Tomorrow's headlines: local florist and rural farmer consider purchase of RIM, or at least the 'In Motion" part. Hot on the heels of a report suggesting that Amazon was at least considering a purchase of Canada's famed BlackBerry maker, in flies a separate report suggesting... well, all sorts of insane things. For one, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft and Nokia "flirted with the idea of making a joint bid" for RIM in recent months, with the status of the talks today being "unclear."

Of course, the fact that these talks are even ongoing says a lot about the internal happenings at the company, and with co-CEO Jim Balsillie recently suggesting that "no stone" would be left unturned in a bid to turn the corner, it doesn't take a professional Between The Lines reader to make sense of it all. Crazier still, two other folks "familiar with the situation" have said that RIM executives have "approached other smartphone makers, including Samsung and HTC, about licensing RIM's new operating system," presumably BBX BlackBerry 10. If anyone else decides they too are interested in having a talk with these guys (read: it's highly likely), we'll be sure to let you know.

RIM purportedly shopped by Microsoft and Nokia, talked with Samsung / HTC about licensing originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Research In Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie confirmed during the company’s third-quarter earnings call that its next-generation BlackBerry 10 smartphones will not launch until “the latter part of 2012.” RIM on Thursday reported third fiscal quarter earnings that beat its lowered guidance, but the firm projected a bleak fourth quarter that will likely fall well short of earlier expectations. BlackBerry 10 is widely seen as a possible turnaround for the firm, but we’re still more than six months away from seeing the first next-generation BlackBerry smartphone hit store shelves according to Balsillie. Mike Lazaridis added that RIM is currently waiting for a new line of dual-core processors to become available before it will be able to push its BlackBerry 10 smartphones out to market. BGR exclusively reported in November that the recently leaked BlackBerry London could be RIM’s first BlackBerry 10 smartphone, possibly launching some time in the third quarter of 2012.

Research In Motion’s retail partners have begun slashing prices on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in an effort to bolster unimpressive sales. RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie confirmed on the company’s second-quarter earnings call that price drops were imminent after the company reported just 200,000 units shipped into channels during the tablet’s first full quarter of availability. BGR reported reported earlier this month that Rogers employees were able to purchase the PlayBook starting at $250, and now the general public can finally get in on the action. Read on for more.

RIM currently offers three versions of its QNX-powered tablet — a 16GB entry-level model, a 32GB model and a 64GB version — and all three models are on sale at numerous nationwide retailers. Staples has knocked $200 off the price of each slate, $100 in instant savings and $100 in the form of a mail-in rebate. Office Depot is offering the same deal: each PlayBook model is available for $100 off MSRP, and then customers get another $100 back in the form of a rebate.

Best Buy’s sale prices line up with Staples and Office Depot in Canada, though Best Buy is advertising the new prices as a limited-time sale that ends on October 6th. The 16GB, 32GB and 64GB PlayBooks are available for $399.99, $499.99, and $599.99 respectively, and in-store purchases also qualify to receive a complimentary $100 Best Buy gift card, which means customers won’t have to wait for a rebate card to be delivered in the mail.

Finally, BGR has also been told by multiple readers via email that Walmart is offering unadvertised sale pricing on at least one PlayBook model, with purchases of the 16GB tablet ringing up at $250 despite an advertised price of $498. Walmart did not respond to a request for comment.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is RIM’s first tablet, and it is also the first device to launch with the company’s new QNX-based mobile operating system. While the tablet can now safely be lumped into a large pile of similar offerings that are not faring well against Apple’s iPad, many analysts still have high hopes for RIM’s next-generation QNX platform.

Well, it looks like Canon won't be the only company making a big camera announcement on November 3rd. RED CEO Jim Jannard has also now confirmed that it will also be officially announcing its "new" RED Scarlet camera on the very same day (no coincidence, it seems), at which point it will detail "all the changes" the company has made to it. Unfortunately, that's about all the company is saying right now, although Jannard promises that "when we announce the changes, we will be ready to ship."

[Thanks, Lucario]

New RED Scarlet to be announced November 3rd originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Research In Motion is reportedly slowing production of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet following its second-quarter earnings report, during which the vendor stated that only 200,000 PlayBooks were sold into sales channels in the quarter. RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie confirmed on the company’s earning call that the PlayBook would begin to see price reductions, and the beginnings of RIM’s effort to push PlayBooks off store shelves can likely be seen in an employee-only sale at Rogers. According to a new report, however, RIM isn’t overly optimistic that its efforts with the PlayBook will pay off. Read on for more.

Industry watcher DigiTimes on Wednesday reports that RIM’s manufacturing partner Quanta has cut back its PlayBook production lines in light of decreased orders. Moreover, RIM seemingly has no intention of reviving heavier production in the immediate future, as Quanta is said to be laying off as many as 1,000 workers from its PlayBook lines. Quanta confirmed that layoffs are underway according to the report, but would not comment on whether or not the workforce reduction is tied to RIM or the PlayBook.

RIM had placed orders for between 4 million and 5 million BlackBerry PlayBook tablets back in April of this year according to DigiTimes, but the Waterloo, Ontario-based vendor has shipped fewer than 800,000 units at this point. The report also says orders have dipped substantially to just 100,000 units per month in the third quarter. Quanta will reportedly pay severances averaging $3,420 per worker dismissed from its PlayBook production lines.

During RIM’s second-quarter earnings call, co-CEO Jim Balsillie noted that the company plans to offer price cuts on the not-so-popular BlackBerry PlayBook in the form of rebates, and an incentive program for enterprise sales. Additionally, Balsillie mentioned that there will be a major software update for the PlayBook coming soon. RIM reported during its earnings call on Thursday that it only sold 200,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets into channels during its August quarter, after having shipped 500,000 units in the fiscal first quarter. Wall Street was expecting PlayBook shipments to total 700,000 units in the quarter.

Research In Motion on Monday announced that Co-CEO Jim Balsillie will take over the role of Chief Marketing Officer following the recent departure of CMO Keith Pardy. Balsillie will remain Co-CEO alongside Mike Lazaridis as well, and both chiefs will also be co-chairmen of RIM. RIM’s former marketing chief, Keith Pardy, left the company for personal reasons back in March, just over one month ahead of RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook launch.

Read

Lately, anything goes when a RIM CEO gets in front of the media. Fortunately, it was the other CEO, Jim Balsillie, talking to Bloomberg this time delivering a calm, cool rebuttal to all the lukewarm PlayBook reviews. His consumer defense is largely based upon the PlayBook's ability to receive software updates (we received three in the brief time we had our review unit) throughout its lifetime. Jim, as you can imagine, preferred keeping the conversation focused on how the PlayBook is fully functional today when used in combination with a BlackBerry handset in business environments. Balsillie did seem to hint that the consumer experience could improve relatively quickly, saying, "We'll have an over the air email client to announce very very soon. We have BlackBerry World -- our user conference -- in a couple weeks. Stay tuned for all capabilities we have coming out on this stuff." See the man dance on the hotseat right after the break.

Continue reading RIM: PlayBook email client 'very very soon,' 3G model this summer

RIM: PlayBook email client 'very very soon,' 3G model this summer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Apr 2011 01:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don't think of this as the end of the road for Blockbuster, think of it as a new beginning. After filing for Bankruptcy back in September, big blue and yellow has been working to get its affairs in order -- and trying desperately to fend off both Netflix and Redbox with offerings like Blockbuster on Demand and Blockbuster Express. Things apparently haven't gone entirely to plan. The next stop is For Salesville, with bids for the company starting at $290 million. CEO Jim Keys put a positive spin on the news, saying that this will "allow for the consolidation of ownership of the company to those with a clear and focused vision for Blockbuster's future." It might also finally let that guy take a vacation -- a potentially very long one.

Blockbuster going up for sale, hoping to live up to its name originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It seems that Microsoft's taken the camera to heart following its dismissal of the pen -- the company bought 3DV, collaborated with PrimeSense on Kinect, and today it's apparently finalized a deal to acquire 3D CMOS camera chipmaker Canesta as well. In case you've already forgotten, the latter company is the one that made an paid actor look particularly smug last year, by allowing the gent to control his television with a flick of the wrist. Things have progressed a good bit further than that, however, as you'll see in a demo video after the break, and Canesta president and CEO Jim Spare says he expects the company's stuffs to "see wide adoption across many applications that embody the full potential of the technology" under Microsoft's reign. Press release after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft buys Canesta, continues camera-based domination of our interfaces

Microsoft buys Canesta, continues camera-based domination of our interfaces originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Oct 2010 22:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During an earnings call yesterday, Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance to talk Apple up and talk down just about everyone else. But RIM's co-CEO Jim Balsillie has a message for those who exist outside of Apple's "distortion field:" More »

For those of you not following the Apple earnings-call soap opera, let us give you a brief recap. Yesterday, during the Cupertino company’s Q4 conference call, CEO Steve Jobs joined the broadcast to speak with investors; an uncommon but not unprecedented move. Jobs then began to take questions and throw verbal jabs at several industry players including Google, application maker TweetDeck, HTC, Motorola, and Research In Motion.

Google’s Andy Rubin responded to Jobs’ claim that Android’s “openness” was slang for “fragmented” with a comical tweet, as did TweetDeck founder Iain Dodsworth; Jobs insinuated that developing TweetDeck for Android was a “nightmare” due to the platforms fragmentation. Motorola and HTC, who Jobs called out for “skinning” Android, have — up to this point — kept quiet. Who’s left? Research In Motion.

Mr. Jobs noted that Apple sold 14.1 million iPhones in its Q4 which was far more than RIM’s latest quarterly blowout of 12 million handsets. Having a flare for the dramatic, and – especially lately — not wanting to take any slack from Apple, RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie released a statement in response to Jobs’ innuendoes. Some key takeaways from Mr. Balsillie’s publishing: there are people who live both inside and outside of “Apple’s distortion field,” people care about Adobe’s Flash, and 7-inch tablets are cool. Hit the jump to see the full rant-rebuttal from RIM’s Jim Balsillie.

For those of us who live outside of Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7″ tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience. We also know that while Apple’s attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash. We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple. And by the way, RIM has achieved record shipments for five consecutive quarters and recently shared guidance of 13.8 – 14.4 million BlackBerry smartphones for the current quarter. Apple’s preference to compare its September-ending quarter with RIM’s August-ending quarter doesn’t tell the whole story because it doesn’t take into account that industry demand in September is typically stronger than summer months, nor does it explain why Apple only shipped 8.4 million devices in its prior quarter and whether Apple’s Q4 results were padded by unfulfilled Q3 customer demand and channel orders. As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story.

- Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at Research In Motion (RIM)

[Via CrackBerry]

You had to know that Steve wouldn't get away with putting his five minute, competition-slamming manifesto out into the ether without some snap back from the competition. We've already heard responses from TweetDeck and Andy Rubin, and now RIM's co-CEO Jim Balsillie has issued a statement in response to Jobs. Here it is:

"For those of us who live outside of Apple's distortion field, we know that 7-inch tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience. We also know that while Apple's attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash. We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple. And by the way, RIM has achieved record shipments for five consecutive quarters and recently shared guidance of 13.8 - 14.4 million BlackBerry smartphones for the current quarter. Apple's preference to compare its September-ending quarter with RIM's August-ending quarter doesn't tell the whole story because it doesn't take into account that industry demand in September is typically stronger than summer months, nor does it explain why Apple only shipped 8.4 million devices in its prior quarter and whether Apple's Q4 results were padded by unfulfilled Q3 customer demand and channel orders. As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story."

Sort of a big one, but we figure RIM at least deserves some equal time. Interesting that RIM is fighting Apple's assertion of surpassing their handset shipments, we'll have to see how that one settles once we get some "official" numbers from an unbiased third party. Meanwhile, let the mudslinging continue!

RIM's Jim Balsillie hits back at the Steve Jobs rant, Apple's 'distortion field' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 16:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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