Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement.
With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.
The new Bold 9700 is definitely getting ready for an imminent launch on Rogers (NYSE: RCI), but that doesn’t mean the old 9000 is going to be left in the dust – in fact, it’s getting two updates in the near future. Enterprise sales inventory show the white and cameraless models will be finding their way up north, both of which we’ve seen in action on AT&T. Hopefully the new versions will be accompanied with price cuts, since the 9000 is still running for a relatively steep $249.99. As for a date, it’s assumed that these will launch alongside the new Bold 9700 around November 4, but we’ll be finding out for sure soon enough.
By Simon Sage on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 11:09 AM PST In Gaming
Although a little bit later than expected, the real-time strategy classic, Command & Conquer: Red Alert, is now available on the iPhone. RA lets you play as either Allies or Soviets across 12 levels of resource gathering, unit building, and, of course, military conquest. Gamers out there will be familiar with name, although understandably wary about gameplay on a smaller screen. By the looks of the screenshots, Red Alert looks wholly playable and potentially a lot of fun if EA took their time and made sure everything was properly redesigned for mobile. Downloadable expansions will broaden gameplay by adding multiplayer capabilities and another unique faction down the line… Looking forward to it! In the meantime, you can nab Red Alert in the App Store for $9.99.
Vodafone and Optus have announced the light, affordable BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) 8520 Curve to Australia and New Zealand today. To sum up our review, the BlackBerry 8520 cuts out a lot of the higher-end features, like a decent camera with flash, GPS, and a high-res screen in favour of keeping the price point down. Even with a few features cut, the new design and especially the optical trackpad make the 8520 a sleek, functional little smartphone. You can grab the Optus version here for $AUD 379.99 or Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) here for $AUD 399.99.
Invites to a private event in Taipei recently went out, boldly titled the HTC HD2 Product Launch and dated for November 4. HTC is touting the HD2 as “the first Windows phone with HTC Sense”, although that really just amounts to an update in TouchFlo 3D. Still, it’s good news that things are getting official with HTC’s WinMo behemoth; packing a 1 Ghz Snapdragon, a 4.3″ WVGA touch display, Wi-Fi, GPS, and of course Windows Mobile 6.5. The November 4 date lines up nicely with previous rumours that Europe would see the HD2 on the 11th., but the U.S. probably won’t get it until early 2010 – let’s keep our fingers crossed for confirmation in the next few days. To get up close and personal with the HD2, take a look at our hands-on video from CTIA.
Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s back in the game with droid.
Motorola’s droid launch captures all of our attention this week, spanning from hands-on impressions of the hardware, Android 2.0 and what the freshly-included turn-by-turn navigation system means for traditional PNDs. So far, the Motorola’s will be the Android handset to beat, but Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE)’s X10 may very quickly grab that claim.
As usual, we’ve got some toys to giveaway: two Tenqa stereo Bluetooth speakers, so you can stream your tunes from your phone out to whatever room suits your fancy. Entry criteria are a little bit different, this round, though; instead of leaving a comment, you’re going to have to listen to the podcast for our secret password, then e-mail it to podcast contest@intomobile.com. Odds of winning are good, since we have both the SP-109 and the SP-99 to hand out. So, get listening and keep your ears open.
Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) has been getting the gears turning for the launch of their first Android handset code-named Rachel with their What’s Next? website earlier this week, which has since been updated with this teaser video. This is the first official nod to the X10 device, though we’ve seen lots of hands-onpictures (mostly from when it was called the X3), and even a video of SE’s impressive custom user interface. Rumoured specs include a beefy 8 megapixel camera, 4″ WVGA touchscreen, 1 Ghz processor, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3G, 3.5mm headphone jack and the recently-released Android 2.0. January is our best guess for launch so far, but an official announcement will be happening November 3 (next Monday).
Those of you who were getting comfortable with the breadth of Sprint (NYSE: S)’s Simply Everything plan and partaking in the odd smartphone tethering will be in for a rude interruption. Some heated discussion on the Sprint forums has revealed that phone as modem service is no longer available for Simply Everything customers, although a Sprint employee vehemently defends the decision, saying that PAM has always been an add-on, and anyone tethering up until now was doing so outside the purview of their contract. Sprint VP David Owens has confirmed the change and that there won’t be a PAM add-on available for Simply Everything any time soon. There are always workarounds, like My Tether for the Pre, and TetherBerry for BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), but that’s more work than a lot of users would like to put in; clearly Sprint is more interested in hawking their mobile broadband access through WiMAX routers. It’s disappointing news for many customers, but it’s hard to blame Sprint for pushing 4G.
In the middle of August, AT&T (NYSE: T) was on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit in Louisiana for not enabling MMS on the iPhone as they said they would by the end of the summer. Even though it ended up arriving September, another suit has bubbled up in Alabama. iPhone owner Clyde Bernard Franklin is launching the class action lawsuit on behalf of all Alabamans who picked up Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s smartphone on or after July 1 of last year and is seeking punitive and compensatory damages under the Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act. It’s a little late to be going after AT&T for this now, but you can hardly blame somone for trying to squeeze a few pennies out of them, considering the latest sales numbers.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, our wireless regulatory north of the border, has just put the brakes on wind Mobile’s planned launch this November over concerns of Canadian ownership. You see, 65% of the parent company, Globalive, is owned by an Egyptian telecom called Orascom, and according to the CRTC, that weighs too heavily on wind’s day-to-day dealings. Specifically, the Telecommunications Act states that a carrier must fullfill three criteria to operate:
(a) not less than eighty per cent of the members of the board of directors of the corporation are individual Canadians;
(b) Canadians beneficially own, directly or indirectly, in the aggregate and otherwise than by way of security only, not less than eighty per cent of the corporation’s voting shares issued and outstanding; and
(c) the corporation is not otherwise controlled by persons that are not Canadians.
Industry Canada had already looked into this very ownership issue and given the green light for Globalive to own a chunk of the wireless spectrum on auction. Rogers (NYSE: RCI), Telus (NYSE: TU) and Bell don’t want any more competition, and considering wind’s frankly revolutionary approach to customer service combined with their decent handset lineup, they stand to put up a good fight versus the incumbents. These ownership problems apparently didn’t stop Globalive’s ISP and landline property, Yak, from setting up shop, so what gives?
Well, let’s take a look at the full report. There are three main points that, when combined with the fact that Orascom will be handling Globalive’s debt, the CRTC has determined would allow them to control wind: Orascom “holds two-thirds of Globalive’s equity; is the principal source of technical expertise; and provides Globalive with access to an established wireless trademark.” The report states that there have already been a lot of good structural changes made, and that if Globalive makes a few more to address these points, wind has a good chance of taking off.
That means fixing the situation might be as easy as taking on more Canadian investors to reduce Orascom’s ownership from 65% to 20%, changing the name, and making local wireless partners (Nortel, maybe?). Part of me wants to applaud the CRTC for making sure the revenue generated from a Canadian carrier stays in Canada, and part of me wants to punch them in the face for delaying (and possibly killing, if the additional changes are insurmountable) what could be Canada’s sole glimmering hope for legitimate wireless competition in the near future. If you’re piping angry and want to give the CRTC a piece of your mind over the decision, there’s an online petition over here, or you can show your support in wind’s blog. Globalive is currently looking at placing a federal appeal, so there’s hope yet.
Motorola beat analyst expectations with their third quarter financial results today. Overall sales for the quarter reached $5.5 billion, translating to $616 million in positive cash flow and$0.01 per share. Their mobile devices division specifically shipped 13.6 million units (4.7% market share, down from 25.4 million last year), and reduced operating loss to $183 million, versus a loss of $840 million in Q3 ‘08. Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s first quarter this year cast quite a shadow on their 2009, but between these relatively bright results, the burgeoning cliq and the promising droid devices, Q4 is looking pretty good. Here are some quick analyst reactions to the report:
“In the third quarter the upside is primarily driven by their enterprise business and continued cost rationalization in the mobile devices business.” – Matthew Thornton, Avian Securities
“They have been very effective in cost cutting and the Droid really is the best device Motorola has come up with since 2005.” – Tero Kuittinen, MKM Partners LP
“Motorola will get a waiver from investors as long as it shows directional improvements in its financial model.” – Mark Sue, RBC Capital
For more financial news and keeping an eye on wireless stock, take a gander at our Finance section.
The new Bold 9700 is definitely getting ready for an imminent launch on Rogers (
Although a little bit later than 
Vodafone and Optus have announced the light, affordable BlackBerry (
Invites to a private event in Taipei recently went out, boldly titled the HTC HD2 Product Launch and dated for November 4. HTC is touting the HD2 as “the first Windows phone with HTC Sense”, although that really just amounts to an update in TouchFlo 3D. Still, it’s good news that things are getting official with HTC’s WinMo behemoth; packing a 1 Ghz Snapdragon, a 4.3″ WVGA touch display, Wi-Fi, GPS, and of course Windows Mobile 6.5. The November 4 date lines up nicely with previous rumours that Europe would 
Motorola’s 
Those of you who were getting comfortable with the breadth of Sprint (
In the 
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, our wireless regulatory north of the border, has just put the brakes on 
Motorola beat analyst expectations with their third quarter financial results today. Overall sales for the quarter reached $5.5 billion, translating to $616 million in positive cash flow and$0.01 per share. Their mobile devices division specifically shipped 13.6 million units (4.7% market share, down from 25.4 million last year), and reduced operating loss to $183 million, versus a loss of $840 million in Q3 ‘08. Motorola (
