RMI Announces Next-Generation Multi-Core Processor Architecture on 40nm at Frequencies Greater than 2.0 GHz

At today's Linley Tech seminar, RMI Corporation, a leading provider of high-performance processors for communication and media rich applications, announced plans to launch its next generation processor architecture and product family performing at frequencies greater than 2.0 GHz.
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This latest offering will bring about the most advanced and most highly integrated multi-core processor in the industry while maintaining the innovative multi-threading capabilities of RMI's existing processor families. RMI's newest generation of architecture and products is developed on 40nm process technology and will feature the highest performance per watt of any solution on the market. RMI will sample its latest technology in Q4 of this year and offer complete product details at Interop 2009 in Las Vegas, NV.

"RMI communication processors have a reputation for high throughput and robust performance, culminating in tremendous customer traction and revenue growth. We are now set to announce the most advanced architecture and highest performing product family the embedded market will see over the next several years," exclaimed Behrooz Abdi, president and chief executive officer, RMI. "We have received consistently positive feedback from present and future customers on our roadmap and we are ready to deliver."

RMI's next generation architecture will offer much greater processor performance than that available from any other embedded processor in the market today. The combination of the improved design, along with frequencies greater than 2.0 GHz enabled by the 40nm process node, will result in significant performance per watt advantages for RMI's customers.

The advanced multi-core product offerings will feature a broad set of SoC enhancements while continuing to maintain full software compatibility and lower power across RMI's XLR and XLS Processor families, enabling a broad set of features and system configurations for the infrastructure and enterprise markets. This unique architecture will drive an innovative set of capabilities and interfaces for use in security appliances, L4-L7 switching, storage networking, 3G/4G wireless, small business networks, as well as several new untapped markets. Early development work with the world's leading storage, networking, telecom, wireless and enterprise customers has been in place for over 2 years.

"By leaping to 40nm, RMI can take advantage of leading-edge process technology," noted Linley Gwennap, principal analyst at The Linley Group. "This technology enables CPU speeds of more than 2.0 GHz, which is faster than any competing multi-core CPU that is announced or sampling. Many networking and communications OEMs need this high level of performance."

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BY THE NATION Stuff
Source：THE NATION

RIM rocks a new tune

The BlackBerry maker has made a concerted push to woo the masses, even securing the services of iPod spokesdudes Bono and U2. But without a clearer marketing strategy, can it really trounce the Apple/iPhone juggernaut?
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Toronto-based radio DJ Alan Cross flew to Boston last month with a plan to find a way into a secret U2 concert at an old vaudeville-era theatre. What he ended up with was an exclusive peek at a landmark business deal between the iconic Irish rockers and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. After Bono and his band wrapped up their gig at the intimate Somerville Theater, Mr. Cross ended up at a crowded reception at a nearby pub in Harvard Square and came face to face with the U2 front man. To strike up a conversation, he told Bono he had friends who worked for RIM. Then he asked Bono about the new partnership between RIM and one of the biggest rock acts on the planet, which the Waterloo, Ont.-based company announced in a routine press release just two days earlier.

"I'm very excited about this," Bono told Mr. Cross about the RIM deal. "Research In Motion is going to give us what Apple wouldn't — access to their labs and their people so we can do something really spectacular."

Mr. Cross couldn't believe his ears. Was RIM working on a special U2 application that would help the band interact with fans as part of its "U2 360" tour?

"You're not far off," Bono said, before slipping away into the crowd.

A tie-up with Bono and U2 is nothing short of a marketer's dream. But what's it worth if only one man in a crowded bar hears about it?

And why was Mr. Cross getting the real story — that U2 was tapping RIM's engineers — from the music icon himself rather than the company that stands to benefit the most from the deal?

Therein lies the latest challenge for RIM as it weathers the recession and looks to its next phase of growth. An engineering and design wunderkind, the BlackBerry now needs a brand image and strategy that reach the masses. Or to use co-founder Jim Balsillie's baseball analogy for RIM — "there's two down in the second" — it's time to think about the middle innings.

IT'S ABOUT THE BRAND

RIM realizes its future hinges on winning consumers over to the BlackBerry. The company has taken several leads from Apple, the king of consumer technology, that go beyond winning the affections of one of the world's greatest rock stars. RIM has recently introduced touch-screen technology with the BlackBerry Storm and an online store for games and software known as App World, similar to what Apple has already perfected for using with the iPhone. But RIM has yet to attempt what Apple does best: sell its brand to consumers.

Experts warn that if RIM doesn't quickly fire up a global marketing machine of its own, the company will be pushed to the wayside by bigger brands such as Apple, Google and Microsoft and will be forgotten by the fickle consumer.

"RIM has every right and ability to take on Apple. It's not the same as Apple, nor should it be. But RIM should have greater confidence," said Geoffrey Roche, chief creative officer of Toronto ad agency Lowe Roche, who has done some work for the company. "They have every right to be seen as sexy."

RIM has ridden the coattails of U.S. President Barack Obama, a self-confessed Berry addict, and is spending big dollars to back U2's global concert tour. But for the most part, even as it expanded its reach from CEOs to soccer moms, RIM has left marketing responsibilities to the phone companies that sell its devices. The result is a "schizophrenic message" that will not survive the overwhelming marketing forces of the Apple brand, or those of other emerging competitors, Mr. Roche said.

"The thinking needs to change. They have an immense opportunity. RIM has not made any mistakes. They have never positioned themselves poorly. We're not sitting here with General Motors," he said.

RIM's marketing expenses have rocketed in recent quarters, as the company begins to emerge from the shadows. To broaden its consumer appeal it is running a TV ad campaign dubbed "Life on BlackBerry," which features a handset constructed of everyday items such as a soccer ball, vacation photos and music speakers, to suggest how BlackBerry touches all aspects of people's lives. The company was a major sponsor of the Major League Baseball playoffs in the United States last year. And it has expanded product distribution beyond phone companies to major retailers such as Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.

THE CONSUMER SPACE

RIM initially created the BlackBerry to serve customers in business and government. But over the past decade, as those markets became saturated and competitors crashed the scene, it has made a radical shift to the consumer space.

Two and a half years ago, it began its march down Main Street with the BlackBerry Pearl, a sleek, candy bar-shaped phone with camera and music player.

Analysts were initially concerned that the company's new emphasis on consumers would erode the fat profit margins it enjoys with its corporate clients, since the consumer market is typically characterized by lower profitability, higher marketing costs and pressure to respond to rapidly shifting tastes.

This week, co-chief executive officer Jim Balsillie revealed that RIM's assault on the consumer market is in full force, telling analysts that consumers now comprise half of its customer base, which more than doubled last year to about 25 million. On Thursday, RIM reported record profits and growth in subscribers, 70 per cent of which came from the consumer market. The stock climbed 19.4 per cent, regaining much of what it had lost since it was hit by the recession.

It's hard to argue with that kind of success, which generated $11.1-billion (U.S.) of global sales last year, up from $3-billion just two years ago. Marketing experts say RIM is in the enviable position of "product-driven" success. But long-term viability demands that it dramatically increase its global scale, something that will require better branding and marketing.

Apple, which has a much broader product line than RIM, is outspending its Canadian rival on marketing by as much as five to one, said Rob Enderle, president of the Enderle Group, a technology advisory firm in San Jose, Calif.

What will happen if RIM doesn't change its thinking? "They will get left behind," Mr. Roche said. "I think there is a window, but it's not a monstrous window. Look at all the great companies gone by the wayside because they didn't get their message to consumers."

STEALTH MARKETING

The significance of RIM's partnership with U2 should not be underestimated. Not only does it strike a direct blow at Apple, but brings one of the most business-savvy entertainers to RIM's team.

Mr. Cross, the disc jockey, remembers having a long conversation with Bono five years ago shortly after the band made a pact with Apple. Bono's image was used on iPod packaging and advertising while Apple built a U2 iPod.

"He gave me this long and very eloquent answer about how launching an album and launching a tour was very expensive and that a band or a record label can't necessarily do it on their own," said Mr. Cross, who is also a senior program director for Corus Interactive and Integrated Solutions. "He said, 'We need to find partners who will help us get the word out about what we're doing and we will work with partners who will create objects or devices or offer services that we really believe in.'" But there is more to building a global brand than building great partnerships, and RIM's approach to communications is still more stealth than storefront.

On its website, for example, the company plainly states that information about its marketing plan "cannot be disclosed to the public." RIM's marketing executives could not be reached for comment for this story.

Ann Nurock, president and CEO of Grey Canada, RIM's ad agency, politely declined to discuss her work with RIM. "Only RIM themselves can comment."

In contrast, Apple is known for creating and managing its own image of coolness. The company is secretive, but its marketing is not. It is well-known, for example, that for years, chief executive officer Steve Jobs has included creative agency TBWA\Chiat\Day, and the firm's global director, Lee Clow, in Apple's critical business decisions.

In the long term, the key to winning this smart-phone market will be about more than simply branding and adding consumers. Buyers are fickle and the day's trendy device can be outdated in a matter of months, Mr. Enderle said.

Instead, the race will be won by the company that can build scale fastest — and that favours Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. over either Apple or RIM, he said.

"The quality gap between devices will eventually close," Mr. Enderle said. "The more people you have building, marketing and selling your product the more successful you will be. Then it just becomes a matter of resources."

Google has five manufacturers lined up to build phones for its Android software platform, and both Google and Microsoft have the resources to buy the loyalty of the phone companies, the kingmakers who provide access to the market. Developers always follow the money, Mr. Enderle noted.

So far, more than 100,000 developers have downloaded the necessary software to build applications that run on BlackBerry devices. But RIM is playing catch-up in this field and until it opened the online app store this week it lacked a cohesive strategy for third-party BlackBerry software.

Although Mr. Balsillie was fond of trumpeting various corporate applications coming from partner companies such as Facebook or Slacker Radio, it wasn't until Apple created a consumer sensation with its own App Store that RIM recognized the need to create a single destination where users could purchase and download their own software to customize their devices.

CASHING IN ON A NAME

Research shows that when people buy a car, they pay more attention to ads after the purchase to justify their expense and make themselves feel good. RIM might need to think along those lines, too.

"There's a wonderful coolness quotient to Apple's work," Mr. Roche said. "There's a need for RIM to be there as well. There's a need for people to feel a great sense of confidence that they got the coolest product out there, and that they are a master of the universe by virtue of the fact."

The question remains whether RIM can cash in on U2's rock star cachet, and whether BlackBerry can emerge as more than the consummate mobile business tool to capture the attention of a generation of potential customers who grew up on cellphones, MySpace and iTunes.

"We used to hold up lighters [at rock concerts]. Now we hold up cellphones," Mr. Cross said. "What's going to happen if U2 can, from the stage, instantaneously communicate to each individual person? What form is that interactivity going to take? Are you going to give them a song, are you going to give them a code, are you going to give them an opportunity to text to a screen or meet each other?"

RIM engineers are probably working on some of those questions right now. Once they work it out, the company may need to borrow a line from Bono and elevate itself yet again.

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BY SIMON AVERY AND MATT HARTLEY
Source：Saturday's Globe and Mail

© Copyright 2009 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

谷歌为黑莓手机提供语音搜索功能

谷歌周三推出了新的无线应用，将语音搜索功能推广到RIM黑莓手机中。
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此前，该项服务已经支持苹果iPhone(手机上网)和谷歌Android手机，而新服务则支持RIM黑莓手机，用户可免费下载。

安装后，用户只需按住黑莓的“Talk”键即可进行语音搜索。新服务支持谷歌的“My Locations”定位服务，可与黑莓手机的GPS和Wi-Fi等服务相结合。

此外，在应用程序搜索框的上方，还带有谷歌Gmail电子邮件、谷歌新闻、谷歌地图和谷歌RSS阅读器等服务的快捷图标，用户点击图标后即可进入服务。

不过，要支持Google Mobile应用，系统版本必须是O/S 4.1或更高版本；要支持语音搜索，系统版本必须是O/S 4.2或更高版本。

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文章出处：新浪科技
作者：李明

黑莓应用程序商店下月推出 与苹果激战在即

生产黑莓智能手机的RIM公司近日表示，其为黑莓手机设立的应用程序商店将在一个月内上线运营。这将与苹果的应用程序商店展开激烈的竞争。
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RIM公司发言人Tenille Kennedy表示，黑莓应用程序世界届时将首先提供小游戏，网络软件和音乐软件，最早将在三月初正式提供服务。

此外RIM表示，黑莓手机应用程序开发者将得到80%的软件版权分成，RIM得到剩下的20%。而苹果与iPhone应用程序开发者之间的分成比例是，苹果得到30%，开发者拿70%。

由次贷市场崩盘引发的经济滑坡已导致全球许多大银行与证券公司裁员超过26万人。而黑莓手机用户中有55%是企业用户，RIM表示正在拓展消费用户的数量。

市场研究机构Gartner驻伦敦分析师Carolina Milanesi表示，“渐渐地，手持设备能否成功的关键已不再由硬件决定了，而得看软件。用户一直在问，你们能不能让这个设备更加有趣？”

RIM或许将于今年4月1日在拉斯维加斯美国无线通信展CTIA Wireless上展出黑莓应用程序商店，RIM联席CEO 迈克·拉扎迪斯(Mike Lazardis)将在通信展进行演讲。RIM发言人Kennedy没有透露黑莓应用程序商店是否一定会在通信展上展出，仅表示它将在一个月内上线运营。用户可以通过黑莓应用程序商店下载小游戏程序等，并通过Ebay的Paypal进行支付。

据IDC表示，带有浏览网页收发电邮等功能的智能手机销量增幅将在今年下降至8.9%，仅为2008年的三分之一。但IDC表示，智能手机的表现仍比整体移动市场而言要亮眼许多，今年整体移动设备市场将出现自2001年以来的首次萎缩。

据证券公司Avian Securities表示，RIM惟一一款触摸屏智能手机Storm的销量在今年1月有所增加。去年11月Storm刚发布时的负面评论和软件瑕疵使Storm销量不振，随后RIM修补了为人们所诟病的软件问题。

Avian Securities对零售商店的调查显示，Storm在今年一月已成为全美国第三畅销的智能手机，仅次于苹果iPhone和黑莓Curve。

苹果去年7月份发布了应用程序商店，目前拥有超过15000款应用程序。微软也计划在今年为其Windows Mobile手机系统推出应用程序商店。黑莓需要找到自己的定位与它们展开竞争。

市场研究机构Gartner驻伦敦分析师Carolina Milanesi认为，“这些应用程序商店能否成功完全取决于这些因素：应用程序的数量多少、定价高低和是否易于使用，取决于能不能成功为消费者创建一整套生态系统。”

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文章出处：IT商业新闻网
编辑：Serena

传中电信将全面引入黑莓手机 4月上市

据知情人士透露，中国电信已基本和黑莓达成协议，将向全国推广黑莓手机，产品和套餐可能在4月全面上市。但中国电信集团和黑莓公司均未肯定这一说法。该人士透露，某些省份的电信公司已经开始推行这项业务，目前套餐为49元/月，据悉，该方案将于4月在全国推广。
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记者致电中国电信人士证实此事，得到的答复是“没有听说，中国电信集团没有和黑莓公司有任何接触”。黑莓中国区方面也表示，不对市场谣言做出评价，其在中国没有其他电信运营商合作伙伴，当前只和中国移动一家运营商有合作。

此前，黑莓只与中国移动合作，2007年8月，黑莓正式在中国上市，该公司将主要针对北京、上海、广州等大城市的企业用户推出黑莓手机服务。黑莓将加强与中国移动的合作，提升黑莓产品以及服务在中国的知名度。

中国电信总裁尚冰在2月13日举办的“中国电信移动终端产业合作高层论坛”上透露，中国电信CDMA网络今年计划新增3500万用户，到2010年中国电信移动用户数要超过1亿。为了在3G时代占有先发优势，中国电信天翼终端公司副总经理马武表示，中国电信的3G手机(CDMA2000EVDO制式)将在下个月开始试商用，5月份实现规模商用。

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文章出处：搜狐IT
编辑：Amy

RIM公布黑莓网店细节 软件最低售价2.99美元

RIM今日公布了黑莓应用软件网店细节，软件最低销售价为2.99美元。
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据悉，RIM的网店名称为“黑莓应用软件世界”(BlackBerry App World)。RIM先前宣布称，该网店将在黑莓应用程序中心旗下运营。据RIM介绍，软件下载服务所需的手机黑莓操作系统应不得低于4.2版本，即手机具有轨迹球或SurePress触摸屏功能(如黑莓Storm系列)。该网店初步适用于美国、加拿大、英国市场，发布时将仅支持英文，在网店扩展到新的国际市场后，它将支持法语、意大利语、德语和西班牙语。

根据“黑莓应用软件世界”网店开发者“常见问题解答”栏目称，RIM将对网店上架软件产品的定价较竞争对手更为严格，开发者必须以最低2.99美元的价格购买软件，而苹果网店可以让开发者以最低99美分拿货。RIM网店的过高要价可能会挫伤开发者研发更低价、简捷应用软件的积极性。

另外，RIM还将禁止用户通过黑莓手机的microSD卡下载或运行应用软件。市场研究机构Electronista认为，RIM网店的严厉政策表面上打击了盗版，但同时也限制了应用软件的质量和规模，因为黑莓手机的内存最大不过是Bold系列所标称的1G。此外，这一政策还限制了RIM软件拷至其它多种设备。

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文章出处：新浪科技
作者：志伟