BlackBerry unveils 'PlayBook' tablet computer

RIM President and Co-Chief Executive Officer Mike Lazaridis announces the new BlackBerry PlayBook as he delivers a keynote address at the BlackberryDevCon 2010 in San Francisco, California.

Photo: AFP

SAN FRANCISCO - BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is taking on iPad in the table computer game with a "PlayBook" aimed to capitalize on its strength -- the trust of business users keen on secure communications.

"It is the world's first professional tablet," RIM president and co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis said as he showed off the device in San Francisco.

The PlayBook is one of a number of tablet computers slated for release in a bid to challenge Apple's popular iPad and is the first foray outside the mobile phone realm for the Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM.

"They are kind of positioning it as the iPad for the suits," Gartner analyst Van Baker said of the PlayBook announcement.

The PlayBook has a seven-inch (17.8-centimeter) touchscreen, smaller than the 9.7 inches of Apple's iPad, and also plays Adobe Flash video software, which is banned from the Apple device.

"You are going to be able to get the full Web experience," Lazaridis said, stressing its integration with RIM's BlackBerry smartphone, a favorite among many professionals.

BlackBerry smartphone users can pair their handset with the PlayBook using a Bluetooth connection to view their email, calendar, documents or other content.

The PlayBook also features front- and rear-facing cameras to support video conferencing and allows multi-tasking between programs.

RIM expects to begin selling PlayBooks in the United States in early 2011 and rolling the tablets out to other countries by the middle of the year.

Lazaridis did not reveal how much RIM plans to charge for the PlayBook.

"RIM set out to engineer the best professional-grade tablet in the industry with cutting-edge hardware features and one of the world's most robust and flexible operating systems," Lazaridis said.

Positioning PlayBook as a business person's tablet could stymie its popularity in the sizzling consumer market dominated by iPad, according to Baker.

"RIM has a bit of a split personality; they struggle with whether they are a consumer or enterprise device company," Baker said. "Enterprise is their bread and butter, but consumer is the big market right now."

The fact PlayBook users can route data through BlackBerry smartphones instead of paying for separate telecom service should prove a selling point in the business and personal markets.

PlayBook tablets also promise help RIM challenge the increasing use of iPads in workplaces.

RIM said that in the coming weeks it would release a software kit so third-party developers can begin tailoring applications, or "apps," for PlayBook.

PlayBook debuted at BlackBerry DEVCON, a combined boot camp and pep rally for outside developers crafting programs for the Canadian firm's devices.

RIM introduced tools that make it easier to build applications for BlackBerry handsets and make money with ads or "in-app" purchases.

RIM is also launching a free analytics service that provides applications makers with feedback regarding how, when and where BlackBerry owners are using programs.

"We are enabling developers to better monetize their services and drive deeper engagement to create richer, more interesting social apps for BlackBerry," said Alan Brenner, senior vice president of the BlackBerry platform.

Approximately 35 million people use the BlackBerry "App World" shop, with 1.5 million programs downloaded daily, according to RIM vice president of global alliances and developer relationships Tyler Lessard.

RIM opened the door to more "social" applications that tap into phone features such as chat, instant messaging, and groups, according to Lessard.

Hip, fun or functional programs made by third-party developers have become vital to the popularity of smartphones and tablet computers.

Apple's App Store features more than 250,000 mini-programs for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Blackberry's App World has about 11,000 applications, but programs are also sold at other websites by developers.

Google has been aggressively expanding Android Marketplace, which boasts more than 80,000 apps for smartphones running on the California Internet titan's Android mobile operating system.

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India tells Google, Skype to set up local servers

Photo: AFP

NEW DELHI - India told Google and Skype on Wednesday that they must set up servers in the country to allow law enforcers to screen traffic, as it widened its security offensive on Internet communications firms.

The government has already told the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, Research in Motion (RIM), that it must set up a server in India to allow security forces to intercept the phone's encrypted messaging system.

"We have made this clear to other companies" that they must do the same, Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said.

He added that notices were being dispatched to Google, which uses powerful encryption technology for its Gmail email service, and Skype, the Internet phone provider.

"All people who operate communication services in India should have a server in India," Pillai told a news conference. "This applies to all."

The government's statements came two days after it gave BlackBerry a two-month window to provide a way to read the smartphone's corporate email and messenger chatting services, or face a shutdown of the core functions of the phone.

Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia, a key BlackBerry rival, has already acceded to the government's demands, announcing this week it would set up a server in India by early November to give security forces access to data carried by its smartphones.

India's government, battling multiple insurgencies in areas from Kashmir in the northwest to the remote northeast, is worried that militants could use encrypted services to coordinate attacks.

"It is basically a debate between public security versus the privacy of citizens," Nareshchandra Singh, principal research analyst at Gartner global consultancy, told AFP.

"It is my belief that the upper hand is with security rather than privacy and the government will have to draw a fine line," Singh said.

Home ministry officials say Skype, which uses Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) technology to send calls over the Internet, poses a difficulty for the domestic intelligence services.

"It is very difficult to track communications on VOIP, especially if the servers are not within India," Gartner's Singh said.

BlackBerry's reprieve came after the government said the smartphone's Canadian maker had made proposals to give security forces "lawful access" to messages carried on the handsets.

The government began testing RIMs monitoring proposals on Wednesday to assess their effectiveness.

"Discussions with BlackBerry are still continuing. We have given them 60 days' time" to find a complete solution to government demands for access, Home Secretary Pillai said.

India, which has the world's fastest-growing number of mobile users, is a key market for BlackBerry, which has 1.1 million customers in the country.

BlackBerry has become a global market leader in the smartphone sector thanks to its heavy encryption, and analysts say any compromise with the Indian government could damage its popularity with its high-profile clientele.

RIM is already facing threats to its dominance in the smartphone segment from other feature-rich rivals globally, such as Apple.

But its reputedly impenetrable data protection has also raised a chorus of security concerns from governments in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The Times of India reported Wednesday that the reprieve for BlackBerry resulted from the flood of international visitors expected for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi next month, as well as US President Barack Obama's planned visit in November, rather than any breakthrough in talks with the company.

The blackout of BlackBerry's core features would have disrupted communications for the two events, the newspaper said, adding there would be more talks with RIM before Obama's visit.

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India BlackBerry users relieved as closure averted

A customer holds a BlackBerry handset at a mobile phone shop in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad August 26, 2010.

Photo: Reuters

India's BlackBerry users heaved a sigh of relief Tuesday after the government gave the company a two-month reprieve on a threat to ban its messaging services, averting a showdown over security access.

Research in Motion (RIM), the smartphone's maker, has made "certain proposals for lawful access" to heavily encrypted BlackBerry messages and the situation "will be reviewed in 60 days", the government announced Monday.

The breakthrough came on the eve of a deadline for cellular providers in India to close down the Canadian firm's corporate email and messenger chatting services unless intelligence services could monitor them.

Now, after getting RIM to offer access to BlackBerry data, India aims to go ahead with plans to pursue Google and call provider Skype as it steps up scrutiny of encrypted communications, media reports said.

India, battling insurgencies ranging from Kashmir in the northwest to the far-flung northeast, fears encrypted data could be used by militants to plan attacks.

The proposals for meeting India's security concerns include setting up a server in India through which BlackBerry messages could be routed, the home ministry said in a statement.

Finland's Nokia, one of RIM's biggest rivals in India, said Monday it had already satisfied the government's security concerns by agreeing to install a server in India "for hosting mail and ensuring the government has access".

Analysts have said it would be a major blow for RIM, whose shares have lost more than 30 percent of their value in trading since the start of the year on the New York Exchange, to lose access to the world's fastest-growing cellular market.

For the government, a ban on BlackBerry services, used widely by India's elite, could have caused serious communication problems with the Commonwealth Games due to take place in New Delhi in just over a month.

Banning the service would have also created disruption for India’s corporations, which widely use the Blackberry. BlackBerry has 1.1 million users in India, although not all of them are corporate clients.

"It would have been a real inconvenience, I don't know what I would have done. I use the BlackBerry all the time," said an Indian oil company executive.

Indian authorities plan to issue notices to US search engine Google, Luxembourg-based Skype and public telecom infrastructure provider Virtual Private Network (VPN) to make their services accessible to security agencies, the Press Trust of India reported.

VPN is a network that uses the Internet to provide remote offices or individual users with secure access to their organization’s network.

If they do not satisfy the government's demands, they will be asked to close down their Indian operations, a senior government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said, according to PTI.

"There will be no discrimination. All networks operating in India will have to give access to their services to law enforcement agencies," the official said.

RIM's proposals for "lawful access" to its messages would be "operationalized immediately" and their feasibility assessed, the home ministry said.

A RIM official told AFP the company had not compromised its public commitment to make no special deals with governments.

Analysts note other security-conscious nations such as China and Russia appear to be satisfied that their intelligence agencies have sufficient access to BlackBerry communications although the arrangements between RIM and these countries are not known.

BlackBerry has also been facing a threatened October 11 ban by the United Arab Emirates and has been negotiating with Saudi Arabia on security issues.

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India meets for decision on BlackBerry ban

Indian officials meet on Monday to decide whether to ban some of Research In Motion's BlackBerry services, a day before the deadline runs out for the firm to give security agencies access to its secure data.

Government sources have said the August 31 deadline could be extended if Research In Motion says it has a solution to allowing monitoring of emails and asks for more time to avoid disruption of its services in the world's fastest-growing mobile phone market.

Monday's meeting will consider a technical report prepared after two days of talks last week between RIM officials and Indian security agencies. The report, sources said, contains some suggestions on how a secure email on BlackBerry may be accessed.

"A final decision will be taken after considering all aspects and national security interests," a source in the interior ministry told Reuters. The outcome of the meeting may not be announced on Monday. The sources asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The meeting is due to start at 5 p.m. local (7:30 a.m. EDT).

India says it wants the means to fully track and read BlackBerry's secure email and instant messaging services that officials fear could be misused by militants.

India could become the first country to ban the services, even though several governments have raised concerns about the popular device over activities from terrorism to peddling pornography.

Saudi Arabia, fretful over online services like pornography, has reached a deal with RIM on the messenger service, a consumer product outside of the secure corporate domain. India too has reached a deal till November on Messenger service, according to government sources.

Such concerns have also been raised by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, with the latter giving RIM an October 11 deadline.

Analysts see no easy fix to the standoff as RIM says it has no way of intercepting the data that countries want access to. RIM has denied media reports that say it provided unique wireless services or access to any one country.

A shutdown would affect about 1 million users in India out of a total 41 million BlackBerry users worldwide, allowing them to use the devices only for calls and Internet browsing.

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India says BlackBerry must give access or face ban

A customer holds a BlackBerry handset at a mobile phone shop in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad August 26, 2010.

Photo: Reuters

India insisted on Friday it would block some BlackBerry services next week if the smartphone maker did not address security concerns, and government officials said they were hopeful for a solution soon.

Time is running out for Canada's Research In Motion to give India the means to track and read its secure email and instant messaging services that officials fear could be misused by militants and to create political instability.

Executives of the Canadian firm will meet Indian government officials for a second day on Friday in last-ditch negotiations aimed at finding a solution ahead of an August 31 deadline. The government has said it will take a final decision on Monday.

"We will only accept a solution which will enable us lawful interception of BlackBerry services in the interest of national security," a government official close to the talks told Reuters.

"The solution, if they come up with it, will have to go through field trials and satisfy our technical experts," he said. "The government's position does not change ... We are hopeful they will come up with some solution."

BlackBerry's troubles in India, which could cut it out from one of the world's fastest growing mobile phone markets, are the latest in the firm's global headaches as governments worry its encrypted services could be used for activities from terrorism to peddling pornography.

India is one of a number of countries putting pressure on RIM for the same reason its BlackBerry device is so popular with business professionals and politicians: confidentiality.

The governments of Saudi Arabia and other nations fear it could become a tool to plan militant attacks or for those breaking Islamic laws.

Security concerns

RIM has offered to lead an industry forum to look at India's need to have "lawful access" to its encrypted email and messenger in an effort to stave off the blocking of the popular services.

RIM said singling out BlackBerry for blocking would be counter-productive for India, as it would limit the efficiency and productivity of local firms.

But India says nothing short of a solution giving access to secure email would satisfy security agencies.

"I think these concerns have been addressed in other parts of the world. I see no reason why the Indian government and its agencies should take any risk at all as far as technology is concerned," junior telecoms minister Sachin Pilot said on Friday.

Pilot said he was hopeful the company would offer a solution.

A shutdown would affect about 1 million users in India out of a total 41 million BlackBerry users worldwide, allowing them to use the devices only for calls and Internet browsing.

RIM uses powerful codes to scramble, or encrypt, email messages as they travel between a BlackBerry device and a computer known as a BlackBerry Enterprise Server that is designed to secure those emails.

RIM has said BlackBerry security is based on a system where the customers create their own key and the company neither has a master key nor any "back door" to allow RIM or any third party to gain access to crucial corporate data.

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