It’s a question I asked myself today and really it’s not so confusing but I’m really curious as to how this goes.  So you purchase a WiFi BlackBerry PlayBook from a Staples or Office Depot.  Ooops- it’s defective, what do I do now? Traditionally, we’d call up our carriers and have our BlackBerry smartphones replaced.  In this case we don’t have a carrier, as this is a WiFi model BlackBerry tablet.  So what to do?  It’ll go one of two ways:

• Take it back to the store you purchased it from and perhaps warranty exchanges will be done there on the spot.
• Call RIM directly, and if that’s the case, they probably have a customer care jsut for the PlayBook.

Anyone else have other ideas? The tablet must come with a warranty, so let’s not start questioning that please.  Hit us up in the comments and let us know what you think about the PlayBook warranty and how it will be handled.

This guy from Staples sure like to leak stuff out about the BlackBerry PlayBook.  Now we get more in from Staples, this time around it’s for the District Sales Challenge and the PlayBook gets the spotlight for the 15th of April.  So does that mean that the tablet launches on the 15th or is this simply just the date set for the challenge itself?  Make your guesses for now as there is no right or wrong at this point until we get closer to the date.

Source: CB

I liked the idea of BlackBerry Traffic when it came out, but the app itself just never seemed appealing to me for some reason.  Last night the app got a really nice update to version 2.0, but it looks like it’s a beta release for now.  Here’s the full change log:

• Complete UI revamp – You asked for it, you got it.  BlackBerry Traffic 2.0 features new icons, color scheme, 6.0-style theme, and more!
• Route selection screen – You told us you want more routes to choose from, so we took action.  There are now two route choices (including ETA and trip distance info for each) available to you as soon as you select a destination.
• Future traffic view – A new future traffic view can be accessed by selecting the current time on the route selection screen, or by flipping through the different views when a route is selected.  This view can be used to determine the best departure time based on predicted traffic conditions.
• Next maneuver drive view – The simple view has been revised to display the next maneuver with corresponding turn icon in a large, easily viewable font.
• Search history – Frequent search terms are now available from a drop down on the search screen.

You can grab the new version of BlackBerry Traffic over at Beta Zone.

Celebrate the luck o’ the Irish, being Irish, or just wishing you could be having some green beer today! Here’s a simple yet nice theme I came across over at our app store based on St. Patrick’s Day which gives you a green beer fizzing in the background.  Also you’ll see the four leaf lucky clover as well.  Icons remain to be the same stock style icons, as this theme only adds different background images on each screen.

Check out St. Patrick’s Beer theme >>

BlackBerry Handheld Software v6.0.0.1965 (All Languages)

Package Version: 6.0.0.1965
Consisting of:

• Applications: 6.0.0.461
• Software Platform: 6.5.0.147
• File name: 9780AllLang_PBr6.0.0_rel1965_PL6.5.0.147_A6.0.0.461_Telus_Mobility.exe
• File size: 186.64MB

Note: The Software Platform and Applications version numbers can be found under Options-About screen on the handheld.

Download OS 6.0.0.461 for the BlackBerry Bold 9780 >>

ShortcutMe allows you to set shortcuts for any applications and many different actions on your BlackBerry.  The developer suggests that it’s a must have application for BlackBerry, and I definitely agree if you’re looking to get more usage out of your convenience key to execute multiple apps/actions and would like keyboard shortcuts as well.  It works especially great on the Torch as you have touchscreen gestures included as well.  Features include:

• Ability to assign 6 applications to side keys (i.e. double click to lock your device, triple click to clean memory, double click to turn your blackberry into a flash light),
• Create your own shortcuts to quickly launch your favorite app form anywhere, or shortcuts for calling, emailing or SMS a friend.
• Create shortcuts for a new Memo/Task, toggle the Wifi/Radio/Bluetooth/GPS, open a favorite website.
• Create shortcuts to easily launch (most of) BlackBerry and 3rd party applications.

As a Deal of the Day special, grab a copy for only $1.99, today only!

Check out ShortcutMe for BlackBerry >>

I read something along those lines last night, then saw that Ronen from BerryReview shed some light on the matter and spotted a Microsoft article talking about this free cloud service for BES.  Pretty much Microsoft has cut off BES fees for Exchange customers completely, and are bringing in an Office 365 solution soon.

Now according to some rumors, Microsoft and RIM are both set to unveil hosted BES for customers using Exchange  2010 email service.

Microsoft and RIM are set to unveil a new offering, possibly as soon as March 16 — a Hosted Blackberry Enterprise Service for customers using Exchange 2010 Online, Microsoft’s hosted Exchange e-mail service, according to my sources.

Read more >>

Yesterday RIM announced the BlackBerry Messenger Social Platform in open beta.  We’ve been waiting since September for this to launch, and it’s very exciting that developers can finally integrate it in their applications.  I see it being evolved more around multiplayer games, where you can invite people to play on your BBM list and have your PIN or user name as your gamer tag.

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No breaking news here, but it’s standard tradition that every time a new BlackBerry device is about to launch, we see parts for it leaked on TrueSupplier.  That’s the case here once again.  BerryFix spotted that the BlackBerry PlayBook has quite a few parts for the PlayBook up for sale, including the touchscreen, bezels, and digitizer pad.  Along with that we see a bunch of nice cases to purchase for the PlayBook, so you can pregame on some of those and drool all about it til the RIM decides to come out the closet with the tablet.  The parts listed appear to be marked as OEM, but the one above has a funny looking BlackBerry logo or just bad photography.  In any case, hopefully you all will take good care of your PlayBooks and not have to resort to ordering parts for them.

Thanks Jim for sending this in!

So far we’re pretty leaned on the fact that the BlackBerry PlayBook does have a PIN, and we were even told at the PlayBook event in New York that it did have one.  But it wasn’t a straight forward “yes.”  We were told it has a PIN but will “work differently,” whatever that means.  I’m not so mad about the “bridge” system where I have to Bluetooth connect my BlackBerry to my PlayBook to get BBM up and running, but I’m thinking about other folks out there who don’t have BlackBerry smartphones and introduce themselves to RIM products starting with the PlayBook.

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