More brands flocking to BlackBerry BBM Channels

BBM Channels is a clever social media feature within BBM on BlackBerry, Android and iOS and has been gaining ground since it was debuted. A number of brands and popular sports, entertainment and social personalities and brands have apparently joined and put up their own channels.

Last week, BlackBerry announced an update to BBM, which added several fantastic new features for all users, including BBM Channels to the Android and iPhone subscriber base. BlackBerry users have had access to a BBM Channels beta for several months now.  In those months, channel owners have already seen enthusiastic engagement from their subscribers. Hit jump to learn more and get the lowdown on who has joined the service.

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Mike Lazaridis abandons Blackberry buyout bid, sells $26 million worth of shares

Blackberry founder and former co-CEO Mike Lazaridis has publicly abandoned his plan to buy the company formerly known as RIM. Lazaridis was the technology-focused CEO who wanted another chance to help out the iconic Canadian smartphone pioneer. When the company was put up for sale months ago, Lazaridis valiantly rallied investors to buy the company. Blackberry decided not to sell and is currently working to regain its foothold in the mobile industry.

Lazaridis also cashed in a portion of his Blackberry shares worth US $ 26 million.

BlackBerry pens open letter to customers and fans

The past few weeks haven't been kind to BlackBerry whose new smartphone releases have been somewhat overshadowed by talks of acquisition, a delayed attempt at bringing BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) to Android and iOS as well as recent loss of nearly $1 billion due to poor selling Z10 smartphones and the most depressing news of all is that it has no recourse but to lay off 4,500 employees as part of its restructuring. Thorsten Heins and Co. have been rather quiet througout all this, even cancelling a regularly scheduled earnings conference call in order to deal with the issues facing the company. There's an open letter from BlackBerry that's expected to make the rounds in various newspapers today and this is the first time the company is opening up about the issues it faces.

“You can continue to count on BlackBerry,”  is the gist of the letter with BlackBerry pointing out the positives (cash on hand, debt free balance sheet and the aim to cut expensies by 5- per cent." The company says they may be down but they are definitely not out despite what various pundits are saying. Hit jump for the full letter.

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BlackBerry pushes for investigation from SEC and OSC on 'false return claims' by analysts

“Sales of the BlackBerry Z10 are meeting expectations and the data we have collected from our retail and carrier partners demonstrates that customers are satisfied with their devices,” says BlackBerry President and CEO Thorsten HeinsBy Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

After successfully launching the new BlackBerry Z10 and now readying to launch the BlackBerry Q10, BlackBerry is fighting hard to be competitive and sustain its comeback. So when analysts from Detwiler Fenton issued a statement yesterday claiming higher than usual return rates for the BlackBerry Z10 handsets, BlackBerry quickly refuted the claims and is now asking for a full scale inquiry from the Security and Exchange Comission as well as the Ontario Securities Commission.

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