BlackBerry World – the game is on

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor

Today was the keynote at BlackBerry World 2011, and the surprise guest was Steve Ballmer from Microsoft.

Read the coverage in Why Microsoft and Research In Motion Are New BFFs. I enjoyed the quip about “BingBerry,” and Kevin Tofel also talks about the consolidation of platforms and services that is happening (Web OS?). You can also read the play-by-play of the keynote, from Todd Haselton, at Boy Genius Report.

In the article, RIM, Microsoft Announce New BlackBerry Partnership with Focus on Bing, Al Sacco of CIO.com had an interesting comment:

In the past, some wireless carriers have decided which search engines would be the default in their BlackBerry device browsers, and it’s unclear whether or not those carriers will still have a say or if they’ll be forced to leave Bing as the BlackBerry default search.

In the article, Blackberry 7 Announced, Ed Hansberry writes that Blackberry 7 seems to be a minor release, missing the expected QNX, but it will support the new Blackberry Balance service.

BlackBerry Announces Latest OS, Thinnest Smartphones Yet, Christina Warren says that “on paper, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones look like the most competitive offerings RIM has had in years.” And thinnest.

RIM Acquires German Software Developer Ubitexx, sounds like good news for Enterprises:

“This acquisition will help RIM to provide better assistance to its enterprise customers, allowing them to efficiently manage smartphones and tablets based on the Apple iOS and Google Android platform.”

BlackBerry World: Balancing the Needs of Consumers and IT, by Susan Nunziata, shows how RIM is trying to get consumer buzz, while appealing to enterprise decision makers.

Tags: Blackberry