive for the recent interface revamp and multi-platform service expansion.

TuneWiki isn’t dropping any of the features that made it such a hit; rather it’s looking to add additional perks that bolsters the existing experience. Alongside the announcement of a desktop TuneWiki Beta, listeners can now use the mobile app to access three sections (My Music, Discover and Connected) that provide new ways to interact with others through the app.

The new Discover section is, perhaps, the most exciting aspect of the overhaul. It offers users the ability to perform creepy/cool tasks like accessing the Song Map (a geographic view with pinpoints highlighting what global TuneWiki users are listening to), friending others and managing a list of Muses (users with similar tastes that can automatically recommend their favorite songs and artists). Connected adds streaming radio support (complete with lyrics) while My Music is simply the new name for the traditional, pre-update listening experience.

Want to learn more about TuneWiki or download the free app? Check out its official page or give it a download here (its also available through iTunes and BlackBerry App World).

IDC released a fascinating forecast for mobile platform marketshares in 2011 and 2015.

IDC Forecasts Worldwide Smartphone Market to Grow by Nearly 50% in 2011

Producing this sort of forecast is frought with danger. Five years (technically less than that) is a long time in the tech world. For example, there wasn’t any iOS (Apple) market five years ago. Today IDC is forecasting this then unknown platform will have 15.7% marketshare (3rd behind Android and Symbian). I placed IDC’s data in an column chart for easier interpretation.

Some of IDC’s forecasts are not surprising:

- Android will continue to dominate the mobile market with 45% of market share in 2015
- Symbian will disappear with a 0.2% share (effectively zero)
- iOS (iPhone) will be flat going from a 15.7% marketshare in 2011 to 15.3% in 2015.

There are, however, a pair of surprises:

- BlackBerry will dip only slightly from 14.9% to 13.7%. My feeling is that unless RIM can turn things around, their marketshare will be significantly lower than it is today
- Windows Phone (or whatever it is called in 2015) will rise from 5.5% marketshare in 2011 to 28% in 2015. This will place it in a distant but strong second place in the market behind Android. Despite my personal fondness for Windows Phone (the HTC HD7 is my primary phone), I find this difficult to believe.

Here’s an interesting pair of AT&T related news.

AT&T Welcomes Spring with New Smartphone Prices (AT&T Press Release)

AT&T lowered the prices of a variety of smartphones Samsung Captivate (Android), BlackBerry Torch, Samsung Focus (Windows Phone), and LG Quantum (Windows Phone) are all priced at $49.99 with a two-year contract. The BlackBerry Curve 3G is priced all the way down to $29.99. Note that these are all 3G phones.

Meanwhile, ars technica reports that:

AT&T admits to slowing down the Motorola Atrix and HTC Inspire (ars technica)

This explains why we’ve been seeing reports of slower than 3G data speeds on these two Android-based 4G capable phones. It is fascinating to note that the slow data rates is apparently due to a firmware modification that AT&T now says it will “fix”.

All Things Digital reported:

RIM Shares Tank on Lousy Outlook

John Paczkowski noted that RIM’s lower than expected earnings caused an after-hours sell-off that dragged the stock down nearly 10 percent. It actually got worse as the night wore on. RIMM (ticker symbol) lost 11.84% of its share price value in after-hours trading. Its pre-market price is at $56.50, down from $64.09, as we wait for the market to open this morning.

This isn’t surprising given what we’ve seen reported here and elsewhere about relative smartphone marketshare changes in the past year. Here’s another perspective on RIM’s situation. If you take a longer term view (say 5 years), RIM’s share price performance compares quite well with other smartphone related firms. The graph above (courtesy of Yahoo! Finance) charts relative share price performance for RIM (dark blue), Nokia (red), HP (dark green), Microsoft (orange), Google (brown), and Apple (green). And, yes, it is not entirely fair to compare a near pure play mobile device company with diversified product companies. That said, look who’s 5-year performance is second to Apple. Yes, that is RIM. Their 5-year performance is actually better than Google’s. And, yes, Microsoft’s performance is essentially flat after 5 years while Nokia’s share price reflects its lingering problems.

The gadget savvy among us may chuckle and perhaps scoff at the fact that RIM published a how-to blog article to teach BlackBerry users how to send videos wirelessly.

How to send videos using your BlackBerry

I am neither chuckling nor scoffing, however. I think the article and the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog is a great idea that every mobile platform maker should provide for its customers. The blog provides step-by-step directions with clear screenshots for tasks such as:

- How to view YouTube videos on your BlackBerry
- How to configure Sound and Alert profiles in BlackBerry 6
- How to use shortcuts from the BlackBerry home screen
- How to back up and restore your BlackBerry using BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac
- How to pair your BlackBerry with a Bluetooth Wireless Headset

Every mobile platform can benefit from definitive instructions for performing basic out-of-the-box tasks like the ones RIM addresses in their blog. BlackBerry users can find the blog at:

Inside BlackBerry Help Blog

After some speculation, RIM has formally announced that their tablet, the Blackberry Playbook, will run Android apps. The inclusion of support for Android apps is huge because it means RIM’s new tablet will ship with the ability to run hundreds of thousands of apps. To further make the point, when the Motorola Xoom shipped you could only install 16 apps on the tablet, which significantly limited what you could do with that tablet.

The Playbook will run Android apps in a secure “sandbox” that RIM is calling an app player. I am a bit discouraged by RIM’s statement that developers will have to repackage, code sign, and submit their apps to the Blackberry App World. Requiring developers to have to do something to make their Android apps run on the Playbook means that some may chose not to participate, meaning their is no guarantee that your favorite Android app will run on the Playbook.

RIM has not announced a ship date for the Playbook, but speculation is that it will be available for purchase in April or May. You can preorder the Playbook from Best Buy at $499.99 for a 16 GB model, $599.99 for a 32 GB model, and $699.99 for a 64 GB model.

It amazes how important supporting Facebook on mobile devices has become. A phone (smart or otherwise) that does not work with Facebook is not competitive. A smartphone that doesn’t support the main features and activities creates a black mark for it. The once dominant BlackBerry has been losing ground in recent years. So, RIM really needs to keep up with providing enhancements like the ones in their Facebook app update.

Facebook for BlackBerry v2.0 Beta: Now with Facebook Chat!

Here’s what’s new in this 2.0 beta:

- Facebook chat
- Improved news feed (user interface changes)
- New navigation control
- Notifications bar for messages, chats, friend requests
- External notifications for non-Facebook incoming messages
- New profile user interface information viewing

Video courtesy of BlackBerry

BlackBerry’s response to the iPad has had a lot of previews. It doesn’t have, if memory (and a quick web search) services me correctly, an actual release date yet. But, here’s another preview in a series of previews on RIM’s YouTube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BlackBerry

RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook has generated a lot interest and positive buzz in the tech community. But, they really need to actually make it available for sale. They need to field a team to be in the game.

While RIM keeps releasing previews of their tablet, Apple will be happy to take your money for an actual iPad 2 this week Friday starting at 5pm at your local Apple Store.

Via Inside BlackBerry (The Official BlackBerry Blog): BlackBerry PlayBook Apps: 7digital Music Store and BlackBerry Podcasts

I have seen several mobile apps that stream radio stations, but most of those only include select radio stations from select markets. Today I found TuneIn Radio for Windows Phone 7, and what immediately caught my attention are the number of radio stations in my market of Detroit, Michigan. TuneIn Radio has the majority of local radio stations in the Detroit Market, including my favorite stations, and it also includes lists some EMS, Fire Department, and Police Department dispatch streams, but so far I have not been able to have any of those play.

TuneIn Radio supports more than 30,000 AM and FM radio stations that stream on the Internet, and you can browse to find stations by location, or search by station call letters. The stations are not limited to the United States, you can play radio stations from all over the world. You can store stations in a list of presets, and the app is location aware and will list the radio stations it finds near your location.

The Windows Phone 7 version of TuneIn Radio is free and I found playback to be very good using a WiFi connection. TuneIn Radio is also available for iOS, Blackberry, Android, and webOS. A free, ad-supported version of the app exists for Android, and a you can buy a version for $1.99 that does not have ads. The iOS version of the app costs $0.99, and the Blackberry version is free.