BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 3/29/2010

Last quarter, RIM reported its earnings late on a Thursday. That peeved me, because we run this feature midday Thursday, meaning it would have to wait until next week. Thankfully, this time it game on a Wednesday, a perfect time to fit it in atop News From The Wire. Even better because it included the year-end results. Here’s the press release. As expected, RIM saw growth in 2009, fueled by releases of the Tour 9630, Curve 85xx series, Bold 9700, and Storm2. This allowed them to grow their subscriber base by 65 percent, ending the year with 41 million subscribers, including 4.9 million new accounts in Q4. Their unit shipments also grew, more than 40 percent, to 37 million. This means plenty of people were upgrading to the newest devices. Considering the number of 9630s and 9700s I’ve seen around the city, this comes as no surprise. With a number of devices lined up for 2010, including the Pearl 9100, Bold 9650, and slider, we could see a similar trend at this time next year. RIM’s profit did grow, though not to the level of expectations. I’m not a business guy so I’m not sure what that means for the company. Goldman Sachs downgraded RIMM to sell. Again, not sure what kind of short- and long-term effects this will have. Just thought I’d point it out.

So…a Pearl with a 12-key keypad?

The above image is a mock-up, but it looks pretty close to what a 12-key BlackBerry Pearl would look like. We heard about it before, but it seemed unbelievable at the time. BBLeaks found more proof, though, another patent. This isn’t to say that RIM will move forward with it. After all, we did see a landscape slider patent in early 2008 and nothing ever came of that. Then again, BBLeaks says there are a few prototypes floating around, so perhaps it’s closer than we think. Given the date on the posting, March 30, this doesn’t appear to be an April Fool’s joke. (Though this is.) We also saw rumors of a full-QWERTY Pearl. So does RIM expand its Pearl lineup this year? It could be interesting. While we’re at it, it looks like Fido will release the Pearl 9100 on May 4. Just as a heads up. Tip of the week: Delete email quicker. You just have to change a few options and it’s done.

Verizon opens V Cast Apps

We’ve been hearing for a while that Verizon would join the app store craze and release one of its own, and this week we got to see the product. The nation’s largest wireless carrier officially launched V Cast Apps this week, starting it on the BlackBerry Storm2. It should be coming to more BlackBerry models in the near future. The main advantage is that it supports carrier billing, so you can buy apps and not worry about them until you get the bill at month’s end. It figures to run faster than App World, but is that really saying much? Speaking of app stores: Check out the BBGeeks super app store. In association with MobiHand, we have a new look to our mobile app store. You can still get 20 percent off any game, app, or theme until April 5 by using the code *super*.

Roundup

I think I use a different heading every week for our feature-closing smorgasbord.

• Screenshots of BIS 3.1. I’d really rather they finish the 3.0 updates — ahem, Gmail two-way sync — before we see 3.1.
• Bell to get the Storm2. Watch for it on April 13.
• BlackBerry speakers and docks options. If you’re in the market, we share some high- and low-end options.
• Turn your drinking problem in to a BlackBerry problem. No one will know the difference.
• How to transfer your BlackBerry data to a new device. If you’re one of the many upgrading, here’s how you can get information off your old device and onto your new one.