NEW YORK (Reuters) – Vonage Holdings Corp plans to offer discounted international phone calls to iPhone and BlackBerry users, as the Internet telephony company aims to expand beyond the residential market.
Consumers could save more than 50 percent for calls to dozens of countries if they download a free Vonage application to Apple Inc iPhone and Research In Motion BlackBerry devices starting on Monday afternoon, Vonage Chief Executive Marc Lefar said.
“It’s an important first step for us. It moves us from the home platform,” Lefar told Reuters. “Over the long term mobile is absolutely a critical place for Vonage to be competing.”
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by Robb Dunewood on June 25, 2009 · 1 comment
Pretty much ever since the day that the first iPhone was announced we’ve seen blog posts, news and magazine articles, and television reports questioning whether the BlackBerry would be able to survive once the Apple machine got wheels rolling. I think it is safe to say that Research in Motion and the BlackBerry have fared pretty well and have even exceed expectations.
I, however, want to ask a question from the other side of things. Should Apple be concerned about RIM? With the onslaught of multiple new BlackBerry devices on pretty much every carrier of consequence over a relatively short period of time, I say that Apple should be…
by Robb Dunewood on September 15, 2008 · 5 comments
Last week at CTIA, Slacker announced that they will have a free Slacker Personal Radio application for the BlackBerry coming out in October.
As an avid internet radio junkie, I can honestly tell you that I would probably pay for a good Slacker BlackBerry client, however, the best part of this announcement was the part where they tell you that they Slacker Personal Radio BlackBerry application will be free.
I definitely am looking forward to this.
[Source]
Remember when Steve Jobs said that Apple wouldn’t make an iPhone with a slide-out keyboard?
Well that was until he realized that he simply wouldn’t gain ground in the business world on the BlackBerry unless he reversed his stance.
According to The Register, mobile operators are reporting that a corporate iPhone with a slide-out keyboard may already be in the works. Jobs is asking what if type questions. “If you had a keyboard version, how many would you take?”
From the BlackBerry side of things…
We already know that the BlackBerry Thunder is coming and it will be first BlackBerry with a touchscreen, however, like the iPhone, will not have physical keyboard. I expect many BlackBerry users will shy away from anything without an actual keyboard and this includes the BlackBerry Thunder.
Although I am glad that the BlackBerry Thunder is coming out on Verizon first, I’ve often wondered why RIM would allow the BlackBerry Thunder to be a lifetime exclusive on Verizon. I can only hope that this is because another touchscreen BlackBerry with a slide-out keyboard is in the works for the other carriers.
Just like it was inevitable that the a BlackBerry with a touchscreen would come out eventually, an iPhone with a keyboard just makes sense if Apple is ever to gain ground on RIM in the corporate world. If I were RIM, however, I would come out with a BlackBerry slider before Apple comes out with an iPhone with a slide-out keyboard. RIM should have all the advantages of creating a good slide-out keyboard that Apple had with creating a good touchscreen interface.
A BlackBerry with a slide-out keyboard is an area where RIM should lead the market as compared to reacting to it. That’s my opinion. What do you think?
[Source]
There is a video running on CNN about how many BlackBerry users should be paid more becasue they are using their BlackBerrys to work after hours.
What do you think. Should BlackBerry users be paid more?
Watch…
Today is the day… It has been widely speculated that Steve Jobs will introduce the 3G iPhone today in his keynote at WWDC. There is no question that today will be a big day for Apple. I believe, however, that it will be a big day for the BlackBerry as well.
Just like last year with the release of the first generation iPhone, buzz in the smartphone world will be at its peak and, in fact, spill over into the consumer world of mobile phones. This is great news for RIM who saw their market share increase amongst all the hype of the iPhone over the last year.
I believe that the spill over effect may be even more pronounced this year because Research in Motion is putting out new devices that are even more consumer friendly than before. We’ve officially heard about the BlackBerry Bold, all but officially heard about the BlackBerry KickStart, and BlackBerry Thunder leaks are coming on strong. (How perfect is the timing on the Verizon BlackBerry Thunder pictures?)
Millions of consumers are going to be all jazzed up about the new 3G iPhone and walk into the stores to get information about it. Many are going to find out how expensive the iPhone is or that it only runs on AT&T and then immediately start to look at other smartphones, namely BlackBerrys, that are pretty cheap if not completely subsidized by the carrier and available on the network that they are already on.
To make a long story short, I think that the 3G iPhone announcement will be huge for the BlackBerry.
Someone asked me the other day what I thought about Android, Google’s mobile operating system that happens to be open and free, and the first thing that came to mind was that Research in Motion should build a handset that runs Android.
I really would like to hear what you guys think here in the comments, but, here a a few reasons why I think this could be a huge hit for RIM.
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I don’t think that anyone would question that the iPhone, with its SDK and upcoming native Exchange support, is trying to make inroads into the enterprise smartphone market currently dominated by the BlackBerry. There is no doubt that RIM is trying to make the BlackBerry more appealing to consumer users as well.
A question that I have and would love to hear your feedback on is which device will see more success in the other players market? Will the BlackBerry be a better bet with consumers than the iPhone will be with business users or will the opposite be true?
I’ve got my opinions, but, would love to hear what you think…
n
{democracy:14}
