BlackBerry denies that Google Play Store is coming to BlackBerry 10

Just a couple of days ago, we showed you some screenshots that appeared to show the Google Play Store running on BlackBerry 10. While the platform can run certain Android apps, it cannot run any Google Play services or apps approved by Google. Thus, seeing the Google Play Store running on BlackBerry 10 seemed to indicate that a new level of cooperation had been reached between Google and the Canadian based OEM.

But a statement released on Tuesday from the troubled manufacturer (that would be BlackBerry), says that there is "no planned support" for Google Play on BlackBerry. The statement goes on to point out that BlackBerry App World is still the place to go for apps and content for your BlackBerry device.

It really is too bad for BlackBerry and its ardent fans. Having the Google Play Store available on BlackBerry 10 could have opened up a whole new world for the platform. Somehow, we get the feeling that this might have been a trial balloon that was shot down by developers who have their blood and sweat invested in BlackBerry App World.

"There is no planned support for Google Play on BlackBerry. BlackBerry World remains the primary source for trusted and curated BlackBerry applications and we continue to support open standards and open source tools so BlackBerry developers can continue to create great apps on any of the development platforms we support."-BlackBerry statement

Galaxy S III devices with Android 4.3 update reportedly suffering major problems

It has not even been 10 days since the international variant of the Samsung Galaxy S III started to receive the update to Android 4.3. Word has it that there are plenty of issues coming out of the update to the venerable SGSIII.

Among the problems, and they are not mere annoyances, are reduced battery life, application crashes, Wi-Fi connectivity problems and complete lock-up that can only be remedied by a battery pull. That does not sound like much of an update.

For what it is worth, it looks like Samsung has pulled the update rollout for the time being while these issues are looked into. The update to the Samsung Galaxy Note II may also be placed on hold since it shares similar underpinnings with the Galaxy S III.

Samsung is not always able to stick to its timeline when it comes to updates, but at least it puts forth the effort. Once these issues are ironed out, we hope performance will improve and those that are (im)patiently waiting will see your updates soon.

In the meantime, if you have an official update for the SGSIII, or if you installed the leaked update, let us know if you have been encountering any of the above noted performance issues.

Viber takes a page from the competition with a big new update

Messaging juggernaut app Viber has gone through an update, the scale of which is formidable. In a non-too surprising move, Viber has moved to implement features that were sorely lacking for at least a bunch of people – like voice messaging, a feature many have come to expect from rival WhatsApp. Called Hold & Talk, we found that Viber's execution of the new functionality isn't top notch just yet, though it does work nevertheless.

But the creators of the app didn't stop there, and are taking a page off Skype's recipe, too, by introducing 'Viber Out', which allows you to call each and every person on your contacts list, granted that you pay up and buy some credit. Much like Skype does. Additional changes include more stickers – a business that Viber has been under-appreciating, as Japanese challenger LINE has consistently shown (it now earns nearly $100M a quarter, a part of which through sticker sales).

Viber is now touting tablet support, as well. There's really nothing of note about the tablet version – it's just the same old design, blown up to bigger proportions. The rest of the new additions include some minor changes, like a different notification icon/color (it used to be purple-ish, like the logo) and select fixes and improvements that the creators aren't sharing.

Unfortunately, the update hasn't come to the desktop version of the app, which is now seriously lagging behind, and we mean that quite literally, too. 

BBM for Android beats out rival messaging services in user engagement minutes

Any way you look at it, BlackBerry's decision to rollout BBM for iOS and Android has been a success. After the first week, 20 million new active BBM users were added to the 60 million BlackBerry users who actively use the messaging app. In addition, data from Android users shows that in the first week after becoming available, BBM equaled or surpassed other messaging apps in the number of weekly engagements. Considering that BBM for Android users haven't had the time to build up a large contacts list, this is considered to be very impressive on the part of the BlackBerry application.

According to data from Mobidia, for the week ended October 24th, BBM for Android had a weekly engagement of 40 minutes, topping the 24 minutes scored by messaging app Tango (which has over 130 million users), and close to the 44 minutes of Viber. Kik still is on top with a weekly engagement of 106 minutes. Still, the data shows that Android users are doing more than merely downloading the app just to join the hip crowd.

While BBM is still well behind more popular messaging apps in the U.S. like Kik and WhatsApp, and may never enjoy the popularity among teens that other apps have, considering how BBM's journey has just started, we can say that it looks like this is going to be a rare success for BlackBerry. Now comes the hard part which is figuirng out how to make money with it. At one point months ago, there was talk of selling BBM access to users of rival platforms. Now that BlackBerry is giving it away, there needs to be a way for the application to generate some income for BlackBerry. Via phonearena.com