Verisign buys Certicom for $92 million.  Seems like it didn’t work well for RIM in buying extra time.  Verisign offered more than RIM and now it is official.  Verisign’s purchase will increase Certicom shares by 40 cents and a 26 cent premium by the end of the week.  Sad day for RIM indeed.

Just like the show, you get all 3 lifelines and the same skin/look to the game.  With over 1,000 questions available, you’ll keep yourself company wherever you are, whether on a flight back home, or playing instead of sending out corporate emails at work!  All sound effects are stock from the TV show so you’ll have the full simulation of the real deal! Buy the game here for only $6.99. If you don’t want to pay for it now, have it charge right to your phone bill!  Simple as that.

Source: Bplay

A little to early to be covering, but in the BlackBerry Newsletter at the bottom, they quickly touched upon WES this year and registration information.

Types of people who go: executives who are responsible for technology decisions, IT professionals, developers for business applications

Things you will learn: how to boost your productivity and return on investments, strategies to get the most out of your IT investments, methods on how to extend your current IT infrastructures to overcome development challenges

Who will be there? BlackBerry solution experts, cellphone carriers (T-Mobile, AT&T, etc.) , industry leaders and analysts

Click here to download the PDF brochure to find out more details.

Source: WES 2009

In the latest BlackBerry Developer Newsletter, RIM releases some new info on the all new storefront coming out sometime in March this year. Included in this newsletter is a little video/slideshow as an introduction for which directions RIM wants to go. It is confirmed that the storefront will be for both personal and business applications in one storefront on your BlackBerry. I’m hoping the navigation layout is nice and differentiates personal and business apps. Just like the iPhone, expect to see free apps as well as those that require purchasing.

The main punchline behind this is to initially be able to wirelessly download all of your applications OTA. Installing applications through Desktop Manager is trying to slowly fade away, but I am certain there will be some applications that just cannot be handled wireless.

Again, in this newsletter RIM urges the developers out there to submit their applications in now to be featured in the storefront. Desperation or just looking for “aggressive expansion?”

Source: BlackBerry Developer Newsletter

Fido BlackBerry Pearl 8100 Pricing:

• $400 MTM / No Contract
• $350 on a 2 Year
• $25 on a 3 year w/ Voice + Data (no minimum monthly total cost required).

Fido BlackBerry Plans:

• $15 – Unlimited Personal Email & IM
• $25 – 500MB BIS Data
• $30 – 1GB BIS Data
• $60 – 3GB BIS Data

Source: BlackBerry Sync

We can all agree that Obama is indeed attached to his Blackberry.  He was nervous about being able to keep his fancy 8700c and that he would have to primarily use the NSA’s Sectera Edge Windows Mobile smartphone which does not seem appealing in the slightest way.  Honestly being offered a phone like that only makes you appreciate your BlackBerry smartphone even more.  Obama managed keeping his device, doing well in convincing the NSA, and has also gotten an exceptional super-encrypted package on to it.  It pays to be the President these days I guess.  Obama’s BlackBerry will be for his personal use and only senior staff.  He stated that only a small number of his friends will be keeping in touch with him via BlackBerry.  It is understood that all emails are subject for review in the Presidential Records Act.  But Obama urged that there are exemptions in that law for “strictly personal communications.”

Source: BlackBerry Sync, BlackBerryCool

Here’s a nice entertaining application for those who can’t seem to make up your mind anymore.  Look at it as your mentor, your buddy at need, or even your Oracle.  The Oracle is a BlackBerry application that will tell you the answers you may or may not want to hear to questions you ask it.  Dear readers, please do not use this for big decisions involving refinancing your home or filing an IPO.  This is just a fun little application for small fun situations where you don’t know what to do.  At only $2.99 you can download it for your BlackBerry.

Available Here for: Bold, Storm, Curve, Pearl, 88xx

Source: MobiHand

AT&T just announced it will be selling off 235 of its towers to the highest bidder on eBay Global Tower Partners for an unknown amount.  As much as this will be a money saver for other things they have in production, it will indeed affect the consumer in terms of service and things of that nature.  We saw in the past how Sprint sold off 3,000 towers, and no one can disagree in that the company is doing pretty poor at the moment.  Whether or not it is in relation to the tower selling, Sprint has not shown any improvement over the past few months.  Sad day for us AT&T users who are just going to be seeing a decline in reception.

Source: BlackBerry News

Tiggit Mail is an alternative emailing client for BlackBerrys.  It has HTML email display that’s “proper as desktop” which doesn’t seem like much of a luxury now given that os 4.5 and up give that to you already (for the most part).  It has full attachment services including downloading and uploading as well.  Documents To Go application is fully compatible with it in opening files.  The main point to be brought is that it is just an alternative emailing system, if you dislike your native BlackBerry emailing service.  It is a very easy interface and cosmetically nice.  It is free to try or $30.00 to purchase

There’s a rumor that the BlackBerry Pearl Flip is coming to Telus, as CDMA ofcourse.  This is pretty shocking for a smartphone that hasn’t been out that long is already being released non-GSM.  I wouldn’t be suprised seeing it featured from Verizon soon.  If you recall last year, the Curve took quite sometime to his CDMA.  Good to see improvements such as these happen now.  Margins between BlackBerrys coming out for different carriers are becoming shorter and shorter it looks like. 

Source: BlackBerry Sync