According to new sources, Verizon will begin offering prepaid BlackBerry data service sometime in the next three months.
Although there weren’t too many details revealed, the plan will cost $35 on top of your normal voice plan. Most likely, only a few BlackBerrys will be available for the new deal.
The move is the first time Verizon will offer a smartphone as a “prepaid” device, and most American carriers have been reluctant to make such offers, instead opting for long-term contracts with locked in prices.
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RIM has confirmed a second BlackBerry email outage this week, seemingly acknowledging that their systems may not yet be ready to handle the large increase in smartphone owners.
The smartphone maker attributed this outage to a glitch in the latest update to the BBM instant messaging program. The bug cause an “unanticipated database issue within the BlackBerry infrastructure.”
RIM is known for secure and stable emails, and outages can cause corporate customers money, especially if the outages are for extended periods of time.
Adds John Jackson, vice president and wireless analyst at CCS Insight, via the WSJ: “It’s a consequence of the architecture that makes RIM RIM. They invested heavily in upgrading their backup systems after outages in 2007 and 2008, and made some high-profile hires. So that it’s happened twice in a week, albeit with a limited duration and geography, indicates gaps.”
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The New York Times is citing sources familiar with plans to bring about an “iTunes for magazines”; an online newsstand to be developed by Time Inc., Condo Nast and Heasrt. According to the “people with knowledge of the plans,” the new venture may be announced in early December. The move is being made to counter continually declining print circulation for U.S. magazines.
The website would reportedly offer consumers the chance to buy print or electronic copies of their magazines. It would also develop software standards for viewing the content on iPhones, Blackberrys, eBook readers and other devices. According to the New York Observer, John Squires, a Time executive, would be the chief executive officer of the new online venture.
“The consortium provides one point of contact for the consumer,” the Observer quoted an unidentified source as saying. “When you come to the main store, you can get the content any way you want.” U.S. newspaper and magazine publishers have witnessed a steep decline in print advertising revenue as more of their readers turn to free content on the Internet to get their news.
Time Inc. alone is carrying out largescale layoffs after it had to let 600 staff go just last year. It publishers several popular magazines including Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated and People.
