UAE Restrictions Will Hit All Wireless Providers, Says RIM

Potential changes to wireless data services for very small business in the United Arab Emirates will affect the entire industry and not just BlackBerry services, Research In Motion said Saturday.

The company said that it was not being singled out by the telecom regulator, amidst reports that the regulator plans to curb BlackBerry enterprise services to business with fewer than 20 mobile subscriptions.

The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has confirmed to RIM that any potential policy regarding enterprise services in the UAE would be an industry-wide policy, not specific to BlackBerry, applying equally to all enterprise solution providers and with the intent of avoiding any impact on legitimate enterprise customers, RIM said in a statement.

RIM's statement follows a report last week in The National, a newspaper in Abu Dhabi, that said the TRA had instructed local operator, Etisalat, that very small companies will have their BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) accounts terminated at the end of the month. Such customers would be able to move to BlackBerry Internet Service, which does not rely on private servers, the newspaper said.

The TRA did not return calls asking for comment.

The proposed rule comes at a time when some governments in the Middle East are facing protest movements that use online communications and social networks for planing and coordination. By imposing such a rule, the UAE may want higher control on the kind of users who will have access to encrypted services, analysts said.

The TRA said in a statement on Saturday that it confirms the continuation of all Blackberry services in the UAE to both individuals and to business customers, including BlackBerry messenger, BlackBerry email and BlackBerry browsing. It said it would clarify to operators any confusion with regard to TRA regulations, without providing the context for the announcement.

A number of countries, including India, are attempting to get access to corporate mail on BES. India holds that its security rules allow law enforcement agencies access to all communications when required. RIM has said that it is not technically feasible for it to provide access to BES communications, as the encryption keys are with customers. It has however offered solutions to the Indian government for lawful access to its other services.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address isjohn_ribeiro@idg.com.

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A free cloud service for building smartphone apps

 Conduit, an application developer for Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association, is now making its app-building tools available free. The Tel Aviv, Israel-based company has developed a website for building an application once that will run on five smartphone platforms: iPhone, Android, Windows, Blackberry and Nokia's Symbian.

The service uses feeds from your website or social networks. "You can slice and dice it how you want" for the mobile app, said Dayna Verstegen, marketing director of the company.

The app-building site also walks the developer through the application process for each smartphone marketplace, whether it's iTunes or the Android marketplace. Conduit also runs its own marketplace and apps built in on the free platform will be added to it.

Apps built on the free service will display ads, which is how Conduit makes money from the service.

The company started out building browser apps for companies in 2005 and grew to include mobile apps. Clients range from large and high-profile companies -- eBay, TechCrunch, Fox News -- to small business owners, such as a high-end pet store in Baltimore, Verstegen said.

The free cloud service, Conduit Mobile, launched this morning and there are now 2,000 mobile applications that have been built.

The company said it had 230 million users active as of February and 230,000 customers.

It will continue building custom mobile applications through a revenue-share model as well.source

Blackberry Unlimited plan In TataDocomo

Tata DOCOMO, the brand that has become synonymous with consumer-centric innovation–has delivered yet another ‘NEW’ for the Indian consumers.

Tata DOCOMO has recently announced their exciting Blackberry Unlimited plan for both their Prepay and Postpay consumers.

To enjoy the benefits of ‘Blackberry Unlimited’, a consumer will have to shell out only Rs. 399/month. For this price, a consumer can get the following (and these are only a few of the many) benefits:-

a) Unlimited Internet browsing (including audio / video streaming)

b) Unlimited Emailing

c) Unlimited Social Networking

d) Unlimited Blackberry App World

Blackberry as a service is gaining in popularity in India, and this product truly comes as a boon to those millions of consumers who would like to stay connected to their friends, followers and circle of influence – all the time, at a low price.

For select cities, where Tata DOCOMO 3G has been launched, the consumers will also get additional 300 MB data download offer with this product. This will enable the consumers to get the real taste of experiencing the super-express speeds on Tata DOCOMO 3G.

Unlike the other brands in the market who either offer ‘limited browsing / emailing’ or expensive Blackberry plans, this is a true Blackberry-for-all product that is not only affordable but at the same time also offers a high-value experience to the consumer.

Consumers can enjoy the Blackberry Unlimited on Tata DOCOMO across all circles where Tata DOCOMO exists as mobile operator. To subscribe to the product a consumer can either call 1800-419-0121 or visit http://tatadocomo.com/blackberry399.aspx