Nikkei: BlackBerry to stop selling phones in Japan, no longer able to justify

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/rim-2013-01-24-600-5.jpg" /></div>It looks like Japan won't be a part of BlackBerry's BB10 launch plans now or anytime in the foreseeable future. According to a report from <em>Nikkei</em>, BlackBerry has decided to stop selling phones in the country, at least in part because it wasn't able to justify the cost of making the necessary language modifications to its new operating system. As <em>Nikkei</em> also notes, however, BlackBerry has seen a particularly steep drop in market share in Japan, where it now stands at just 0.3 percent. We've reached out to BlackBerry about the news and are awaiting comment.<br /> <strong>Update:</strong> We've received a statement from BlackBerry confirming that it has no plans to launch to launch BB10 devices in Japan at this time, although it adds that it will continue to support its customers in the country. The complete statement is as follows:<br /><blockquote> We are in the process of launching BlackBerry 10 globally in key markets and we are seeing positive demand for the BlackBerry Z10 in countries where it has already launched. Japan is not a major market for BlackBerry and we have no plans to launch BlackBerry 10 devices there at this time. However, we will continue to support BlackBerry customers in Japan.</blockquote></div></div>

Nikkei: BlackBerry to stop selling phones in Japan, no longer able to justify

It looks like Japan won't be a part of BlackBerry's BB10 launch plans now or anytime in the ...

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PSA: BlackBerry 10 doesn't need a special data plan

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="PSA BlackBerry 10 doesn't need a special data plan" data-src-height="412" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/blackberry-z10-messaging.jpg" /></div>With BlackBerry 10 devices wending their way into the hands of patient fans, there's been some uncertainty as to just what service plans customers need to reach the new platform's full potential. The short answer, after confirmations at <em>CrackBerry</em>: just about any of them. Unlike older BlackBerrys, the Z10 and future models don't require tiers with BlackBerry Internet Service or BlackBerry Enterprise Server support in order to work their push messaging magic. Those migrating from a regular BlackBerry plan won't have to worry about switching, though. The lone exceptions are subscribers who have barebones, social-only plans where BIS serves as the filter. While the switch could lead to price hikes for those cost-conscious users, it's otherwise good news for BlackBerry devotees who've wanted the same choice in service as the rest of their smartphone-owning peers.<br /> </div></div>

PSA: BlackBerry 10 doesn't need a special data plan

With BlackBerry 10 devices wending their way into the hands of patient fans, there's been some un...

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Back to BlackBerry: one editor's 30-day trial run

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry 10 for 30 days" data-src-height="532" data-src-width="800" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/rim-2013-01-24-600-12.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> I confess, I'm intrigued by BlackBerry 10. Surprised? So am I. It's been easy to pre-emptively count BlackBerry out of the smartphone wars based on its performance over the last two or three years, but there's an element of mystique and personality that have made me quite curious to give the new OS a shot. While Wednesday's BB10 launch answered a lot of questions, it also raised a lot of new ones. Most of the mysteries revolve around its ecosystem, hardware quality, competitive advantages / disadvantages and if the platform can persuade Android and iOS users to switch. As a former Pearl and Curve owner, I want -- nay, <i>need</i> -- to determine for myself how well BlackBerry's latest effort holds up against its rivals. Thus, I have decided to use the BlackBerry Z10 as my sole device and daily driver for thirty days.<br /> <br /> From now until March 3rd, I'll experience nearly every aspect of BB10: the UI and its learning curve, its performance and battery life, BlackBerry World, the highly praised virtual keyboard and how well it can handle my work load. I'll even use the phone at MWC, a major international trade show in which I'll be even more dependent on my mobile than usual. Throughout this process I'll be documenting my thoughts, feelings and emotions and deliver them in a regular series of weekly posts. By the end, we'll see whether or not BB10 can win my heart; is it a suitable replacement for the average iOS or Android user, or does the company still have a difficult path ahead of it? Time will tell, and I'm eager to find out.</div></div>

Back to BlackBerry: one editor's 30-day trial run

I confess, I'm intrigued by BlackBerry 10. Surprised? So am I. It's been easy to pre-emptive...

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BlackBerry Q10 flashes pearly whites in brief debut

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Blackberry Q10 flashes pearly whites in brief sortie" data-src-height="413" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/blackberry-q10-white-1-31-13.jpg" /></div>A previously unseen BlackBerry Q10 in alluring white made a blink-or-you'll-miss-it appearance at last night's BlackBerry 10 Experience event in New York. <em>Crackberry</em> was on hand to snap a few photos before the 3.1-inch, dual-processor toting device went back into the pocket of BlackBerry CMO Frank Boulben. The color certainly lends it a heaping dose of <em>James Bond-esque</em> elegance, to our eyes -- as for our other thoughts on the physical-key toting handset, check our recent hands-on.<br /> </div></div>

BlackBerry Q10 flashes pearly whites in brief debut

A previously unseen BlackBerry Q10 in alluring white made a blink-or-you'll-miss-it appearance at l...

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RIM: A brief history from Budgie to BlackBerry 10

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /> <div class="copy post-body" style="text-align: center;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="RIM a brief history from Budgie to BlackBerry 10" data-src-height="340" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/rim-history-until-blackberry-10.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Listen to much of the chatter about Research in Motion today and you'll hear the launch of BlackBerry 10 described in almost apocalyptic terms. All-or-nothing. Live-or-die. Make-or-break. There's some truth to the extreme language, but BlackBerry 10 is really just the latest in a series of transformational moments for a company that has frequently had to adapt to survive. In that sense, the appreciation for crises and opportunities is almost as natural as breathing for RIM. What's less certain is whether or not the company in 2013 is as capable of wholesale shifts in strategy as it was for much of its not quite 30-year history. Read on to see why reform is possible, but won't be quite so easy.</div><div style="text-align: center;"> For its first two decades, RIM often showed the traits of a scrappy startup. It had nothing to lose and was willing to turn its business model on a dime to stay afloat. More importantly, it also had a simple, overriding determination to spread wireless data to the masses, no matter how that would come to pass. That gave it a leg up over contemporary technology stalwarts like Apple, Microsoft and Palm, all of whom were at least slightly behind RIM in seeing the value of truly instant mobile communication. CEO Mike Lazaridis (and eventual co-CEO Jim Balsillie) would see a void in the market, whether it was two-way paging or mobile email, and switch strategies to fill it.</div><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie" data-src-height="310" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/mike-and-jim-1359140133.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote class="quote right"> The company spent more time trying to justify its existing smartphone philosophy and less time getting ahead of trends.</blockquote></div><div style="text-align: center;"> As the 2000s wore on, however, RIM slowed down. Much of the decade revolved around entrenching what we know as the core BlackBerry business model, where messaging-focused smartphones ship to large-scale customers. The company acknowledged the consumer world as early as 2003, but its approach was increasingly reactionary. We wouldn't have had the BlackBerry Storm without the iPhone popularizing touchscreens first, for example. The company spent more time trying to justify its existing smartphone philosophy and less time getting ahead of trends, even as it lost its market share advantage and started working on BlackBerry 10. Some saw the eventual departures of Lazaridis, Balsillie and a slew of executives as necessary to undo an institutionalized resistance to change.<br /> <br /> The launch of BlackBerry 10 isn't just the test of a software redesign, then. It's gauging whether or not a leaner RIM is once again nimble enough to stay relevant. We haven't quite returned to the company's early days, but its current position is an uncannily familiar one where RIM has to bet the farm on a new project. The difference? RIM isn't entering an untapped wireless market this time. While it's on better footing than a defunct mobile veteran like Palm, there's not much room for a second chance. Follow along with our timeline to see just how RIM's opportunities opened up, closed shut and maybe (just maybe) opened up again with a new OS.</div><h3 id="title0" style="text-align: center;"> 1984 - 1994</h3><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin with Budgie" data-src-height="425" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/rim-budgie.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin officially founded Research in Motion on March 7th, 1984 with a desire to commercialize Budgie, a system that wirelessly displayed information on a TV screen. It generated enough business to let RIM take on side projects, including a film barcode reader, but the real kick start was the arrival of one of the earliest wireless data networks, Mobitex. Software deals to support it led to the 1993 launch of RIMGate, the precursor to BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and wireless point-of-sale terminals in 1994. This early period also saw the introduction of Jim Balsillie, who met Lazaridis while trying to negotiate a purchase of RIM in 1992 and quickly became the future BlackBerry maker's VP of Finance. Few other companies were as actively interested in mobile data at the time: apart from Mobitex creator Ericsson, the most conspicuous participant was IBM, whose smartphone-like Simon Personal Communicator went on sale briefly in 1994 and still depended on a 2,400-baud modem for data.</div><h3 id="title1" style="text-align: center;"> 1995 - 2001</h3><div style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="RIM Inter@ctive Pager" data-src-height="250" data-src-width="190" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/rim-interactive-pager-sm.jpg" style="float: right;" />RIM's experience developing code for Mobitex led it to building hardware, starting with a PCMCIA modem in 1995. The company's first mobile messaging device, the RIM 900 Inter@ctive Pager, came a year later, followed by the smaller and more successful RIM 950 in 1998. The first hardware that resembled a BlackBerry as we know it today was the not-very-elegantly named RIM 957 from April 2000, but it only offered data and wasn't joined at the hip with the BlackBerry name. While the BlackBerry email service launched in January 1999 and went mobile with the 957, it would be three years before there was a proper BlackBerry phone. More smartphone-like technology was emerging in the form of devices like the Nokia 9000 series in 1996, Ericsson's Symbian-based R380 in 2000 and the Palm OS-running Kyocera 6035 in 2001, although few would say they cracked the market wide open when the PDA side was either crude or entirely separate. This was Palm's heyday, and many were still satisfied with a cellphone in one hand and a PDA in the other.</div><h3 id="title2" style="text-align: center;"> 2002 - 2005</h3><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Blackberry 5810" data-src-height="423" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/blackberry-5810-1359142237.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> The BlackBerry era started in earnest in March 2002, when RIM unveiled the BlackBerry 5810. It was the first handheld from RIM to carry GSM and GPRS, although phone service was almost incidental when owners had to plug in a headset just to make calls. The situation got better when the 6710 and beyond had audio hardware built-in. Color came with the 7200 and 7700 series in 2003, but the real breakthroughs were the 6200 series from that year and the 7100 in 2004, which were explicitly targeted at "prosumers" who wanted a BlackBerry for personal use. In 2005, the 8700 series took the 7100's sleeker aesthetic to the high-end; for many, it was the first modern BlackBerry, where a polished design, phone features and a full keyboard were all in one device. Not that RIM could rest on its laurels. Nokia, Palm and others had thrown themselves wholeheartedly into smartphones, and Microsoft's launches of Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile provided a start for smartphone makers that would eventually play important roles, like HTC.</div><h3 id="title3" style="text-align: center;"> 2006 - 2007</h3><div style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry Pearl for T-Mobile" data-src-height="250" data-src-width="160" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/blackberry-pearl-t-mobile-small-1359152125.jpg" style="float: left;" />It's at the middle of last decade that RIM simultaneously reached its creative zenith and sowed the seeds of its decline. The BlackBerry Pearl of 2006 was the company's first phone built expressly for the regular public, and had such radical concepts (for RIM) as a camera and dedicated media playback. Both the Pearl and the QWERTY-equipped Curve of 2007 would be key to an explosion in sales over the next few years. However, it's also in 2007 that Apple launched the iPhone and began the public's love affair with touchscreens in their mobile devices. RIM's response, even into 2010, was to downplay the threat; it argued that customers needed hardware keyboards. It was difficult to know then just how dangerous the attitude would be when others were similarly dismissive -- see Steve Ballmer's jab that the iPhone was too expensive to succeed, for example -- but it's clear in hindsight that RIM had put the blinders on at the very moment its eyes needed to be wide open.</div><h3 id="title4" style="text-align: center;"> 2008 - 2009</h3><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry Storm, Bold 9000 and Curve 8900" data-src-height="376" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/blackberry-storm-bold-and-curve.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Despite its love of physical keys, RIM's solution to newfound competition was to hedge its bets. Traditionalists got the upscale Bold 9000 line in May 2008; would-be Android and iPhone converts got the BlackBerry Storm in November of that year. BlackBerry App World also countered the Android Market and the App Store several months after the fact, in 2009. The platform reached a peak of 20.8 percent market share in the third quarter that same year, according to Gartner, but the bloom was already starting to come off the rose. The iPhone 3GS helped Apple outsell RIM for the first time, as Steve Jobs noted that fall. Hype for the Storm quickly fizzled out, and Verizon's edition of the Storm 2 launched the same day in October 2009 as the more heavily promoted (and ultimately more successful) Motorola Droid. RIM could mostly take comfort in knowing that the competing Nokia N97 and Palm Pre also did little to halt the declines of their respective creators.</div><h3 id="title5" style="text-align: center;"> 2010</h3><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry PlayBook at DevCon 2010" data-src-height="385" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/blackberry-playbook-devcon-2010.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> RIM was aware that the BlackBerry needed more than just a small tuneup, and spent much of 2010 laying the groundwork for an overhaul. It bought real-time OS developer QNX in April for code that would eventually power BlackBerry Tablet OS and BlackBerry 10. Help building the interface would come in December, through the acquisition of mobile software developer The Astonishing Tribe. We quickly saw early results from the QNX deal when RIM previewed its first-ever tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook, in September. Mobile customers weren't patient enough to wait for a finished product: Apple eventually eclipsed RIM's market share on a more permanent basis and more and more of the BlackBerry's loyal enterprise users were among those switching to Android and the iPhone. Most long-serving competitors weren't faring much better. Palm's overcommitment to Sprint and its missed opportunity with Verizon led HP to snatch it up. The year was ultimately defined by Android, which Gartner says catapulted from a token 3.9 percent of the smartphone market in 2009 to 22.7 percent for 2010, just behind a rapidly crumbling Symbian.</div><h3 id="title6" style="text-align: center;"> 2011</h3><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"> RIM arguably faced its nadir of public perception in 2011. The PlayBook was rushed to market in April and tanked badly enough to require fire sale pricing for unsold stock -- in part because it initially lacked the very messaging features that were supposed to be RIM's strong suit. BlackBerry 7 devices like the Bold 9900 series gave RIM's legacy platform a last hurrah, but a sustained, worldwide service outage stained the line's reputation (and the company's) in October. Building the $2,000 Porsche Design P'9981 BlackBerry and losing the BBX trademark dispute didn't exactly endear RIM to the public, either. Management was increasingly seen as the problem, rather than the solution, as disappointing earnings and delays became the order of the day. The firm escaped the ignominy of Palm's fate, which saw HP reduce webOS to a side project, but was well behind Nokia in the reinvention process, which already had Windows Phone-based devices shipping in late 2011. Apple and Google both took advantage of customer frustration with old stalwarts like Nokia and RIM, to the point where their respective iOS and Android platforms were the only ones gaining significant share. Gartner and other firms crowned Android as the market leader in the spring, and Apple would eventually rise to second place in 2012.</div><h3 id="title7" style="text-align: center;"> 2012</h3><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Thorsten Heins of RIM talks with Tim Stevens" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/11/thorstenheinsinterviewlead03.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> The year of renewal... mostly. Balsillie and Lazaridis were out almost as soon as the year began, replaced by company veteran Thorsten Heins. He spent most of the year getting RIM's house in order, including thousands of job cuts among the rank and file. Multiple long-serving executives left, and little energy was put into new hardware outside of the already expected 4G PlayBook and budget phones. Most of the company's fate was now tied up in BlackBerry 10 and its matching devices. Heins ran into flak quickly: BlackBerry 10 was delayed into 2013, and the company started racking up significant losses after years of profit.</div><h3 id="title8" style="text-align: center;"> 2013</h3><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry Dev Alpha B hands-on" data-src-height="413" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/blackberry-dev-alpha-b-hands-on.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> RIM is starting 2013 much as it spent most of 2012. It's in a race to establish BlackBerry 10 as a truly credible third competitor among smartphone platforms before the industry shifts to an Apple / Google duopoly -- and before the cash runs dry.</div></div></div>

RIM: A brief history from Budgie to BlackBerry 10

Listen to much of the chatter about Research in Motion today and you'll hear the launch of BlackBe...

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BlackBerry Z10 priced at £480 SIM-free by purported Carphone Warehouse database leak (update)

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr /> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: left;"> <img alt="BlackBerry Z10 purportedly hits Carphone Warehouse database, 480 unlocked" data-src-height="266" data-src-width="616" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/47-am.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> With all the BlackBerry 10 leaks as of late, it seems inevitable that pricing info would get ousted in the lead up to January 30th. Thanks to an anonymous tipster, it appears that the SIM-free version of RIM's Z10 will cost UKers a cool £480 at Carphone Warehouse (for perspective, a 16GB iPhone 5 would run you just roughly £30 more). The leak comes from what's said to be a snapshot of the company's internal database, listing the white variant. The attached BLAZ10WHI model number also syncs up nicely with the previous slip from the retailer. At this rate, not much is going to be left to the imagination when RIM officially unveils its devices come Wednesday -- who likes surprises anyway, right?</div><div style="text-align: left;"> <strong>Update:</strong> We've updated the post to reflect that the phone was touted to us as "SIM-free," specifically.</div></div>

BlackBerry Z10 priced at £480 SIM-free by purported Carphone Warehouse database leak (update)

With all the BlackBerry 10 leaks as of late, it seems inevitable that pricing info would get ousted ...

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