Industry coverage, news, original feature articles, how to guides, videos, podcasts and reviews of BlackBerry service providers, software, accessories, hosted exchange providers and more

Feeling overloaded with BlackBerry news and rumors? We know the feeling. We hear new things almost every day, and it can be tough to keep up with it all. that’s why we’re bringing you BlackBerry News from the Wire every Thursday.

We’ll catch you up on everything ‘Berry that happened over the course of the week. Not only that, but we’ll rank ‘em by importance, so you can more easily skim the items and read the ones of most significance. If you only have time to read one article, for instance, you might want to head down to our 5-star section. It’s All the BlackBerry News Fit to Geek.

Info, pictures emerge of BlackBerry Niagra
Bless those boys at The Boy Genius Report. They’ve got some serious details on the BlackBerry Niagra, which will be dubbed the BlackBerry 9630. It’s going to be a Verizon World Edition, which will come as a relief to many international travelers. Unsurprisingly, there will be no Wi-Fi, despite rumors that Verizon will start enabling the feature on some handsets. As expected, it will come with a 3.2 megapixel camera, and there’s a rumor of a camera-less version. Look for a May/June release, which would coincide nicely with a WES announcement. CrackBerry has some actual photos of the device, and it looks freaking awesome. Smaller than the Bold, and it looks just as small as the Curve 8900.

RIM dubs the application storefront App World
We got some details on the BlackBerry Application Storefront this week. To kick things off, BlackBerry News reports that it will be called BlackBerry App World, which is a pretty decent title. Shorter than Application Storefront, which is a plus. We did get some sad news, though. CrackBerry reports that the lowest price point for paid apps will be $2.99. I would think that 99 cent and even $1.99 apps would be more appealing to consumers. When you’re getting to $3 per app, though, people are going to start thinking about how much they’re spending on apps they’ll use for maybe a month.

Second BlackBerry store launches in Atlanta
You might remember the trip we made to the BlackBerry Store out in Michigan last year. It was a top-notch store, with employees knowledgeable both about the BlackBerry handsets and about the service. Now another BlackBerry store has opened, this one in the Atlanta Airport. It looks like you can get a BlackBerry from Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, but not AT&T. Huh. I wonder why. Atlanta is a busy airport, and with plenty of layovers there perhaps this store will be a success.

Bold yanked in Japan amidst overheating concerns
Man, the BlackBerry Bold is just full of bugs. It was delayed all the way to November by AT&T while they worked out kinks in the OS, and Orange in the UK canned the device completely. RIM released the device on NTT DoCoMo in Japan recently, and it has been pulled from shelves due to overheating concerns. The complaints started early, and the company sold only 4,000 before the problem became widespread enough to stop sales.

BOLT browser gets massive attention in first week
Two weeks ago the Bolt Browser entered public beta, and the response was enormous. They’ve seen over 150,000 downloads so far. That might not represent a large percentage of the overall BlackBerry community, but it’s great for an application that is relatively new. I think it’s going to hit big once they get it to an official release. As Thomas from BerryReporter says: “Watch out Opera Mini, you are about to get schooled in the art of mobile browsing.”

Get colored BlackBerry trackballs
Sick of your pearl white BlackBerry trackball? Now you can get it in color. The website CNN.cn — no, not Central News Network — is selling trackballs of various colors. They’re just $7.99, so it’s a decent deal. After you get yours in the mail, you can read up on how to replace your BlackBerry trackball.

Get Podtrapper for BlackBerry podcasting
Isn’t it a pain to get the BBGeekcast on your BlackBerry? Thanks to Podtrapper, it might not be so bad. BlackBerry Cool has a writeup on the premium application, which downloads podcasts to your BlackBerry for easy playback. It will work over WiFi and most data networks, so you don’t have to sideload new episodes. We knew something like this was coming soon, so it’s glad to finally see something. You can download it here.

Stop pocket dialing in its tracks. Use the Convenience Key to lock your keyboard.

Review of the Seidio Innocase for BlackBerry. Cooper tested out the Seidio Innocase Crystal, and it’s looking like a viable case option for your BlackBerry.

Stream your iTunes library with Didiom. This is a pretty neat app that allows you to wirelessly stream music from your iTunes library to your BlackBerry. They also have a store so you can impulsively download songs.

The girls’ guide to BlackBerry. It’s not just a dude’s domain, though it might seem that way sometimes. Check out the article from BlackBerry Chick.

Dialing letters on your BlackBerry. Your Berry doesn’t have a standard telephone keypad with the numbers corresponding to letters. So how do you dial 1-800-MATTRES? This quick tip explains.

How to save sent messages on your BlackBerry. It’s not easy, and there’s no ideal way to do it. Hopefully, a future BIS release provides a few more options for filters.

Quickly mark prior messages as open. Works great with Gmail’s one-way sync. Commenter Dave provides some insight as well.

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