Why Is RIM Looking For An iPhone Developer?

You may have already heard the rumors that started floating around yesterday, however, in case you haven’t Apple Insider is reporting that Research in Motion has a new internal job listing which suggests that the BlackBerry maker is looking for an iPhone developer. Most of the details about the position are hidden.

As part of a newly-created team, you’ll influence the development and design of BlackBerry software,” the listing reads. “This is a very confidential brand new team and a senior position within RIM so I can’t provide too many details. I guess you can figure out what it might be about though.

I guess there are a couple of ways you could go with this. RIM is definitely working on a touch screen BlackBerry. Maybe they are looking for someone with expertise on the iPhone’s interface. The issue I see here is that it will take them years to come up with something as good as the iPhone’s interface and as I’ve said before, RIM cannot out Apple Apple.

The other thought is that RIM is looking for an iPhone developer to actually develop software for the iPhone. The question here is what BlackBerry software could RIM possibly want to run on the iPhone? I’ve got two words for you…

BlackBerry Connect…

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Written by Robb Dunewood on April 30th, 2008 with 10 comments.
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PhoneTag Has A Cool New Feature

PhoneTag, who recently changed its name from SimulScribe, has added a really cool new feature. PhoneTag is the Visual VoiceMail application that we wrote a detailed review of the BlackBerry version a month or so ago.

The cool new feature that they added along with the changing of their name is the ability for you to upload your address book up to their servers. Doing so will allow their transcription software to send the transcribed message with your contacts name in the To field allowing you to quickly reply via email. It will also properly spell the contacts name so you immediately recognize who the message from.

This feature isn’t terribly new for BlackBerry users who download the SimulSays client to their device. When an email comes in the client software uses caller ID to search for a matching contact in your address book. It will, however, make PhoneTag much more usable for subscribers not fortunate enough to be using a BlackBerry.

Written by Robb Dunewood on April 30th, 2008 with no comments.
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Should Employees With BlackBerrys Get Paid More?

I just read a piece in the Globe and Mail about how a Canadian union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, feels that workers with BlackBerrys should actually get paid more. I am not going to rehash the whole article here, however, to make a long story short, union VP, Ed Cashman feels that workers expected to do work outside of regular business hours should be compensated for it.

What do you think?

[Source]

Written by Robb Dunewood on April 30th, 2008 with 7 comments.
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