BlackBerry PlayBook to come with a music store, over 13 million tracks on board - Phone Arena

BlackBerry PlayBook to come with a music store, over 13 million tracks on board - Phone Arena: "BlackBerry's PlayBook might be coming out next month, but folks from RIM continue adding features and the newest one is the 7Digital music store with its collection of over 13 million high-quality MP3 tracks (320kbps that is), which will come pre-installed on the 7-inch tablet. You'll be able to search tracks, artists and albums, as well as preview songs prior to making a purchase. Prices will be the same as the ones on the 7digital.com website, but translated into your local currency. In addition, a podcasting app will be similar to the music store in terms of categories and basic functionality. Subscriptions are also included bringing the latest of audio and HD video podcasting content right to your tablet."

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Staples to launch Wi-Fi only Motorola XOOM and BlackBerry PlayBook next month - Phone Arena

Staples to launch Wi-Fi only Motorola XOOM and BlackBerry PlayBook next month - Phone Arena: "Perhaps Staples wouldn't be the first place that you would think of going to when purchasing a tablet, but according to internal documents, both the Wi-Fi only Motorola XOOM and the BlackBerry PlayBook will be offered by the office supply company. The internal document lists the date when Staples Tech Associates begin to train on the tablets using online modules. The employees will have 30 days to complete the modules, each of which will take 30 minutes to finish.

The documents show that training for the 3G-less Motorola XOOM will begin on March 23rd and for the BlackBerry PlayBook, training starts March 30th. Since 30 days is the maximum required for the Tech Associates to finish the courses, that would lead to approximate launch dates of April 22nd for the XOOM and April 29th for the PlayBook at Staples."

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BlackBerry Bold 9780 review

It’s no surprise that the BlackBerry Bold 9780 is the next logical evolutionary step, rather than a complete makeover that will propel it into the same league as the iPhone and Android. RIM has a loyal core of customers whose bond with the brand goes beyond the obvious business benefits. And devices like the Bold 9780 are certainly part of that bond. From a geek’s perspective, a new generation of gadgets should emerge to a new generation of users. Radical, rebellious, with no sense of history and no respect for authorities. In the world of business, every new generation of gadgets has to make generations of users feel at home.

There’s no moral dilemma for BlackBerry in this. They know trying to introduce new features and UI tweaks with each new generation involves substantial risk for some of the changes to backfire. But they haven’t given up on the Torch and the Storm, have they? Though it’s obviously much easier to stick to a tested recipe and only add stuff that’s been proved to work.

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Q3 summary:Top 5 Mobile Phone Vendors

This week was chock full of financial reports and now it’s time for a summary. According to industry analysts IDC, mobile phone market grew 14.6% with 340.5 million units shipped. Smartphones are playing an ever-increasing role - the estimated smartphone market share is expected to grow by over 50% by the end of the year.

Apple entered the Top 5 phone manufacturers and it’s the second smartphone-only manufacturer among them. Along with RIM (the other smartphone-only company), the two manufacturers have the highest growth rates in the third quarter of 2010.

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