It wasn't too long ago when we mere consumers and business pundits suggested the end of RIM's BlackBerry lineup of devices, following the insurgency of Android and iPhone in a market that was BlackBerry's niche. However today, the company is very proudly offering up to $550 to iPhone users to dump their smartphone for its latest; the BlackBerry Passport.
BlackBerry might have been a slowly fading away giant lately, but the company recently announced that it had one last trick up its sleeve that could become the game changer for the once smartphone-making king. That killer device, which we recently found out to be BlackBerry Passport, has just been accidently leaked in a video courtesy of Carphone Warehouse.
When it comes to voice-enabled personal assistants on mobile devices, Apple and Google have dominated that space, forcing others to either play catch-up or risk losing a percentage of market share from users who require that advanced functionality. BlackBerry hasn’t exactly been up there batting alongside the best-of-the-best in recent years, but while the company may lack traction within the consumer space it still holds some weight with corporate users. In an effort to improve the BB10 experience for that loyal corporate user-base, the company has taken to its Inside BlackBerry blog to officially introduce the Blackberry Assistant, a digital experience that will attempt to rival Siri on iOS and Google Now on Android hardware.
You might have forgotten about BlackBerry - formerly Research In Motion - the company that used to dominate the smartphone market with an iron fist before spectacularly declining in recent years. Even though you could be forgiven for presuming that the maker of the famed Bold handset range was busy dying a painful death behind the scenes, the Canadian company has actually been hard at work on some new devices, and among them is the very interesting, passport-shaped device called, well.. the Passport.
It's quite a sorry state of affairs when a company like BlackBerry - a major player in the smartphone industry only a few years ago - must resort to taking cheap shots at the market leaders in order to score itself some headline coverage. The demise of the Canadian outfit has been well documented in recent times, and with its market share having plummeted to the point where Windows Phone has just overtaken it, many of BlackBerry's head honchos have fallen victim to a major reshuffle. John Chen recently replaced Thorsten Heins as CEO, but instead of brimming with new ideas as to how BlackBerry can turn its fortunes around, he has instead begun his career by labeling iPhone users as "wall-huggers."
BlackBerry is one sinking - if not already sunken - ship, and perhaps the entire technology world agrees with that, except maybe the new CEO of the company, John Chen, who recently told CNet in an interview that the company was working on a phone that would make customers come back to the struggling platform in masses, effectively turning the ship around!
There was a time when BlackBerry dominated the smartphone market with an iron fist, physical keyboard, and promise of an exclusive, secure app that we still refer to as BBM. The BlackBerry days are well and truly over now, with the Canadian company's well-documented fall from grace seeming only to speed up in the previous few months, but despite this, we all know those BB owners who remain defiant that they won't cave in to the glamour of an iPhone or Android smartphone.
BlackBerry's OS and brand in general may be tanking right now, but the Canadian company seems determined to turn things around, and following the recent release of its prized BBM app for iOS and Android, it looks as though users of the latter ecosystem may begin to see the instant messaging app installed as standard on some future devices. If there's one thing consumers tend to loathe, it's the pre-installation of unnecessary bloatware that cannot be removed, but the good news - at least, for much of the western world - is that it's unlikely to be finding its way to your favorite Android brand of handset any time soon.
BBM for iOS has just received an update over at the App Store, bringing with it support for the iPod touch and the Wi-Fi only iPad. More details as well as direct download link can be found right here.
If you've been patiently waiting for BlackBerry to give you access to its BBM service on iOS or Android then you're in luck, because the Canadian firm has now opened its instant messaging system up to anyone, allowing existing users to invite their friends to join them on what was once the world's up and coming instant messaging service.