BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY) Updates: Press Release, Criticized Rival & Google Inc (GOOG)’s Play Store

Editor’s Note: Related tickers: BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)

BBM Android release tantalized by Samsung (PhonesReview)
The BBM app launch for Android and iOS devices has been stirring up a lot of anticipation. We know the BlackBerry Messenger service is going cross-platform this summer, but a precise date has still not been supplied. However, Samsung is now tantalizing the BBM Android release, so hopefully it won’t be too much longer until the app is available on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Play. We know from our previous articles on BBM that many readers are really keen to be able to enjoy the messaging service on their iOS or Android devices. Recently we told of a Samsung press release that pledged BBM for Android would be available on launch to Galaxy customers across Africa soon and integrated into Samsung Apps.

BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY)

BlackBerry users left fuming (IoL)
After the backlash that cellular network MTN faced from its BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) customers when it tried to cap its BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS), rival Cell C has faced mounting criticism for limiting its service to 2 gigabytes a month. But Cell C spokesperson Karin Fourie defended the move on Wednesday, saying it was “carefully” considered. “Despite measures put in place earlier this year, abuse of the service was still high on the Cell C network. Some customers were still using in excess of 100 gigs of data which was affecting the service levels of other BlackBerry users,” Fourie said.

BlackBerry on the Ropes (OSNews)
According to a Computerworld article, BlackBerry is exploring putting itself up for sale, as the company falls into 4th place in the mobile market. IDC statistics that show Android leads the mobile market with nearly 80%, iOS has 13.2%, Windows Phone 3.7%, and BlackBerry 2.9%. Gartner analyst Bill Menezes states that even new ownership is “not going to address how the company restores itself.” One key asset BlackBerry owns is QNX, the real-time based OS it bought in 2010. QNX is microkernel based, versus the monolithic kernel used by many OS’s like Linux. BlackBerry bases its tablet and phone OS’s on QNX, which also remains a popular commercial OS for embedded systems.

BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) Shares Tumbled By 3% at C$10.63 (eFinanceHub)
On Tuesday afternoon, the shares of BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) were tumbled by 3 percent at C$10.63 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. They were down by more than 7 percent so far this year, losing their value well over three quarters since a peak in early 2011. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that BlackBerry Ltd is in view of spinning off its messaging service into a separate unit. The newspaper said that the subsidiary would be called BBM Inc. Reuters reported that a BlackBerry spokeswoman told that the company cannot comment on rumor and speculation. BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) shares traded down -3.74% to $10.03 in last session.

BlackBerry and TiVo higher (CNBC)