Al Sacco

I just got back from Orlando and the Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry World 2012 conference. The BlackBerry-maker made a ton of major announcements during the three-day event, but a number of things really stand out in my mind.

Here's a list of the five most notable BlackBerry World 2012 announcements and happenings, in my opinion, along with some thoughts on what they all mean to RIM and BlackBerry.

It was a big week in the world of BlackBerry.

Thorsten Heins

Research In Motion (RIM) announced its fourth quarter 2012 financials, and the numbers were particularly grim. The company said its former co-CEO and board member Jim Balsillie is retiring. RIM's CTO, David Yach, and COO, Jim Rowan, are also leaving the company, and reports suggest other high-level firings are in the works. And Thorsten Heins, the current BlackBerry chief executive, said RIM will refocus its efforts on the enterprise and "explore all the company's options," including licensing agreements and even a straight sale.

Research In Motion's (RIM) PlayBook OS 2.0 software has been officially available for about two weeks now, and I've been kicking the tires since I first downloaded it within hours of the release. Later that same day, I started seeing PlayBook 2.0 reviews pop up online. What I hope sets this review apart from those early evaluations is that I used the software every day for the past couple of weeks, just as a typical business user would. I also focused on the little details of setup and use that matter to enterprise IT administrators and the people they support.

The BlackBerry PlayBook was initially released in April of 2011, and the hardware hasn't changed at all during the past year, so this review focuses solely on the new software, except where hardware features and functionality are relevant to the functionality of the tablet.

These are dark days for Research In Motion (RIM) and its BlackBerry brand...or at least dim ones.

The Canadian company is struggling with an increasingly negative market perception, shrinking customer loyalty as long-time BlackBerry users move on, and stiff competition from rivals, including Apple, Google and Microsoft, among other things. (Read more details on why 2012 could be a particularly tough year for RIM and BlackBerry.)

RIM's New President and CEO Thorsten HeinsBlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) yesterday appointed a brand new chief executive officer and president, Thorsten Heins. The move follows months of pressure from RIM shareholders and others to oust former RIM co-CEOs, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. (In fact, I wrote a piece earlier this month explaining why a major leadership change was in order at RIM.)

Check out the following list for 10 interesting tidbits on Mr. Heins, his past and his plans for RIM and BlackBerry in the coming months and years.

Rumors about a potential sale of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) have been circulating for months, due largely to the Canadian company's ongoing struggles to retain its place in the competitive mobile market and compete with the likes of Apple, Google and others.

This week, those rumors came to head when news broke that Microsoft and Nokia have considered making a joint bid for RIM and the BlackBerry brand. And Amazon.com also reportedly reached out to RIM about the possibility of a takeover or partnership, though RIM supposedly quickly refused.

I love reading, and I love books. I don't care much about the medium--paper or digital, it's all the same to me, for the most part.

But one thing I really miss about books and stories printed on paper is the ability to share a good book with a friend or colleague by simply handing over my copy when I'm finished with it.

Due to a number of holiday sales and other deep tablet discounts, Research In Motion 's (RIM) BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is flying off the shelves. (BestBuy.com is sold out of all three versions of the PlayBook, for instance, and RIM's own online store is out of the 16GB tablet, with just a limited supply of the 32GB and 64GB PlayBooks.)

That means lots of new PlayBook owners will soon be scouring the Web for BlackBerry tablet tips, tricks, apps and anything else they can find. If you're one of those new users, you won't want to miss my latest list of must-know PlayBook tips.

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) today announced a brand new set of enterprise mobility tools, called BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, which are designed to help IT manage not just BlackBerry smartphones and tablets, but mobile devices running Apple's iOS and Google's Android OS, via a single, Web-based interface from RIM.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will help manage BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices

It's been more than two months since Research In Motion (RIM) reported a BlackBerry smartphone or BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) security flaw, but the Canadian company has announced a handful of recently discovered vulnerabilities in its BlackBerry 6 handheld OS and BES for IBM Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange. BlackBerry Torch 9800 with Padlock (Image Credit: Brian Sacco)

First, RIM reports that three newly discovered vulnerabilities in the BlackBerry 6 Webkit browser could allow a hacker to access and/or modify data stored within a BlackBerry 6 smartphone's internal storage, as well as on its external media card.