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BlackBerry has been on a roll of late with the launch of their new Z10 touchscreen smartphone, their Q10 with touchscreen and physical keyboard and software announcements that BlackBerry's popular messaging services called BBM is coming to both iOS (iPhone only) and Android in the coming months. Adding to that momentum, the US Patent Office published a new patent application this week illustrating a future BlackBerry smartphone with a unique flexible display design. It's BlackBerry's second such design in the past 60 days.
On May 09, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from BlackBerry revealing their intent of implementing a new feature for future BlackBerry devices that the patent describes as "Block Zoom." This feature would be good news for future BlackBerry devices. It's one of the great little features found on Apple's iDevices. And if BlackBerry is ever hoping to regain their former customer base that switched to the iPhone, then they're going to have to find a way or workaround to get some of these favorite features brought to their future devices. BlackBerry's new "Block Zoom" is one of them. It's the equivalent to Apple's double-tap feature which drops all ads on a webpage while magnifying the text to fill the screen. It's a brilliant little feature. BlackBerry's current smartphone, the Z10, forces you to use a "pinch and zoom" gesture to accomplish the same thing, but it's a messy solution. So it's great to see that the engineers at BlackBerry have found an equivalent feature for the future called Block Zoom.
Google's Glass and Apple's wrist band computer or iWatch have caught the imagination of the public as the wearable computer makers are preparing to descend upon the consumer with new wares later next year. Companies like Samsung, LG, Microsoft and now BlackBerry are all considering the smart watch as one of their first wearable computer devices. In fact, a new patent application from BlackBerry published by the US Patent and trademark Office earlier in this current quarter clearly indicates that they have a few initial ideas about wearable computers. While one could certainly be a smart watch, they're also looking into other ideas like a smart tie clip which could be refashioned or repurposed as a jewelry accessory for women. Yes, smart bling: who knew that was in the works?
Consumers want fast charging systems for their mobile devices and they don't really care if they have to dock it, use an inductive charging pad, do it wirelessly or plug it into a wall. A number of companies are racing to find new charging systems for their customer base and BlackBerry is definitely one of them. A new patent application filed by BlackBerry recently reveals a new multi-device charging system as shown in our cover graphic. The larger the mobile device the more conductive strips that it possesses in order to speed up the recharging process.
If anything, Google's Glass has excited the market once again as we await its arrival in the summer of 2014. The next leg in the mobile device revolution will be about wearable computers of one sort or another. And with that, comes an opportunity for old and new players in the market to make a new mark for themselves. In 2007, out of the blue came Apple with their iPhone that catapulted them to being the richest tech company in the world. Apple's success meant RIM's downfall and it happened rather quickly. Now RIM, or should I say BlackBerry, is on a bit of a comeback of late and today we report that BlackBerry is jumping into the wearable computer race with a very interesting accessory that will work with future smartphones and tablets.
BlackBerry has been on a roll lately. Their new Z10 is being received well and late last week they received an order for a million of their new smartphones, the largest single order in BlackBerry's history. On that same day, news broke that BlackBerry is also working on developing security software for both Google's Android and Apple's iOS. BlackBerry's one time strength was with government and the enterprise markets due to their security features and private network. It appears that there's sufficient demand from clients who switched to other devices to still sell them BlackBerry's security solutions. On another note, the US Patent Office published a new patent application from Blackberry that illustrates that the company is further exploring a new form factor for a possible new style of smartphone.
In late Q3 2012, the US Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from RIM that reveals a new mobile smartphone docking station that comes in the form of a netbook. For those on the go, it could be an interesting way to charge your smartphone while giving you a notebook-like tool so that you could type up your reports or briefs quickly using a standard keyboard.
On August 18, 2009, Fortune Magazine named RIM as the fastest growing company in the world with a growth of 84% in profits over three years and far outpacing rival Apple Inc. at that time. In just three short years, RIM's BlackBerry has fallen from Grace and is far behind smartphones running Android and iOS on every front. Yet as one who has followed Apple over a few decades, I know that being beaten in the press can be discouraging but likewise know that companies can resurrect as fast as they descended. Could RIM's team muster the courage to rebound? While only time will be able to answer that question, a few new patent applications from RIM this past quarter shows us that their Research and Development teams are pounding out some new ideas about adding a spiffy new 3D display and user interface for BlackBerry that will take advantage of new tactile features. If RIM is to mount a realistic comeback, then they're going to have to shake things up and be different. Hmm, I wonder where I heard that one before.
Apple's "Slide-to-Unlock" feature has been a thorn in the side of many an Android OEM for some time now. To avoid any such legal problems with Apple, Research in Motion (RIM) has invented their own advanced start screen security features for future BlackBerry devices which are distinctly unique. At the end of the day, RIM has to be applauded for their inventiveness and ability to be original on this front.
