Want a good laugh to kick off your newscast? Read the first sentence in this article. And then wonder how it got published anywhere, never mind a popular cellular website. First touchscreen models? Has no one been paying attention for the past two and a half years? I’m actually shocked that there was no correction to the sentence. It’s one thing to remove your poorly stated and hasty opinion to avoid embarrassment. That’s bush league. But to leave in a factual error like that? If I’m the editor there I have that out pretty quick.
BlackBerry slider to get a new model name?
In the past few years we’ve gotten used to the BlackBerry model names. They started naming their devices with the Pearl, and then came the Curve. Eventually we got the Bold and then the Storm, too. It looked, for a while, like RIM would stick with these as its base model names. Even the Tour was just a one-off name. The follow-up went back to the old Bold moniker.
This week we learned that things might be changing in Waterloo. CrackBerry reports that we could see a new model name starting with the 9800 slider. While it was originally thought to be the Bold, we now learn that it could be called the Torch. It’s not a bad name by any stretch, and I do encourage RIM to name its devices rather than give us model numbers.
Tip of the Week: Spell check your emails. There are a few ways to do this, and we run them down.
RIM to announce App World 2.0
Some leaks are inevitable. In this 24-7 news cycle we’re constantly getting word of events before the fact. This is exactly what happened with RIM’s App World announcement. Last month they sent out some invites for an event that somehow involved BlackBerry App World. The first thought was that this would be an announcement for App World 2.0. I commented that we probably wouldn’t have to wait until the date in question, either, because word would surely leak beforehand. And it has.
BBLeaks has the info, though most of it is pretty predictable. In addition to PayPal, App World will now support credit cards and carrier billing, making life easier for the PayPal-phobic. There are also three other features we should see once RIM starts rolling out its new application store.
First, QR codes for applications. The Android Market uses this, and it can make for easier browsing. Just find the QR code for an app and scan it. This will go well with the UI upgrades, though I don’t think RIM has to do much other than tweak here. Finally, and this is the one I like best, it looks like App World 2.0 will work with BlackBerry ID. That means that your apps are your apps, even when you switch devices and/or carriers.
We’ll be sure to walk through the new App World when RIM pushes it out. For now we play the waiting game.
Does mainstream reporting make rumors more credible?
As we demonstrate every week, the BlackBerry world has no shortage of rumors. Multiple times per week we hear something new about upcoming BlackBerry devices and software. These are mostly posted to internet sites, blogs if you will, and so will naturally be met with some disdain by the mainstream press. Yet, later in the process, they always tend to report this stuff. Take this Wall Street Journal article for instance. They’re not really telling us anything new. Yet it was one of the most widely-linked stories this week.
We’ve known for over a month that not only was RIM working on a tablet, but that it would tether to your BlackBerry smartphone. We also knew that they were pushing production in an attempt to get it out before year’s end. We also knew that the 9800 was coming. Yet WSJ reported these as new discoveries. Perhaps this is the first time they’ve heard these items from multiple credible sources. That’s fine. But I think that sites like Boy Genius Report have a solid reputation, and that they tend to print stuff that turns out to be pretty accurate. When will the mainstream media start trusting them?
I suspect no time soon. Until then, prepare for a flurry of non-news when we get closer to new device releases.
Roundup
Just some stray links and such.
- Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks. No registration required, either. I think you might have a hard time finding a seat now.
- BlackBerry apps for runners. Because there’s never a bad time to start getting in shape.
- RIM trying to make the internet faster? That’s what a recent patent filing claims.
- YouTube on your BlackBerry. I like this app better than the YouTube mobile site.
