I found this one a bit comical, but it could actually work out for you! RIM let us know about a last minute Valentine’s Day strategy that of course includes your BlackBerry smartphone.  The strategy pretty much consists of applications and BBM messaging.  Here it is:

• Step 1: There’s nothing she’ll find more romantic than a surprise retreat to a romantic location. Book a quick getaway with the BlackBerry Travel app. Book transportation, lodging, etc., all while you’re pretending to be sending out a very important email during staff meeting.
• Step 2: To locate a hot dinner spot at your destination, use the OpenTable app.  OpenTable will show you real-time table availability at nearby restaurants. Refine your search by cuisine, price, or reservation time, and then make your reservation from your BlackBerry. If you’re feeling more adventurous , check out the101 Best Date Ideas

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We were wondering if Research In Motion’s new CEO Thorsten Heins would be making an appearance at BlackBerry DevCon Europe.  It seemed appropriate since he just came into his CEO role and many are still curious how well his involvement will be now.  It appears Heins gave the opening speech for BlackBerry DevCon Europe today,  which has about 2,000 attendees in Amsterdam.  Here’s the full press release:

7^th February 2012 – Thorsten Heins, President & CEO, Research In Motion (RIM), today opened the BlackBerry® DevCon Europe conference in Amsterdam. Admission to DevCon Europe 2012 is sold out with more than 2,000 attendees expected from across Europe, the Middle East, Africa (EMEA) and beyond.

Delegates at the two-day event will learn how to leverage the strength of the BlackBerry® platform in order to build high-quality apps for more than 75 million BlackBerry users worldwide. Attendees will also receive a free BlackBerry® PlayBook™ to help with tablet application development.

The conference will focus on showcasing the opportunities that the BlackBerry platform presents to developers and how they can most effectively drive revenue streams from their apps. RIM’s developer relations team will be on hand to demonstrate the simplified process for building apps for the BlackBerry platform and offer guidance on working with a number of innovative technologies, including:

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We’ve already been publicly informed by RIM that BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will be officially launching this month.  It’s nice to see they aren’t quietly launching this update as stores in the United Kingdom have begun receiving advertisement banners for it.  Above is one of the ads spotted by the folks over at N4BB.  PlayBook OS 2.0 is bringing along a lot of goodies including native email and ported over Android applications.  It’s just a matter of time until we get the official date of its release this month.

That definitely comes as a surprise.  It looks like some BlackBerry Bold 9900 users are getting keys knocked off due to the OEM BlackBerry holster.  The case for the Bold 9900 is slim indeed, but we’ve seen those low profile holsters for a few years now.  I guess it depends how you put it in and out (that’s what she said).

The weirdest part of this is it has only been reported for users who purchased their Bolds before November 3rd.

The notice reads: “RIM has identified a design issue with the holsters supplied withBlackBerry Bold 9900 devices manufactured before November 3, 2011. Due to a folded edge, inside the lip of the holster, keys on the keyboard can be caught and knocked off when inserting the device into the holster at an angle with excessive force.”

Any Bold 9900 owners experiencing any issues?

 

Source: MobileSyrup

It looks like the next update for the BBM Social Platform SDK is out!  This one’s version 1.3 and includes some new features.  Some highlighted features include:

• Users can manage their settings in order to “Allow [app name] to connect you with other app users”. With this feature, the user has the ability to prevent dialog boxes from prompting when making/requesting to join public connections.
• The character limit for setting personal messages within the user profile has now been increased to 160.
• Users can easily enable the Profile Box by clicking the checkmark “Post recent activities to BBM Profile” when the app initially connects to BBM.

You can read more on the new SDK at the BlackBerry Developers Blog or click here to download it.

Along with Themes section going live for BlackBerry 7 smartphone users, it looks like RIM has added a Ringtones section as well for everyone.  Yes you guessed it, it will be packed with ringtones you can purchase and download.  Does anyone buy ringtones anymore?

Ringtones in BlackBerry App World >>

BlackBerry 7 and 7.1 OS Achieve FIPS 140-2 Certification

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced that BlackBerry® smartphones running on the powerful new BlackBerry® 7 and BlackBerry® 7.1 Operating Systems (OS) have been awarded FIPS 140-2 certification by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC). FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) 140-2 is recognized by the U.S. and Canadian governments and is required under the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA).

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If you’re an Android developer looking to port your applications over to the BlackBerry PlayBook and would like to have it available when OS 2.0 launches, then have your apps submitted by February 6th.

RIM has already promised OS 2.0 in February (no specific day announced yet) so this is obviously shortly before the OS takes off.  Below is a few pointers from RIM when submitting your Android apps.

In order to ensure that your packaged and signed Android app is available in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront for the release of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, be sure to have your app submitted by Monday, February 6th, 2012.

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Hong Kong – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the launch of the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone in Pure White for customers in Hong Kong. The stunning new smartphone can be pre-ordered today at http://hk.blackberry.com/w9900preorder  with expected availability in mid-February. The first 500 customers who pre-order the new handset will receive the Jabra EASYGO White Bluetooth Headset* with their purchase.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is the thinnest BlackBerry® smartphone yet at only 10.5mm, and the first to offer the perfect union of a high performance keyboard and touch display integrated within the iconic BlackBerry Bold design. The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 is also the first BlackBerry smartphone to include built-in support for NFC (Near Field Communications), a new technology that is enabling many new and exciting capabilities, including the ability to make mobile payments, pair with NFC-enabled accessories or read SmartPoster tags with a simple tap of the smartphone.

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That is exactly what’s written on the BlackBerry DevCon Europe website right where you’d usually click to register.  The words exactly read: “Due to an overwhelming response, BlackBerry DevCon Europe is SOLD OUT!”

It is known already that BlackBerry is way more popular in Europe and Asia than it is here in the United States as of now.  BBM and the over all ease of communication remains to be the biggest keys. Any way, it’s good to see the maximum amount of developers and other supporters of BlackBerry DevCon attending this time around.

Read more on BlackBerry DevCon >>