There was a time not too long ago when the only employees who could be considered “mobile” were the high-powered executives with cellular phones in their Lincoln Continentals. The business world shifted with the rise of the Blackberry and suddenly a lot more people were able to do their standard business activities away from the office. Today, 73% of the global enterprise workforce is a mobile worker. That doesn’t mean they never come into the office (though some do not). It means that a portion of their job is handled offsite through the various devices we are given. Broadband is in most of the business…

First and foremost, RIM is dying. Anyone with knowledge of their situation knows that they have already lost the war against Apple, Google, and even Microsoft when it comes to being a player in the mobile device industry even if they still have a substantial chunk of the market. Recent reports indicate that they were approached by Amazon and others to help them get back on track but passed on the offers. “They have had approaches from folks who have wanted to have discussions,” said one head of technology investment banking at a Wall Street bank. “The issue is it is hard to find a value that makes sense…

In lieu of a refund or cash considerations, Research In Motion (RIM) is offering an apps package normally valued at around $100 to compensate for the most major outage the company has ever had. The three-day+ outage likely presented major challenges for the business-heavy Blackberry users who often rely on the devices to stay connected while on the go. “You expect better of us, I expect better of us” RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said in last week’s press conference. Now, we’ll see if users expected to be compensated more for the outage. Enterprise customers will also receive a free month of tech…

For the past couple of years, we have been waiting to see whether Research in Motion, the makers of the Blackberry, could rise to meet the challenge of iOS and, later, Android. And for a while, we were hopeful. Looking at RIM’s past and brand loyalty, there was much reason to believe they would succeed despite Apple and Google’s onslaughts. But yesterday, two news stories came out that were symbols of RIM’s (probably permanent) decline. The first was that Apple has enough cash to buy the entire mobile phone industry. The second was that RIM themselves have halved their internal projections for their…

Most of the iPad’s competition has been inferior and higher priced, which has resulted in numerous failures to create a true competitor. But Research In Motion might be on to something with the Blackberry Playbook. But this one little detail might be the most shocking of them all: it will cost $499. Since the creation of the original iPad, there has been little in the way of competition for Apple. Tablets like Galaxy Tab and Xoom have hit the scene, but they also have a price (a bigger one than iPad), which meant that not only was iPad superior, but it was more competitively priced. And that is how it has…

Geeks love smart phones, but if I see another “fart” application, I might just go kamikaze on my Droid X. Barring that potentiality, it has now become known that 26 percent of all applications are only used one time after installation, before becoming a waste of space, according to Localytics. And I think that fact is impressive. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that most of the mobile applications we install are stupid; they don’t do anything useful, they don’t do anything productive, and they don’t warrant the time spent downloading and installing them. Is it because the applications…

Earlier today, I was lucky enough to catch a too-brief glimpse of RIM’s 7″ Playbook tablet when David Neale, VP for Special Projects quickly demoed the device at an event in Toronto. Though the time that we got to see the device was limited, what is clear is that, though the tablet is definitely in a rough, unfinished shape, it is shaping up to be quite impressive. Here’s what we saw and learned: The interface hasn’t changed from what we’ve seen before. Neale showed that you can work ‘in the window’ i.e. swiping left and right to move between screens; and ‘in the frame of the window’ i.e swiping up from…

You just hit ‘play’ on a video touting the PlayBook’s allegedly ‘faster’ and all-around more awesome browser than the iPad’s. And the proof would appear to be in the pudding – the PlayBook’s browser DOES appear to be a fair bit faster, rendering pages in a relative jiffy when put beside the iPad’s sudden plod. The video also demonstrates the iPad’s lack of Flash (again), and even shows off some fancy Java rendering. But the big question here is: who cares? That’s a stupid question. Of course people care, but jeez, RIM… is it really wise to prod Apple fanboys like that, especially when the iPad 2 is…

When rumors that RIM, the makers of the Blackberry, were about to announce a tablet, you could have been forgiven for not being too excited. After all, beyond hearing silly names like ‘Blackpad’, people were skeptical RIM could create a compelling product. Then they actually announced the Playbook – a device with a new OS and some pretty impressive specs – and we all started to wonder: maybe this thing will be alright, yeah? Now comes news from the RIM CEO that the Playbook will come in for under $500. Suddenly, we might have a real competition on our hands. But other than price, what else does RIM have…

According to RIM’s co.CEO Jim Balsillie, the BlackBerry PlayBook will launch in Q1 2011 – and cost less than $500. That certainly doesn’t sound like bad news, especially considering the cheapest WiFi-only iPad is $499. While smaller than the iPad (7 inches, as opposed to 9.7), the PlayBook’s still got cool stuff the (current) iPad hasn’t, including two cameras and Flash support. Not that I’m a die-hard Flash hanger-on or anything, but even if it’s dying, it still accounts for a large part of the internet. Big Steve, I’d like to be able to see it. But let’s not go turning the comment section into a Flashwar…