By
Telecom Lead Team: In order to get its lost crown, Research In Motion (RIM) has
showcased the new BlackBerry 7.1 OS with an update to its BBM (BlackBerry
Messenger) at the CES 2012. In addition, RIM has also introduced BlackBerry
Traffic and BlackBerry Travel apps.
RIM
has been constantly competing with Apple and Samsung. Its market value has
dipped 77 percent in the last 12 months to about $6.8 billion following a
series of disappointing quarterly reports, delayed phone launches, weak sales
of the PlayBook tablet.
The
new releases of BBM, BlackBerry Traffic and BlackBerry Travel are now available
on BlackBerry App World. Also, the BlackBerry 7.1 will begin rolling out from
carriers around the world over the coming weeks.
“BlackBerry
7 delivered a next-generation platform for our customers around the world and
the range of software updates is build upon the strengths of that platform to
further enhance the mobile experience and make life easier, from managing daily
tasks to planning big adventures,” said Mike Lazaridis, president and
Co-CEO at Research In Motion.
The BlackBerry 7.1 OS incorporates a new feature called
BlackBerry Tag that can change the way BlackBerry users share information and
content. By simply tapping their NFC enabled BlackBerry smartphone against
another NFC enabled BlackBerry smartphone, users can make sharing easier than
ever.
Also, the users can instantly invite a friend to BBM,
exchange contact information, documents, URLs, photos and other multimedia
content, and they can also pair their BlackBerry smartphone with an NFC enabled
Bluetooth device.
With BlackBerry 7.1, users can now turn their BlackBerry
smartphone into a mobile hotspot that can be shared by up to 5 Wi-Fi -enabled
devices, including laptops and tablets. The 7.1 update also supports carrier
implemented Wi-Fi calling services (UMA/GAN where available), allowing users to
make Wi-Fi calls from their BlackBerry smartphone that don’t eat into their
airtime minutes.
Last
year,
RIM announced the launch of BlackBerry BBX, its next generation mobile platform
that takes the best of the BlackBerry platform and the best of the QNX platform
to connect people, devices, content and services.
editor@telecomlead.com
