BlackBerry PlayBook To Run Android Apps

In a move that indicates its strategy of cross-platform integration, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has officially announced that its upcoming tablet, the PlayBook, will run BlackBerry Java as well asAndroid apps! This essentially means that all PlayBook users will have access to over 200,000 apps of the Android app store. Surely, this is a sweet, sweet deal for all prospective PlayBook owners.

However, access to all the Android apps will be available through the BlackBerry App World only, meaning that developers will have to sign and resubmit their “ported” apps first, should they choose to do so. Also, RIM has mentioned support only for Android 2.3 apps so far, with no mention of Android 3.0 yet. Simultaneously, RIM will be releasing the native PlayBook SDK soon, meaning that developers can start creating apps exclusively very soon.

RIM discontinues 16GB BlackBerry PlayBook

                  

Ottawa: BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has planned to discontinue the 16GB version of its PlayBook tablet.

The firm said it was still `committed to the tablet space` and would continue to ship the 32GB and 64GB versions of the BlackBerry PlayBook.

“There is more value for our customers in the higher capacity models and as such we have decided to focus our efforts here,” RIM said in a statement.

According to The Telegraph, it is thought that the decision to cut the 16GB BlackBerry PlayBook model could be a cost-cutting measure.

The tablet computer was released last year, but has been viewed by analysts as a failure.

In January, the Canada-based firm reduced the price of all PlayBook models, cutting the 64GB version to 299 dollars in the US, less than half of its 699 dollar launch price.

In December 2011, RIM wrote down 485 million dollars on the value of its PlayBook inventory. 

From:http://zeenews.india.com

Two New Retail Concept Videos From the BlackBerry Enterprising Minds

          
Awhile back the BlackBerry Innovation forum released some concept videos of how RIM would imagine future technology. While RIM never really discussed them they were quickly pulled. Now Lucas @N4BB spotted two new videos from the BlackBerry Enterprising Minds Innovation Forums dated in 2011. They were released on the BlackBerryDE YouTube channel and are in German so I am not sure exactly what their audience is.

                         

From:http://www.berryreview.com

Playbook, BlackBerry security features offer RIM a fragile lifeline

Officers with the Chatham-Kent police force in southwestern Ontario use RIM's PlayBook in their cruisers to run checks on vehicles and suspects. The Playbook's big draw is RIM's acclaimed network security, a feature that Apple Inc. and RIM's other competitors can barely match, and cannot beat — at least not yet.

Along with firearms, radio and other standard-issue gear, Constable Ken Koke’s police cruiser comes equipped with portable technology made by Research In Motion Ltd. that he says has become an important tool in policing rural Canada.

Koke, with the Chatham-Kent police force in southwestern Ontario, uses RIM’s PlayBook to run checks on vehicles and suspects. Unlike his old laptop, the tablet is portable enough to take out of the car to record evidence at crime scenes.

But for law enforcement officers like Koke, the big draw is RIM’s acclaimed network security, a feature that Apple Inc. and RIM’s other competitors can barely match, and cannot beat — at least not yet.