Research In Motion starts carrier testing BlackBerry 10 for Q1 2013 launch

BlackBerry 10 is set to launch in the first quarter of 2013 and it is believed to be the company’s last chance to gain momentum in the market where it has once dominated. Recent reports suggest Canadian smartphone maker, Research In Motion (RIM), is now in the process of testing the operating system for carrier compatibility following a year-long development, a pushed back release due to unfortunate sales earnings, executive exits and loss of business clients.

An official statement from RIM chief executive, Thorsten Heins, suggests that BB10 is now being tested by, at least, 50 carriers all over the world. This process may take months to complete simply because there could be many modifications needed in the core of the system to match with the infrastructure of the carriers hoping to add BlackBerry 10-powered devices to their line-ups. To give you an overview what carrier testing means, here are two of the things any carrier may do to BlackBerry 10:

Check for network compatibility – Each carrier will have to make sure there are no significant bugs that would affect the connectivity of any device running BB10 with their network. This is, by far, the most important aspect each carrier has too check with RIM’s new operating system because if this fails, there is no way they could keep the meter running. This process would also give carriers an idea whether to provide updates to some BB devices running a lower OS version.

Add/Update custom functionality – Depending on the carrier, there could be custom functions and features that have to be added to make the offering even more attractive to new and current customers. While RIM revealed the new OS would be targeting a more general pool of users, BlackBerry has always been known to be enterprise-oriented. So, carriers that might have offered specialized plans for corporations with added functionalities also need to update their apps to make them compatible with BB10.

BlackBerry has lost its appeal in the United States and the United Kingdom but it still remains one of the most popular communication media in Asia. Analysts believe RIM has been so complacent it neglected the power of innovation after several years of prosperous business. The lack of innovation has put the company to a much troubled situation and paved a way for iOS and Android to take away its place in the world of mobile devices. But one thing remains, though; BlackBerry still offers the security no other OS has offered before.

Tags: Blackberry, Blackberry 10, Blackberry10, mobilepostcross, Research in Motion, ResearchInMotion, RIM, Thorsten Heins, ThorstenHeins

Category: Smartphones, Tech News

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Colombia to start testing 700MHz LTE, joins a Latin American trend in 4G

By Jon Fingas posted Oct 17th 2012 12:31PM

Those in the US can brag about having the range, indoor friendliness and other advantages of 700MHz LTE, but few other countries have that edge so far: Latin Americans who have any LTE at all usually have to contend with less tolerant 2.6GHz bands. Colombia isn't happy with that state of affairs, and its National Spectrum Agency is spearheading a rapidly growing 4G movement in the region by testing 700MHz LTE between the fall and winter. Its strategy echoes proposals from Brazil and Mexico that will use the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity band plan, providing more efficient airwaves as well as wider device and network coverage. It will take beyond early 2013 before Colombia and its neighbors are actively using 700MHz bands -- the digital TV transition is one of the bigger obstacles -- but there's desires for a fast-track spectrum handout that could bring blazing speeds to Bogota before too long.

[Image credit: Kinori, Wikipedia]

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