SOME IMPORTANT USE OF BLACKBERRY DEVICE

The advanced encryption capabilities of the BlackBerry Smartphone make it eligible for use by government agencies and state forces alike. President Barack Obama's use The President of the United States, Barack Obama, became known for his dependence on a BlackBerry device for communication during his 2008 presidential campaign. Despite the security issues, he insisted on using it even after inauguration, becoming the first President of the United States to use mobile email.

 USE BY GOVERNMENT FORCES

An example is the West Yorkshire Police, which has allowed the increase in the presence of police officers along the streets and a reduction in public spending, given that each officer could perform the work desk directly via the mobile device, as well as in several other areas and situations. 

The US Federal Government and Department of Defense are also prominent examples of BlackBerry device users, the latter agency even stating that the BlackBerry smartphone is "essential for national security" because of the large number of BlackBerry users in the government. The high encryption standard of BlackBerry smartphones and the PlayBook tablet allow them to be the only consumer handheld devices certified for use by US Government agencies. 

ORGANIZED CRIME USE

The Italian criminal group known as the 'Ndrangheta was reported on February 2009 to have communicated overseas with the Gulf Cartel, a Mexican drug cartel, through the use of the BlackBerry, since the texts are "normally difficult to intercept". RIM's view of users RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has said that BlackBerry users have "Very little time to consume and enjoy content" and so do not need  the third party apps that Android and Apple users enjoy.

USE BY BANGALORE TRAFFIC POLICE

Traffic Police in the Southern Indian city of Bangalore have begun using Blackberry devices to print e-receipt or e-challan for traffic offences. These are also used to store the details of booked cases in server. These devices are also used to retrieve the license information from server.

 

COMPETITION 

The primary competitors of the BlackBerry are smartphones running Android, the Apple iPhone and Windows Phone. BlackBerry has struggled to compete against Android and Apple and its market share has plunged in recent years, leading to speculation that it will be unable to survive as an independent business. However, it has managed to maintain significant positions in some markets.

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT OF BLACKBERRY

These advancement are based on the Central Processing Unit (CPU). Early BlackBerry devices, such as the BlackBerry 950, used Intel 80386-based processors. BlackBerry 8000 series smartphones, such as the 8700 and the Pearl, are based on the 312 MHz ARM XScale ARMv5TE PXA900.

Devices such as the BlackBerry 9000 series, were equipped with XScale 624 MHz processors. The BlackBerry Curve 8520 featured a 512 MHz processor, while the Bold 9700 featured a newer version of the Bold 9000's processor, but is clocked at the same speed.

An exception to this is the BlackBerry 8707 which is based on the 80 MH Qualcomm 3250 chipset; this was due to the PXA900 chipset not supporting 3G networks. The 80 MHz processor in the BlackBerry 8707 meant the device was often slower to download and render web pages over 3G than the 8700 was over EDGE networks.

The latest blackberry devices such as the Bold 9900/9930, torch 9810, 9850/9860 feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 CPU clocked at 1.2 GHz which can be compared with that of some laptop computers. It also have 8 Gigabyte(Gb) of on-board storage and can support an additional 32 GB microSD cards.

 

FEATURES

Supported software Further information: BlackBerry App World BlackBerry Messenger BlackBerry devices use the proprietary BlackBerry Messenger, also known as BBM, software for sending and receiving encrypted instant messages, voice notes, images and videos via BlackBerry PIN. Some of the features of BBM include groups, bar-code scanning, lists, shared calendars, BBM Music and integration with apps and games using the BBM social platform. Third-party software Third-party software available for use on BlackBerry devices includes full-featured database management systems , which can be used to support customer relationship management clients and other applications that must manage large volumes of potentially complex data.

BlackBerry PIN

BlackBerry PIN is an eight character hexadecimal identification number assigned to each BlackBerry device. PINs cannot be changed manually on the device (though BlackBerry technicians are able to reset or update a PIN server-side), and are locked to each specific BlackBerry. BlackBerrys can message each other using the PIN directly or by using the BlackBerry Messenger application. BlackBerry PINs are tracked by BlackBerry Enterprise Servers, and the BlackBerry Internet Service, and are used to direct messages to a BlackBerry device. Emails and any other messages, such as those from the BlackBerry Push Service, are typically directed to a BlackBerry's PIN. The message can then be routed by a RIM Network Operations Center, and sent to a carrier, which will deliver the message the last mile to the device. Example of a BlackBerry PIN:28D13EED.

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF BLACKBERRY

ORIGIN

BlackBerry is a line of smartphone devices developed and designed by Research In Motion (RIM). The first BlackBerry smartphone was released in 1999. BlackBerry; the name decided after a founding member noted that the tiny keys on RIM's device resembled a group of seeds. so the company decided a variety of seeded fruits and vegetables before ultimately deciding on "BLACKBERRY" since RIM's devices were largely colored black at that time. BlackBerry devices are smartphones, which are designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, cameras and much more. They are primarily known for their ability to send and receive (push) email and instant messages(pinging) while maintaining a high level of security through on-device message encryption. 

HISTORY

The first BlackBerry device, the 850, was introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager in Munich, Germany. The reason for the monumental growth of BlackBerry is explainable because in 1999 it was little more than a mobile pager. It did integrate with existing enterprise email, though most consumers didn’t really have a need for a mobile email device. Cell phones in general weren’t even big in the consumer market at that point, so the need for a wireless PDA was expectedly lacking. But it did provide corporate data access, an organizer, calendar, paging, and wireless Internet, so it was of great use to businesses who wanted a more mobile workforce. After the launch 1999, in November 2004 RIM announced that there were over 2 million subscribers worldwide, it rose to 5 million in 2005 after 9 months it rose to 14 million subscribers and as of October 2011, there were seventy million subscribers worldwide to BlackBerry which has now risen enormously to over a hundred million subscribers in 2012. BlackBerry devices support a large variety of instant messaging features, with the most popular being the unique BlackBerry Messenger  service. BlackBerry accounts for 7.2% of mobile device sales worldwide in 2012, making its manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM) the fourth most popular device maker (25% of mobile device sales are smartphones) after the likes of the top: 

1.       South Korea Samsung 25.4%

2.       Finland Nokia 22.5%

3.       Canada BlackBerry 20.2%

4.       United State Apple Inc 9.5%

5.       United State Motorola 6%

6.       South Korea LG 5.2%

 

The consumer BlackBerry Internet Service is available in 91 countries worldwide on over 500 mobile service operators using various mobile technologies.