BlackBerry Tablet to Ship Without Mail, Messaging or Contacts

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DOA: Blackberry PlayBook to Ship Without Mail, Messaging or Contacts

• By Charlie Sorrel
• March 30, 2011  | 
• 6:38 am  | 
• Categories: Tablets and E-Readers

RIM's PlayBook will ship without the core functions that make a BlackBerry a BlackBerry. Photo: Charlie Sorrel

Oh, RIM! What are you doing? According to a leaked internal document, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will ship without native support for e-mail, contacts or messaging. To use any of these services, you’ll have to either hook up a BlackBerry handset, or access them through the web browser.

The document, a seven-page FAQ for the upcoming tablet, lays out the details. To use these core BlackBerry services you need to use “BlackBerry Bridge”, which displays the BlackBerry’s apps on the PlayBook’s screen. Here’s the full text from the relevant section:

Q: Will apps such as e-mail, contacts, calendar etc. be available natively on BlackBerry PlayBook?

The BlackBerry PlayBook can be used in conjunction with a BlackBerry smartphone or it can be used on its own (i.e. standalone).

The BlackBerry Bridge feature creates a secure Bluetooth link between a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and BlackBerry smartphone allowing BlackBerry smartphone users to view and interact with the email, BBM and PIM apps on their BlackBerry smartphone using the larger BlackBerry PlayBook screen.

In addition, users can access their e-mail via the BlackBerry PlayBook?s web browser without any need for a BlackBerry smartphone.

In a future software update for the BlackBerry PlayBook, we will also provide native e-mail, calendar, and contact apps for those customers who prefer to have these apps directly on the tablet.

[Emphasis added]

Some might argue that this doesn’t matter, as a “future software update” will bring native apps. But what this document really says is, “We rushed it.” RIM is so desperate to get an iPad rival on the market that it is cutting corners. So many corners, in fact, that the PlayBook may just turn out to be shaped like a real Blackberry.

Let’s look at the evidence:

• The software development kit (SDK), which will allow developers to write native apps, isn’t yet finished.
• In order to bring what RIM’s CEO Jim Balsillie calls a “tonnage of apps” to the PlayBook at launch, RIM has added an emulator to run Android apps.
• The PlayBook will ship with Wi-Fi only, no 3G. To connect without Wi-Fi, you need to tether �a BlackBerry.
• RIM, whose business is built on messaging and communication apps, is shipping its tablet without messaging or communication apps.

Not enough? I got a chance to play — briefly — with the PlayBook at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, and found it to be clunky and rather laggy. I tried the e-reader software Kobo, which will come pre-installed on the device. Kobo on other platforms is fast, slick and a pleasure to use.

On the PlayBook it was rather janky, and certainly not smooth. This may be due to the software being in beta. (Or not — I didn’t ask that question. It is also not a criticism of Kobo, which usually makes great apps.)

You can almost smell the desperation that has crept into RIM ever since the iPhone arrived on the scene. RIM went from making the best messaging devices on the planet to making the worst wannabe iDevices around. It started with the awful “touch” screen Storm and continues with the PlayBook — all products rushed to market before they’re finished.

If RIM wants to avoid going the same way as Palm, then it should stop trying to chase Apple and start making some new devices of its own. And it should maybe try to finish them before showing them off to the world.

Leaked BlackBerry PlayBook FAQ (.pdf)

BlackBerry PlayBook FAQs [Scribd. Thanks, AngryMonkeyGeek]

See Also:

• RIM Unveils Tethered Tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook
• Hands-On With the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet
• PlayBook Smokes iPad Browser in Blackberry Speed-Test Video
• Video: Adobe Air, Flash Demonstrated on RIM PlayBook Tablet
• Video: Blackberry Playbook Hands-On Demo

Tags: BlackBerry, oh RIM!, PlayBook, rim, unfinished

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David Ferrer Angry At Crying Baby During Sony Ericsson Open Match (VIDEO)

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- A baby was bawling, and Sony Ericsson Open quarterfinalist David Ferrer wasn't too happy, either.

Trailing in his match and annoyed by the crying, Ferrer directed a forehand lob toward the infant after losing his serve midway through the second set Wednesday.

The ball didn't come close to the youngster when it landed in the stands, but the crying stopped.

"It was in one moment of the match, but nothing special," Ferrer said. "It was not the problem."

Instead, the Spaniard blamed a case of indigestion. He lost to American Mardy Fish, 7-5, 6-2.

Fish said he didn't see Ferrer hit the ball into the stands.

"He'd probably take that one back if he could," Fish said. "He's a very nice guy. Obviously flustered."

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Hernandez's HR leads Reds over Brewers 7-6 (AP)

CINCINNATI – Ramon Hernandez hit a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday, rallying the Cincinnati Reds to a 7-6 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in an opening-day flashback to their NL Central title season.

The Brewers became the first team in 42 years to open the season with back-to-back homers when Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez connected off Edinson Volquez. Ryan Braun also had a solo shot, helping Milwaukee take a 6-3 lead to the ninth.

That's when the Reds reverted to their winning ways of 2010. Their first six wins last season came in their final at-bat, tying the major league record. Hernandez connected off closer John Axford (0-1).

The Reds trailed 6-3 when Axford — who set a Milwaukee rookie record with 24 saves last season — let it get away. Cincinnati loaded the bases with none out, but Axford fanned Jay Bruce and got Jonny Gomes to hit a sacrifice fly to deep center.

Hernandez hit an opposite-field homer into the Brewers' bullpen, setting off another hopping home-plate celebration like so many last season. The Reds tied for second-most wins in their final at-bat while taking the NL Central title.

The Brewers have designs on overtaking the NL Central champions after changing managers — Ron Roenicke took over for Ken Macha — and adding Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum to their rotation. One game in, they're one game behind.

The 41-degree first pitch made for the second-coldest opener in Great American Ball Park's nine-year history, prompting the 42,398 fans to bundle in coats and blankets. Volquez warmed up wearing a red hooded sweatshirt.

Then, the Brewers got off to the majors' most sizzling start in decades.

Weeks extended his spring tear with his 22nd career leadoff homer. He led the Brewers with a .442 average and one homer during spring training. Fast starts are no surprise for him — Weeks hit a club-record eight leadoff homers last season.

When Gomez homered into the upper deck two pitches later, the Brewers became the first team in the majors to start a season with a pair of homers since Cincinnati's Pete Rose — who watched from a seat behind home plate on Thursday — and Bobby Tolan connected off Don Drysdale in 1969. Drysdale didn't allow another run in that one, winning 3-2.

Drew Stubbs and National League MVP Joey Votto hit solo homers, but the Reds went to their final at-bat before Hernandez ended it with his three-run shot, his fourth hit of the game.

NOTES: Logan Ondrusek got the victory with one inning in relief. ... The Reds are 65-69-1 on opening day, the Brewers 23-19-1. ... It was the second time the Brewers and Reds opened the season. The other was 2000, when Ken Griffey Jr. returned to his hometown team. The game was rained out as a 3-3 tie. ... The Reds played a tribute to former manager Sparky Anderson on the videoboard before the game. Anderson died in November. The Reds are wearing a "Sparky" patch on their right sleeves. His No. 10 was marked on the back of the mound. ... Rose spent time thumbing through the records section of a Reds media guide while sitting in his seat. He attends several games a season in his hometown. ... The Reds won for the first time in four season openers under manager Dusty Baker.

I. Coast battle rages near Gbagbo home (AFP)

ABIDJAN (AFP) – Gunfire erupted around the home of under-siege Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo and the presidential palace on Friday, Abidjan residents and AFP journalists reported.

"The shooting doesn't stop. Gbagbo's men are resisting in all their positions," a resident of the nothern suburb of Cocody, where Gbagbo lives, told AFP.

"We are hearing deafening artillery shots, RPG7 (rockets) and machine guns," he said.

Intense fighting between soldiers loyal to the outgoing president and the army of internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara, started Thursday night around 10:00 pm within the perimeter of Gbagbo's residence.

It was impossible to confirm if Gbagbo was still in his home.

Pro-Ouattara fighters entered Abidjan, the country's economic capital, Thursday after sweeping through towns across the country in an all-out offensive against Gbagbo's regime.

They seized the airport and the state television on Thursday night.

On Friday fighting continued in the administrative district of Plateau, home to the presidential palace, where the roar of heavy artillery shelling pierced the air.

Incumbent Gbagbo, clinging onto the presidency despite losing elections in November to internationally recognised successor Ouattara, failed to respond to a deadline set by his rival to step down on Thursday and now faces being ousted by force.

The bloody post-election dispute has plunged the world's top cocoa producer into political and economic crisis, with nearly 500 killed and up to a million having fled their homes as rival forces clash.

Boehner signals compromise in budget talks (AP)

WASHINGTON – Despite fresh pressure from tea party conservatives, House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that Republicans "can't impose our will" on the White House and Senate Democrats on legislation to cut tens of billions of dollars in federal spending.

At a news conference, Boehner, R-Ohio, denied Democratic suggestions that he has already agreed to jettison nearly half of the $61 billion in cuts passed by the House a month ago.

But as was the case with Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., earlier in the week, he did not say the demand to reduce spending by the full $61 billion was non-negotiable. "Our goal is to cut spending, not shut down the government," he said.

The government is running on the second of two short-term spending bills, and at the insistence of Republicans, a total of $10 billion has been cut so far.

Without action by Congress, the money will run out on April 9. Lawmakers are seeking a compromise that will extend to the Sept. 30 end of the spending year.

Senior House and Senate aides, experts in the intricacies of spending legislation, met during the day to explore a possible compromise.

Yet officials in both parties said Democrats had not yet provided Republicans with a detailed list of their proposed cuts, an indication that negotiations were not far along.

Democratic officials added that some of their proposed reductions would cut $3 billion or so from the Pentagon budget. The House-passed legislation calls for an increase in defense spending, and reserves spending cuts for domestic programs.

Boehner spoke as tea party activists demonstrated within shouting distance of the Capitol and a pair of potential GOP presidential contenders injected themselves into the first big test for the GOP majority elected last fall.

A few hundred protesters bore signs demanding that the Republican majority they helped vote into office remain true to campaign pledges.

"Remember your promises — WE DO," read one. "Extreme spending requires extreme cuts," was another.

They drew encouragement from several Republican lawmakers.

"Stay courageous and I know you will. Don't back down and I know you won't," Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, a potential presidential contender, exhorted on a cold, drizzly day.

"We will stand for cutting the size of government we won't change our principle," she said.

Separately, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, another White House hopeful, met behind closed doors with first-term Republicans.

As speaker, Gingrich led the party into twin shutdowns more than a decade ago that wound up damaging the party politically. He has recently written that the confrontation during the Clinton administration paved the way for a balanced budget agreement a few years later. But he leaves out that, as part of the deal, conservative Republicans were forced to create a new government benefit program — health care for millions of lower-income children — that President Bill Clinton demanded.

Boehner was a junior member of the leadership when Gingrich was party leader in the House. Now the leader of a rambunctious majority, his comments marked a public hint of flexibility two days after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered one of his own.

On Tuesday, the Nevada Democrat said his side in the talks was willing to consider limitations on government regulators as well as other non-spending items the House seeks. In exchange, Democrats would expect Republicans to scale back on their demands for spending cuts.

He did not identify any, but other officials have said curbs on the Environmental Protection Agency and other government regulators were likely candidates. Another is a proposed ban on the use of government funds to pay for abortions for poor women living in the District of Columbia.

Additionally, Boehner has made a personal priority of a measure the House passed earlier this week to reinstate school vouchers for District of Columbia students. The program is the only one in the country that uses federal tax dollars to subsidize private-school tuition.

While the showdown over spending has dominated Congress in recent days, it is only the first in a series of collisions expected in the coming months as the Republicans push to rein in the size and scope of government.

House Republicans are expected to unveil a budget for the next fiscal year next week that includes deep spending cuts in domestic programs as well as steps to remake Medicare and Medicaid. Officials have said that in private conversations, Republicans have set an informal target of reducing budget deficits to $1 trillion by next year, down from about $1.5 trillion for the current year.

Details unseen, Democrats are already eager to attack it as too harsh. But conservatives in the Republican Study Conference are expected to outline an alternative with even tighter deficit cuts.

The Treasury also has put lawmakers on notice that an increase in the government's borrowing authority will be needed later this spring. Some conservatives have already announced they will oppose any such measure, while others have laid down conditions that appear unlikely to be met.

Boehner and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have said the GOP will demand changes to rein in future spending before the increase can pass.

One priority, unveiled in the Senate with the support of all 47 Republicans, is a constitutional amendment to require a balanced federal budget except in cases of war or national security emergency.

___

Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman in Washington contributed to this report.

Ouattara forces fighting for Gbagbo residence (Reuters)

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara's forces battled loyalists of incumbent Laurent Gbagbo on Friday after attacking his Abidjan residence and seizing control of Ivory Coast's state television, a Ouattara spokesman said.

A military source in Gbagbo's camp confirmed the attack overnight on Gbagbo's residence but said that pro-Gbagbo forces were still putting up resistance at state broadcaster, RTI. Residents in the area confirmed heavy fighting.

Loyalists of the internationally recognized president entered the city on Thursday after a swift offensive south aimed at ousting Gbagbo, who has refused to cede power since a November 28 election that U.N.-certified results showed he lost.

Fighting between the rival factions raged for hours on Thursday and heavy weapons fire rang out in the center of the commercial capital of the world's top cocoa producer.

"The shooting is so loud that the earth is shaking due to the explosions," a resident told Reuters by telephone overnight from an area near the fighting.

"Fighting is still going on all around Gbagbo's residence," Ouattara spokesman Patrick Achi told Reuters, hours after he said pro-Ouattara forces attacked.

Achi said he didn't know if Gbagbo was still inside but overnight he said Gbagbo was there and looked like fighting on. "(Gbagbo) hasn't shown any signs of giving up. I don't think he will see the game is up, because he really believes God will save him," he added.

A military source in Gbagbo's camp confirmed the attack, adding that Gbagbo's bodyguards were fighting back.

Residents said the state broadcaster remained off air. It stopped transmitting at 2245 GMT on Thursday after repeatedly showing images of Gbagbo and his close entourage. Gbagbo has been due to speak on state media for days.

"(State broadcaster) RTI is taken, it's off air. It is under control," Achi said, adding a statement would be made later.

The military source, who asked not to be named, confirmed that the gendarmerie had abandoned their positions but said pro-Gbagbo Republican Guard and armed students were still fighting to defend the state broadcaster early on Friday.

The state television building is close to Gbagbo's residence in the leafy neighborhood of Cocody.

STANDOFF KILLED HUNDREDS

In power since 2000, Gbagbo's mandate ran out in 2005 but the presidential election was delayed until 2010 because of instability in the country.

A Sorbonne-educated history professor who prides himself on being in touch with ordinary Ivorians, he rose to prominence as firebrand lecturer who challenged the autocratic rule of Ivory Coast's first post-independence president.

The four month standoff has killed hundreds and rekindled the country's 2002-3 civil war. About 1 million have fled Abidjan alone and some 112,000 other have crossed into Liberia, to the west, according to the United Nations.

Earlier this week, Ouattara's forces advanced from several directions, taking the capital Yamoussoukro and the cocoa port of San Pedro with little resistance.

Some of Gbagbo's top officers, including the head of his armed forces and gendarmerie, have abandoned him but an unknown number appear to be putting up stiff resistance and Ouattara's forces could get sucked into bloody urban warfare with his hard-core supporters, some of whom are recently armed civilians.

The power struggle had pushed cocoa prices higher, but they have tumbled since Ouattara, a former prime minister who later joined the IMF and rose to be its deputy head, began his push.

The capture of San Pedro, which ships half of the country's production, could kick-start the flow of beans that dried up in January due to sanctions, but diplomats said any easing of EU measures would take days.

Ouattara's camp has rejected appeals by Gbagbo's camp for a ceasefire or further dialogue.

U.N. troops were in control of Abidjan airport after Gbagbo forces abandoned it, a security source and U.N. sources said.

An internal U.N. report, seen by Reuters, also said pro-Gbagbo forces had abandoned a blockade of a hotel Ouattara had been restricted to. It also said peacekeepers had exchanged fire with Gbagbo loyalists in several parts of the city.

The U.S. government said Gbagbo had been "significantly" weakened by defections and the disintegration of his forces and Ouattara called on the remaining Gbago loyalists to give up.

He also announced a three-day overnight curfew and ordered the closure of land, air and sea borders, an Interior Ministry statement said. There were widespread reports of looting.

At least 494 people have been confirmed killed since the standoff began, according to the United Nations, but, given the scale of fighting, the real figure is likely to be much higher.

(Additional reporting by Ange Aboa in Abidjan; Additional reporting and writing by David Lewis; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)