Sprint’s BlackBerry 8330 goes live, May 09

The review of the unreleased BlackBerry 9000 rolls on, revealing a few new features in OS 4.6. The PIN messenger gets spellcheck, Bluetooth pairing gets a little easier, the media player gets skip back and forward buttons, and can exclude specific folders when running through a playlist. Video recording is now built into the camera application, making it a little trickier to access, and the Alarm app has recieved a significant upgrade. It’s now a full-bodied Clock, packing a quiet bedside mode, stopwatch and timer. Hardware-wise, we learn that the speakerphone quality on the 9000 is much improved. More to come soon, no doubt!

Jonathan Zittrain, recent author of “The Future of the Internet”, has attacked closed internet-enabled platforms (such as Xbox, the iPhone and BlackBerry) for stunting the collaborative forces which got the internet going in the first place.

“The challenge to the technologists is to build technologies to let people of good faith help without having to devote their lives to it. … I don’t want to see a two-tier world where only the experts can survive … and the non-experts are stuck between something they don’t understand and something that limits them.”

There are certainly some people who take issue with the way BlackBerry development goes now… What do you guys think? Are the big names shooting themselves in the foot by creating such a high barrier for entry and potentially limiting broader collaboration?

After all the harassing the government has done to get Indian carriers or RIM to help them get a lock on BlackBerry communications, they’ve conceded that they might have trouble decrypting anything using a 40-bit standard or higher. BlackBerrys use a 128-bit standard (AES), putting it and plenty of other devices such as satellite phones, outside of their reach. Setting up servers abroad remains an option for RIM, but at this point, India’s entire internal security could see an overhaul before that even becomes a possibility. The Department of Telecom has requested carriers scale back their security to a 40-bit standard, but that pull-back has been slowed by existing infrastructures running at 128. When it comes to stuff like this, I’ll agree with the Canadian government - if the media learns about stuff like this, it really does become a security hazard.

So we’re new to this whole survey game, we admit that. The last time we did this there were a few hiccups to be sure, but in typical BlackBerry Cool style, we’ve smoothed everything out post-beta.

Please take the time to fill out this survey, so we can better know what makes our readers tick. It only takes a few minutes, and as a bonus, all those who complete the survey will receive a free icy blue BlackBerry theme. Hoorah!

Note: For those of you who’ve already filled out the survey, please don’t do it again. The theme being offered is the same as last time, and why would you want to fill out a survey twice?

Click here to see device compatibility and instructions for installing your free theme

Doug and I met up with local Ottawa developer WICKSoft the other day to check out their mobile document access system, and were both duly impressed. If you don’t have the time to check out their flash demos, these guys offer a quick, secure, and easy-to-use document access program for a wide variety of server types. They also showed us the work they’re doing with some big-name partners, so you can expect some fine products plugging in to WICKSoft soon. Version 3.6 will be officially announced at WES (along with those new partnerships we can’t mention yet), featuring some pretty slick additions. We heard about their integration with Novell not too long ago, and it was cool to finally see it in action. It was impressive to see how quick and painless server-side installation went, as well as their full range of security features. Which isn’t to say that WICKSoft suffers on the user side of the equation: essentially, if you work at a company where mobile access to documents is a priority, WICKSoft is for you.

You can expect more coverage of WICKSoft from the ‘Cool at WES (which attendees can see for themselves at booth #731), with a review to follow shortly after. Until then, scope the new deets after the jump.

Check out a list of new features and some quick impressions for WICKSoft 3.6.

Verizon’s Curve is out the door a little earlier than expected, going for $219.99 on a two-year contract with a $100 online rebate. GPS, EV-DO-flavoured 3G, and OS 4.3 (with its revamped e-mail and browser interfaces, plus video recording) are all the goodies you can look forward to in this BlackBerry. I guess now we’re just waiting on Sprint…

WebMessenger has announced that their enterprise IM client will now play nice with Microsoft Office Communication Server. Outside of all your standard instant messaging, OCS also has a lot to do with VoiP… maybe we can see a voice client for BlackBerry…? We talked with WebMessenger on the podcast about pitching OCS support to AT&T, so if you’re in the market, take a listen.

A recent video tour of the BlackBerry 9000 shows off the few new features in OS 4.6, including launching streaming video in the BlackBerry Media Player, geotagging right from the camera app, and a new Clock feature. The improved browser was nary to be seen, and BlackBerry Maps wasn’t included yet (likely due to tweaking needed for the new assisted GPS technology that the 9000 is packing), but the software will likely get all its gaps filled before release. Hardware-wise, the 9000’s keypad is significantly improved over the 8800’s, has a bigger battery (and extra weight to go with it), and is packing an uber-bright LED.

Blue Systems is a relative newcomer to the mobile market. Though founded in 2002, they only recently released their financial software, called Blue. Blue Mobile, which we’ll hopefully get a chance to see at WES, allows user to track stocks, financial news, and other information directly from their phone. It also features a secure, built-in instant messenger to speak with your broker, programmable alerts, powerful charting, and a lot more. It’s available for $19.95/month, which they say is less than 20% of the price of their competitors.

After the recent announcement of SAP’s CRM software appearing natively on BlackBerry, ZDNet editor Larry Dignan got a chance to sit down and talk with RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie about a number of things. High on the list of subjects was, of course, the recent Kickstart leak, as well as the rumors of a touchscreen. Balsillie pointed out two things: first, that RIM is “not religious” about any form factor, and secondly that leaks aren’t always correct. They also spent a great deal of time talking about RIM’s strategy in the B2B (business to business) space, as compared with their efforts in the consumer or B2C space. Balsillie said that you need both to successfully sell phones, and that “ninety percent of the work you do in B2B works for B2C.”

The boys over at CrackBerry have tested the will of the eBay gods and purchased a pre-release BlackBerry 9000 online. There’s not much there that you haven’t heard before (i.e., the screen is nice, and it’s between a Curve and the BlackBerry 8800 size-wise), but there’s nothing wrong with some more BlackBerry 9000 eye candy. We’ll keep you informed if any new information surfaces.

Trackaphone offers location based services for business that need to track their employees or their assets while they’re in the field. The Asset Locator and The People Locator work similarly, giving businesses the ability to keep an eye on phones, employees, GPS devices, lone worker protection devices, and more. Both work with Mobile Finder, a stripped down version of the software that lets you keep an eye on the field even while you’re on the move. So far it’s only available on the 8800, so hopefully we’ll see support for more models at WES.

In their latest newsletter, Zumobi announced that they’re putting the “finishing touches” on the BlackBerry version of their software. If you head over to their home page you can sign up to be informed the minute it’s released. They’ve also made a couple of additions to their Tiles gallery, from notables CMT and Comedy Central. The CMT Tile delivers up-to-date news in the country music world, while Comedy Central offers up a new Joke of the Day Tile.

Three major carriers have released the BlackBerry Curve 8330 or are gearing up to do so shortly, in addition to those that have had them out for a while. As promised, Alltell is now offering the badboy in their online store for $299 after online discount and mail-in rebate. Sprint ads for it are appearing in American newspapers, offering a red or titanium Curve with a price of $179 after rebate, and with a two contract. Finally, Verizon’s will be available online and over the phone on May 9th, and over other channels on the 12th. It’s reported to be going for $270 after a $50 rebate and a 2 year contract.

Some concepts of a BlackBerry modeled after the 9000 dubbed “Niagara” have surfaced, supposedly minus 3G capabilities. The form factor is a little off from the BlackBerry 9000 shots we’ve already seen, so it’s possible this new model will be the next iteration in the 9000 line. The 9100 is already looking like it won’t be packing 3G, pointing to an ongoing trend of stripping features for the sake of battery life. Cutting features has the added benefit of lowering costs, which could do the rumored pricetag of $800 a considerable favour.

UPDATE: Our main man Boy Genius has taken the time to quell the confusion surrounding his report of a 3G-lacking BlackBerry 9000. Apparently, there are two different codenames swirling over at RIM HQ: the Javelin and the Niagara. BG is reporting that the Niagara is actually an EV-DO BlackBerry coming to Verizon in May of 2009. The Javelin is the previously mentioned 3G-less BlackBerry 9000. Everyone got that? Good. BG was also able to scrounge up (unconfirmed) specs for both devices, so check those out after the jump.

Click here to view specs on the BlackBerry Niagara and Javelin

If you’re a chocolate connoisseur, you might be interested in this new offering from Godiva. Godiva Chocolatier brings the Godiva catalog right to your BlackBerry, giving you access to the entire assortment of tasty treats from wherever you happen to be. It also integrates with your address book, allowing you to quickly send a package to anyone you know. Point your phone to http://www.godiva.com/mobile/default.aspx to download the app.

German-based enterprise powerhouse SAP has announced that they will be natively integrating their CRM software into the BlackBerry, with the rest of their business suite to follow. BlackBerrys with SAP’s CRM software will be shipping in the next couple months, and SAP’s EVP and general manager promised that the rest of the suite would be brought on board in “months, not years.” The article raises concerns over the outages that plagued RIM earlier this year, and the effect is might have on mission-critical business apps, but RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie said they were “not acceptable” and that they had taken steps to prevent them from ever happening again.

TeleNav is a leader in mobile GPS needs. They were the company behind AT&T’s GPS offering, and were chosen as one of Pinstack’s Five Star picks. TeleNav GPS Navigator offers everything you’d expect from a GPS suite: directions, both written and spoken, points of interest, traffic warnings, and more. You can preview routes before you set out, and if you miss a turn the software will automatically create a new one to get you back on track. It also offers 2D and 3D maps and a bunch of customization options. Considering the growing popularity of GPS in BlackBerrys, they should have some very nice demos on display at WES.