The new info comes via a webcast about “Developing native games with the BlackBerry NDK 2.0″, during which RIM announced that they are “planning on releasing OS 2.0 on the 21st”. So it’s finally going to arrive. Hopefully there won’t be any problems associated with the rollout.

The 2.0 upgrade is coming with some much needed features including native e-mail, calendars, and contacts apps. As these features were not available when the tablet launched, users were forced to find solutions such as connecting their BlackBerry handsets to their PlayBooks.

You will also get to play with a few Android apps, but the bad news is that the BlackBerry Messenger app will still be missing. Also expected is an updated version of Bridge (BlackBerry Bridge 2.0) which will allow you to remotely control your PlayBook via your BlackBerry smartphone.

The post BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 Arriving Feb 21st appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Research in Motion has clearly seen some brighter days, but BlackBerry is pushing ahead with some new updates. Today, BlackBerry Messenger 6 was officially released and it comes with at least one novel feature that you might like. With BBM6, you can share news and updates from other apps as your BBM status.

Normally, your status is just a snippet of text. With the next BBM, you can connect your status to your most recent Foursquare check-in, for instance. This way, any of your BBM buddies can immediately know where you are without a) sending you a message to find out, or b) switching to the Foursquare app to look you up.

Foursquare isn’t the only app working with this kind of functionality, but aside from the Huffington Post and Poynt, not too many other major services have signed on. I’d imagine that Facebook and Twitter would be natural fits, too, but RIM will have to chat up those folks to see what kind of integration they’d want to have. You can see the full list of supported apps on the BB blog. The good thing is that if one of your BBM buddies shares a status with one of these apps and you don’t have it, you can download the necessary app directly from within the BBM 6 interface.

The post BBM 6 talks to other apps, even lets you share your location appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

It looks like a leak of BBM 6.0 has made its way onto the web and it comes with a few colorful new features that your current BlackBerry Messenger may not have. One of the most notable changes is the inclusion of color-coding your contacts.

You can already organize your contacts a variety of different ways, but the “at a glance” color coding could come in handy when you’re in a rush. The icons toward the bottom are the fun colored ones too, so I guess they want to have a little more personality this time around.

You can check out the screenshots for a better idea of what to expect, but the expectation is that BBM 6.0 will roll out as part of BB OS 6.1. Although you can grab the unauthorized version of the former now, it’s recommended that you don’t lest you want to deal with some unnecessary headaches.

Now the question remains, how will BBM look like RIM decides to port it over to other platforms? Will other smartphones get this color-coding too?

[Read]

The post Leaked: BlackBerry Messenger 6.0 Features Color-Coded Contacts appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

There’s word that BlackBerry Messenger will soon be ported over to Google Android and Apple iOS. The way that it works, this would mean not only access to a new BBM app on the other platforms, but also access to the trusted RIM servers and service. Why would they do this? Well, it could become a secondary revenue source. So what would be left for RIM?

While it is quite possible that BBM for Android and iOS will be offered for free, it’s also possible that RIM thinks it can charge a one-time fee or even monthly subscription fees to these non-Berry users to use the BB service by proxy. Then again, these same users can keep doing almost the same thing for free with WhatsApp and Kik.

Personally, I’m still not convinced in the value of BlackBerry Messenger when there are so many other cross platform messaging clients that are free. Couldn’t you do the same thing with Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, Skype, and any number of other IM protocols? Won’t RIM lose some of its Berry loyal by offering BBM outside the platform? They do have a secure hold on the corporate front, so allowing more devices to keep the RIM quality of service could still be rather appealing.

[via BGR]

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TechVibes brings up a very interesting point about some of the applications on various smartphone platforms. On the RIM front, you have exclusive access to the BlackBerry Messenger. On the iPhone 4, you have FaceTime. Where does that leave Google’s Android?

I think Android has a lot of potential to grow even further that what we are seeing today, but there isn’t much in terms of a “killer” messaging apps that are exclusive to it. TV makes mention of GTalk, but you can get IM clients on BlackBerry and iOS devices to access that messaging utility. Another suggestion put forward is Google Latitude, but the same holds true there too. It’s not exclusive to Android and, as such, it can’t really be thought of as the killer messaging app for the platform. Twitter, Facebook, and other networks can be accessed on just about any platform.

Realistically, though, does it really matter? Does Android really need to have its own separate IM client exclusive of the other platforms? Isn’t the whole “I can chat with anyone regardless of what device they have” part of the appeal in the first place?

[TechVibes]

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