Data was compiled by Bloomberg and IDC for the number of handsets shipped in Canada. In 2011, RIM shipped 2.08 million BlackBerry smartphones; Apple was able to ship 2.85 million iPhones over the same period. Contrast that to 2008 when RIM outperformed Apple by a ratio of five to one. The shift has been steady and clear since then.

It’s not just in its native Canada that Research in Motion is hurting. Even though the BlackBerry still holds its place in the Middle East and Indian markets, that market share is quickly dwindling as consumers increasingly shift to Android smartphones, particularly those from Samsung.

The hope is that the QNX-powered BlackBerry 10 smartphones (you might know them as BBX) will reverse the trend, but I’m not exactly staying optimistic. It’s not like the PlayBook has been a white knight for the Waterloo, Ontario company either.

[Source]

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You can tell that Research in Motion rushed the BlackBerry PlayBook to market. They didn’t want to miss the wave, so they released a product that wasn’t quite finished yet. Despite being out for just three months, the PlayBook is set to receive its fourth official update. And this is a good one too.

The newest update from RIM offers several new functions and features. First, you can now do the pinch-to-zoom thing while watching videos. That’s not a huge deal, but I think it’s a nifty addition. You can also finally view your photos in portrait mode, save attachments to your SD card or your phone’s internal memory, and go international with support for 15 additional languages.

For the corporate and business crowd, it’s also great to see that you can finally extract those ZIP files that your colleagues have been sending you via e-mail. You will need to use Bridge and port from your BlackBerry smartphone, but at least you can see what Joe from accounting means when he refers to the 15 TPS reports he just sent you.

This is the V1.0.7 update, and unfortunately it’s been stalled. Blackberry yanked it down and posted an explanation on Twitter, “Some users were experiencing issues with Bridge & 1.0.7. We expect to release an update with a fix later this week.” Sounds like Blackberry rushed this update too.

The post Fourth BlackBerry PlayBook Update Available Later This Week appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Near field communications technology isn’t exactly new, but it’s catching all sorts of traction in the mobile phone arena. When asked about NFC, Balsillie boldly said that the company would “be fools” not to include NFC in a future BlackBerry smartphone. Research in Motion is also actively involved in an NFC project alongside AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Does this mean that you’ll soon be paying for your morning java by simply placing your BlackBerry on a wireless reader? You might have part with your push email for just that second, but it means that you don’t have to put your ‘Berry aside to reach for your wallet either. It could be good for ID passes in restricted corporate areas too.

Nokia’s 2011 smartphones will all have NFC. Google too will support NFC in Android 2.3, and Apple is more than likely making an NFC-equipped iPhone 5.

SOURCE: Electronista

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