BlackBerry Set to Map Out Enterprise Strategy at Thursday Event

BlackBerry Ltd's strategy for serving big clients like corporations and government agencies will take shape on Thursday as it launches a new mobile device management platform, a vital component of its turnaround plan. At a San Francisco event, BlackBerry will outline tie-ups with carriers and service providers that will be co-marketing the BlackBerry Enterprise platform, or BES 12, according to industry sources.

Analysts and investors are watching closely to see if BlackBerry Chief Executive Officer John Chen can kick-start revenue growth. Growth will depend on the success of the BES 12, a system that will allow large organizations to manage and secure not just BlackBerry devices on their internal networks, but devices that run on rival operating systems such as Google's  Android, Microsoft's Windows and Apple's iOS.

"It is an important event and we are interested in the company's comments around its enterprise strategy, but strategy alone won't lead to a full rebound for the company," said Morningstar analyst Brian Colello. "BlackBerry will have to execute flawlessly over the next couple of years as well."

Chen said delivering on balance sheet improvements and other pledges in the last year has given BlackBerry a degree of credibility.

"Last year, even if they liked our technology they didn't believe we'd survive, so they didn't want to commit to our technology. That is changing," he told Reuters. BlackBerry has some 3.4 million clients provisionally signed up for BES 12 who are potentially set to become paying clients early next year. Despite this, analysts remain cautious, noting BlackBerry is competing in a crowded field.

"They are executing in a market that is home to a number of extremely formidable, motivated, capable, deep-pocketed rivals," said IDC technology analyst John Jackson. "On one hand you have Citrix, IBM and SAP, and on the other it is (newcomers like) MobileIron and Good Technology." 

These companies compete with BlackBerry in such businesses as mobile data security and mobile device management.

Samsung Gear VR Headset to Launch in December Starting $199

Samsung on Wednesday formally announced the Samsung Gear VR Innovator edition at a developer conference, and its partner Oculus VR has revealed the price of the virtual reality wearable, which will be available from "early December" at $199 (approximately Rs. 12,250). The Innovator Edition is launching in the US only. Earlier reports had suggested that the headset - which will work in tandem with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 as a virtual reality display - would go on sale from December 1, for around Rs. 11,500.

Samsung announced several content partnerships as well, including one with Marvel's Avengers - Gear VR users will gain exclusive access to Tony Stark's Lab inside the new Avenger's Tower. Other content partnerships include a 360-degree live action 3D VR experience from Cirque De Soleil, content from DreamWorks (the company behind movies such as Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon) and a VR version of Temple Run.

According to Oculus, the $199 version is the standalone headset, which comes with a touch pad and back button for inputs. For $249, you can get a version of the headset that comes bundled with a Bluetooth gamepad. Developers can also download the mobile SDK from the Oculus website.

The $199 price tag for the Gear VR headset is pretty reasonable, but it comes with the additional cost of needing to have a Galaxy Note 4 (which currently costs Rs. 58,300 in India). This also sets a benchmark for the final consumer version of the Oculus Rift, which is likely to cost more than the Gear VR, because it will come with a display and other sensors built in, while the Gear VR makes use of the phone for those functions.

Twitter Unveils Plans for Private Messaging, New Users and Standalone Apps

Twitter Inc is considering creating additional mobile applications beyond its core messaging service and ways of making it easier for newcomers to use its service, as it vies with Facebook Inc and other social media for smartphone users.

Shares of Twitter were up more than 6 percent at $42.14 in midday trading on Wednesday following the comments, in San Francisco at the company's first financial analyst day.

Chief Executive Dick Costolo said Twitter also planned to speed up the pace of changes to its product and to add more functions to its private messaging service.

"I strongly believe private messaging virality is important to our long term growth," Costolo said, a reference to when online content goes viral or is popularly shared. He noted that some of the new private messaging features would be introduced in the current quarter.

Executives said the company needed to do a better job helping new users understand how to use the service. An upcoming "instant timeline" will quickly provide new users with content without requiring them to search Twitter for individual users to follow.

Twitter, whose main service allows users to broadcast 140-character messages, appeared to be taking a page from rival Facebook, which in recent years has taken the approach of creating individual apps centered on news, for instance, and also recently beefed up its private messaging.

Twitter has been searching for ways to arrest dwindling user engagement and drive growth. It currently counts 284 million users, compared with Facebook's 1.3 billion.

Facebook 'Say Thanks' Tool Lets Users Make Personalised Video Cards

Facebook has launched a personalised video creation tool called Say Thanks, which allows users to create personalised video cards for their friends. The move is also seen as a bid to push more users to share videos.

The Facebook Say Thanks tool lets users put together personalised video cards combining preset themes and their own posts and photos.

The social networking giant announced the tool in a blog post, saying "Your friends are at the core of your Facebook experience, and we are always looking for new ways to help you celebrate those friendships."

The firm adds that users can share a Say Thanks video with a close friend, significant others, relatives, coworkers, an old friend - or anyone else in the user's life who they'd like to celebrate.

With the Say Thanks tool, users are able to make shareable, customised videos to post on theirs and their friend's timelines. To create the video, users should visit facebook.com/thanks, and then select a friend for Facebook to generate a preview of the video.

"You will have the ability to select a different theme and edit photos and posts that represent your friendship," explained the blog post.

After users finish making their video, they need to click share, and also have the option of adding a personalised message before posting it to their own timeline. The friend will be automatically tagged, ensuring it shows up on their timeline and also delivering a notification.

Google Releases Messenger for Android; Updates Search App With New Features

Google on Wednesday released a new standalone Messenger app on Google Play with Material Design and all new features that were missing from its stock SMS app, called Messaging in some iterations. The company has also started to roll out the Material Design update to the Google Search app along with new reminder features and the ability to search within an app using the 'Ok Google' voice command.

The Messenger app that comes pre-installed on Android 5.0 Lollipop can now be downloaded for devices running Android 4.1 and higher from Google Play. The app essentially works as standalone messaging app only, unlike Hangouts. It allows users to send and receive SMS and MMS (audio, video, pictures) messages. Just like the stock SMS app, Messenger also lets users search through contacts and conversation threads.

Apart from the new Material Design theme, the new Messenger app has brought a few new features that distinguish it from the stock SMS app and Hangouts. The app gives users more control with the new block feature that was missing in the SMS app. It also includes support for audio messages, emoticons, coloured text threads, message archiving and more. Notably, Google had replaced the stock SMS app with Hangouts in Android 4.4 KitKat.

On Wednesday, Google also announced that it is rolling out the Material Design update to its Search app, which we had earlier seen in testing last month. The updated Search lets users search within apps using 'Ok Google' voice command. Recently, Google was encouraging third-party app developers to integrate this 'Ok, Google' voice command for their in-app searches as well.

"Google can now help you search for exactly what you need-even if it's in another app. With a simple prompt like Ok Google, search Tumblr for 'Things Organized Neatly', Google will take you right into the app. This now works with a number of apps, so you can also research the best Maui hotels on TripAdvisor, listen to your jam on TuneIn, find a dream home on Trulia, or get tips on how to carve a turkey on YouTube - right from the Google app," notes the company in its blog post.

The updated Search app also allows users to flip a coin using "Google, flip a coin" voice command and it does that. Google Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 users can also set up 'Ok Google' voice command even the device is asleep, just like the Moto X.