The BlackBerry® WebWorks™ SDK for Tablet OS allows web and mobile web developers to use the SDK in combination with their development tooling of choice to develop, test and package up their web applications as BlackBerry® WebWorks™ applications for tablets. BlackBerry WebWorks applications are distributed through the BlackBerry App World™ storefront and run on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet with access to the hardware.
Support web technology standards such as HTML5, CSS and JavaScript™. The BlackBerry platform implementation of the WebKit rendering engine is the core of the BlackBerry WebWorks platform.
Still not seeing any native OpenGL ES capabilities, or even WebGL on this. Which is a shame.
“Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented,” the BlackBerry maker said in an emailed statement.
It said development of the battery was on schedule and its performance would be comparable to competitors.
Then why is the PlayBook launch being delayed by months?
And which “competitors” is its performance going to be “comparable” to? The 10+ hours of the iPad or the 6 hours of the Tab? Or heaven forbid the 1 or 2 hours of some less successful Android tablets?
Analyst Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros. issued a note to investors Tuesday warning that engineering issues with the BlackBerry PlayBook’s battery life could be the cause of delays. According to Wu, the PlayBook’s “relatively poor battery life of a few hours” needs improvement. By comparison, Apple’s iPad gets 10 hours of battery life and the Android-based Samsung Galaxy Tab gets 6 hours.
The battery issue could “require a bit of re-engineering,” said Wu, and is “likely why RIMM pushed out its launch to the May 2011 quarter.”
iOS and the Apple AX series of SoCs are the main components that give the iPad its excellent power management characteristics. Not to mention the huge battery which makes up most of the tablet’s innards. A well made dual core SoC can actually use less power than a single core SoC when engineered and managed correctly.
Unfortunately RIM (and they are not alone) are trying to rush to market with an acquired OS and non-specialised silicon. Some of Apple’s acquisitions and design decisions are starting to look very wise round about now.
Research In Motion may have high hopes for its PlayBook tablet but it looks like the device will not go on sale until the end of the first quarter, according to comments from executives during RIM’s earnings call Thursday.
Apple’s legal battle with Nokia looks to have seen some setback, with staff at the US International Trade Commission (ITC) telling the judge in the case that Apple’s patent allegations are ‘unfounded’.
“The evidence will not establish a violation” of Apple patent rights, the staff, which acts on behalf of the public as a third party in the case, said in a pre-hearing memo released yesterday.
Bloomberg tells us the case will begin before Judge Charles Bullock today. Apple is attempting to have Nokia’s US phone imports banned on strength of its four allegations.
Nokia also has a case against Apple. Meanwhile, Apple is suing HTC and Motorola over Android phones, and Microsoft is suing Motorola. In fact, the mobile business is a minefield of legal fun and games, as displayed in the above info-graphic.
The graph above shows just how crazy this has become.
In the end this will come down to who has the most influential lobbyists. Or who blinks first, and settles in a back room somewhere with an undisclosed deal.
Pretty graphs showing mobile operating system market share in various territories.
Sure, Nokia (Symbian) is still the biggest segment in most European graphs, but RIM (Blackberry) and Apple (iOS) alternate for a firm second place in many of them, with Android gaining too.
Nokia is barely visible in the US though, with RIM, Apple and now Android all fighting for dominance.
Nokia is in big trouble, except in Spain, Italy and Germany where they still hold between 51.6% and 72.5% of the market.
Clinton described the situation as a “complex set of issues” and said that the US was working on a solution with several countries.
It’s only complex because the US is scrambling to try and find a way to justify them keeping their unfettered access to RIM’s customer’s data, whilst giving other countries as little access as possible.
“We are taking time to consult and analyze the full range of interests and issues at stake because we know that there is a legitimate security concern, but there’s also a legitimate right of free use and access,” she said. “So I think we will be pursuing both technical and expert discussions as we go forward.”
Give them the same access as the US and UK have to the data and they’ll shut up.
It’s simple. But I doubt a politician could ever see that.
Saudi Arabia ordered a ban of BlackBerry services starting Friday, the latest government to threaten phone maker Research In Motion Ltd. over access to customer data.
In a statement Tuesday, RIM said it can’t give access to encrypted data and doesn’t give any one government special treatment. “Any claims that we provide, or have ever provided, something unique to the government of one country that we have not offered to the governments of all countries, are unfounded,” it said.
Do RIM honestly expect us to believe that the US and the UK do not have the ability to monitor Blackberry messaging?
Because if that is what they are saying, I don’t believe them.
The Director of the Telecommunication Regulation Authority in the UAE :
“With no solution available and in the public interest, in order to affect resolution of this issue, as of October 11, 2010, Blackberry Messenger, Blackberry Email and Blackberry Web-browsing services will be suspended until an acceptable solution can be developed and applied.”
Apparently Saudi Arabia has followed suit..
Saudi Arabia has started blocking BlackBerry Messenger at this time, but not email, web browsing, or other data services.
Should you be worried about this if you don’t live in the UAE or Saudi?
I think that perhaps you should. The reason that these countries are not happy about RIM’s services are two fold.
On the one hand they don’t like that fact that all transmissions from these devices are encrypted, and go through Research In Motion’s own servers. Thus preventing government monitoring.
On the other they cite cultural reasons for wanting to control these services. Loosely translated this means that they are concerned that their youth are using these devices to “socialise” electronically in un-Islamic ways.
If you live in a country that likes to exert control over the internet, or that has strict views on religion and relationships, then you should perhaps be concerned that your government might be emboldened by this move and follow suit.
India raised similar security concerns last week, and Bahrain in April warned against using BlackBerry Messenger to distribute local news. As far back as 2007, France cautioned officials about using the services.
