AP Tech Review
Modern BlackBerrys with physical keyboards are now available in the U.S., months after the touch-screen versions went on sale.
T-Mobile USA began selling the BlackBerry Q10 on Wednesday. It has Research In Motion Ltd.’s new BlackBerry 10 operating system, which addresses shortcomings that allowed the iPhone and Android devices to surpass the once-pioneering BlackBerry in sales and prestige.
Verizon, AT&T and Sprint also have plans to sell the Q10 in the U.S. Verizon Wireless started taking orders last week and says it will ship by Thursday. AT&T started taking orders Wednesday. Neither Verizon nor AT&T Inc. has said when it will have the phones in stores. The last of the major national carriers, Sprint Nextel Corp., has said it will carry the phone this summer.
RIM’s chief operating officer, Kristian Tear, said that he doesn’t regret RIM’s decision to release a touch version first, even though it was new territory for the company. Many long-time BlackBerry users prefer a physical keyboard, which has been RIM’s strength.
“It’s obviously a larger market size, the full touch,” he said in an interview. “I think it was right to do that No. 1. To get Q10 out now, not too long after, is a good second step.”
The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go businesspeople and other consumers before the iPhone debuted in 2007 and showed that phones can handle much more than email and phone calls. RIM faced numerous delays modernizing its operating system with the BlackBerry 10. During that time, it had to cut more than 5,000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth decline by more than $70 billion.
RIM’s touch-only devices in the past haven’t been successful. Meanwhile, its rivals have largely abandoned efforts at making smartphones with physical keyboards. That’s an area RIM long has been strong in.
Tear said loyal BlackBerry users are eager to upgrade to the Q10, and he expects RIM to win back people who had left for rival devices.
Microsoft to add Outlook to Windows RT tablets
Microsoft will add its popular Outlook email program to more tablets running on a lightweight version of its Windows operating system as part of a free software update this year.
The Outlook 2013 app will be given to owners of Microsoft’s Surface tablet and similar devices running Windows RT. That’s a slimmed down version of Windows 8, a radical overhaul of the ubiquitous operating system used on most personal computers.
Microsoft Corp. is preparing to modify Windows 8 in response to consumer complaints about the redesigned system released last October. The Redmond, Wash., company announced the addition of Outlook for Windows RT tablets this week at a computer trade show in Taiwan.
A specific release date still hasn’t been set for the upcoming update, called Windows 8.1.
Windows 8 includes touch-screen controls and displays applications in a mosaic of interactive tiles as part of an attempt to expand the system on to tablets. The operating system also remains compatible with keyboards, computer mice and programs created for traditional PCs.
The dual format has confused and frustrated some long-time users, contributing to lukewarm sales for devices running on Windows 8 and Windows RT.
ITC rules for Samsung, bans iPhone 4 imports
A U.S. trade agency on Tuesday issued a ban on imports of Apple’s iPhone 4 and a variant of the iPad 2 after finding the devices violate a patent held by South Korean rival Samsung Electronics.
Because the devices are assembled in China, the import would end Apple’s ability to sell them in the U.S.
However, President Barack Obama has 60 days to invalidate Tuesday’s order from the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington. Obama is against import bans on the basis of the type of patent at issue in the Samsung case. On Tuesday, the White House issued a recommendation to Congress that it limit the ITC’s ability to impose import bans in these cases.
Apple Inc. said it was “disappointed” with the ruling and will appeal.
Samsung and Apple are engaged in a global legal battle over their smartphones, with Apple arguing that Samsung and its Android phones copy vital features of the iPhone. Samsung is fighting back with its own complaints.
Patent consultant and analyst Florian Mueller said the ITC ruling was a surprise, as the basis of Samsung’s complaint is a so-called “standards-essential patent,” describing a technology that’s part of an industry standard for cellphone communications. Under the legal theory prevailing in federal courts, holders of such patents are obligated to license them to all comers on “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” terms. U.S. courts have ruled that such patents cannot be the basis for import bans.
The ITC follows a different standard than the courts, but the Obama administration wants it to adhere to the same principles.
Samsung Electronics Co. is the world’s largest maker of smartphones.