We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
BlackBerry had launched Z10 and a Qwerty device Q5, powered by its latest BB10 operating system, with a lot of fanfare.
With the BBM app coming pre-installed, users can directly engage with other BBM users without having to download the app or incurring download charges.
BlackBerry has got everything in place to help its latest launch become a favourite with consumers, says Himanshu Juneja
The government is likely to refer the controversial issue of Blackberry mobile phones to the Telecom Commission to decide whether operators can continue offering this service. The issue of Blackberry was raised after Tata Teleservices recently said they have been denied the permission to offer this value added service by the Ministry of Home Affairs due to security concerns. Telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone & Reliance are offering Blackberry services to users.
Indian operators offering BlackBerry services, top executives of Canadian telco Research in Motion (RIM), the company that owns the brand, security agencies and officials of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) are expected to meet on March 14 to answer the concerns of security agencies in a bid to prevent having BlackBerry services terminated after the March-end deadline.
It will be available for sale in 20 cities across 1,000 stores from Friday.
Blackberry enables subscribers to receive and send e-mails in the form of SMS through mobile phones. The service has come under official scanner, as communication sent using it is routed through servers located abroad and cannot be intercepted by security agencies in New Delhi. The officials did not name the company that has offered to help monitor Blackberry content, but sources said there are a few Swiss and Canadian companies who have developed software offering security t
Government has already warned the popular smartphone company that if it does not allow it to monitor emails and short messaging services to address security concerns, it will have to close down operations in the country, spelling trouble for over a million BlackBerry users in India.
Admitting that the controversy over security has impacted its business in India, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion on Tuesday said it will provide a final solution for lawful interception of BlackBerry Messenger services by January next year.
The government had set August 15 as the deadline for Canada's Research In Motion to provide the country's security agencies with the interception keys to enable real-time tracking of its popular BlackBerry messenger and corporate email services in readable format.
The Canadian smartphone maker has over 1.5 million customers in India.
RCom and Research In Motion have introduced the 'Reliance E-Lite' plan for BlackBerry smart phone users in India, where users can have unlimited access to email and instant messaging on their phones for Rs 299 a month, RCom said. The service plan would be available on BlackBerry smartphones available from Reliance Mobile, such as BlackBerry 8703e, BlackBerry 8830, BlackBerry Curve 8300, BlackBerry Curve 8900, BlackBerry Pearl 8110 and BlackBerry Pearl 8130.
Smartphone maker BlackBerry will sell most of its real estate holding in Canada in a bid to improve operational efficiencies as the firm is facing mounting losses and unsold handset inventory.
Security agencies are making "rather astonishing" demands for increased powers to monitor e-mail and other data traffic.
Since the Blackberry provided additional data security capabilities, including data encryption and decryption, digital signatures and data authentication, the customers are using the handset for their bank transactions and other money-related matters.
In September, BlackBerry had paused the global rollout of its instant messaging service BBM on rival phones, blaming the delay on issues caused by an unreleased old version of BBM (BlackBerry Messenger).
Handset maker BlackBerry on Monday slashed the price of its Q10 handset by over 13 per cent to Rs 38,990 under a special offer to boost sales of the BB10-powered device.
Blackberry is hoping that the pricing and the physical QWERTY keypad can turn out to be the peculiar traits to revive its fortunes in India.
The company that used to be a juggernaut of smartphones is now undertaking a 'journey of transformation of business and brand'.
The launch kicks off a busy period for Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry.
BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) on launched its new smartphone 'Curve 9220' priced at Rs 10,990, a move aimed at strengthening its presence in India, which is one of its fast growing markets.
The Canada-based Research In Motion on Tuesday launched a BlackBerry mobile phone priced at Rs 15,990 in India targetting young professionals and students.
BlackBerry Ltd's decision to accept a $1 billion cash injection from a group of investors led by Canadian financier Prem Watsa shocked other potential bidders for the smartphone maker and has left some investors crying foul.
The new smartphone features all the core BlackBerry messaging and social-centric features that keep people connected and offers global 3G connectivity.
Faced with August 31 deadline to address the country's security concerns, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion on Friday said it was "optimistic" of resolving with the government the issue of lawful interception of its services.
The 9720 comes in the classic BlackBerry shape and the Qwerty keyboard is easier to use than the BlackBerry Q5.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, India's leading cellular service providers, in collaboration with Research In Motion, on Friday launched the new BlackBerry Pearl 8110 smartphone with built-in global positioning system in the Indian market.
Bidders eyeing parts of Canadian smartphone maker than the whole company, say sources
The smartphone has glass lens, stainless steel back plate and a high resolution display.
Cellular service provider Airtel on Wednesday extended BlackBerry wireless services to select Nokia and Sony Ericsson mobile handsets, extending the 'e-mail on phone' facility to a larger user base.
The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone allows easy typing and dialing. The smartphone's external display offers previewing calendar reminders, email, text messages and phone calls. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip is a powerful, compact smartphone equipped to deliver a wide range of applications, said Sanjay Gupta, chief marketing officer, Mobile Services, Airtel.
Intelligent Business Research Services analyst Guy Cranswick said that launching BlackBerry 10 and the upcoming z10 was RIM's 'last best chance to appear as a real player in the Australian market, as well as in the US, UK, and Europe.'
The US president said that only 10 people have the address of the BlackBerry he was issued.
DoT will call operators offering such services within a few days to discuss the issue and make it clear that they may not be left with any option but direct stopping of the services.
To be fair, with the increasing terrorist threats, India's concern may not be unique. The United States, for instance, has always had the reputation of not allowing any email service provider to operate without it being able to break the encrypted code.
Gregory Wade, vice-president (customer accounts), RIM, spoke to Business Standard about how the company is planning to fight the challenges as rivals offer similar devices across price segments.
Research in Motion, maker of Blackberry devices, is putting together its retail footprint with distribution tie-ups with partners like Redington India, which will help in setting up a national retail distribution channels for its smartphones.
Financial institutions, banks and other companies, which use enterprise email services by BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion, were affected.
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