Research in Motion has released version 2.0 of its tablet operating system, BlackBerry PlayBook OS.

BlackBerry PlayBook was a terrible idea that was rushed to market too early by a company still shell shocked by the lead it had surrendered to Apple in the smartphone sector.

When RIM released the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in April, the tech sphere was overwhelmingly unimpressed. The lack of native email didn't help.

Will Blackberry-maker Research In Motion finally lay out clear plans for its next-generation devices on Tuesday during the company's Blackberry DevCon Americas developer conference in San Francisco? That's what some critics are wondering as RIM attempts to overhaul its image following a number of setbacks in recent months. Most recently, the company's reputation was battered from a multi-day service outage leaving Blackberry fans all over the globe without messaging and Internet capabilities.

BlackBerry users around the world have been impacted this week with service outages. RIM has offered an explanation of the problem, and it has apologized, but it is going to take more than a simple "We're sorry" for RIM to regain the faith of loyal customers.

Once upon a time, a phone was just a phone: It simply made and received calls. The only security you worried about was if someone had picked up in the other room to listen in.

Check out the following slides for a list of nine valuable applications for the BlackBerry Torch 9800. Best of all: You’ll never have to open your wallet; all of these BlackBerry apps are free.

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) recently started shipping its brand new mobile operating system (OS), BlackBerry handheld OS 5.0. The new software packs a variety of cool new features and enhancements, including improved mail-folder management options; auto-correct and word-completion typing software; and a number of personal information management (PIM) feature-enhancements. (Note: Some of the new features require BlackBerry Enterprise Server BES 5.0.)

You've probably used your BlackBerry smartphone to send countless text, or short message service (SMS), messages. Perhaps you even employ your device's multimedia messaging service (MMS) functionality to distribute image- and video-messages to friends and colleagues and/or groups of both.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is available for pre-order, and will be on the street in a matter of weeks. I am not sure the RIM tablet will see much consumer success, but then consumers have never been RIM's primary market. Consumer tablets aside, the PlayBook has some unique features that make it an ideal tablet from a business or IT admin perspective.

It may seem like 2010 was the year of the tablet, but the reality is that 2010 was really just the year of the iPad with 15 million units sold and no real competitors for the Apple tablet. However, 2011 will be very different with a diverse variety of tablet options emerging--including some particularly relevant entries from major players.

With so much chatter about tablets this year, you might think that the handheld, rectangular devices being unveiled represent a significant innovation. The reality is that so much of what we're seeing is not a whole lot different than what we saw in previous years; these products offer only a few new twists. But those new twists could make the difference between tablets' remaining a niche item and their finally busting out to the mass market in a meaningful way.

We haven't seen HP hype a tablet since last year's flirtation with Windows 7, but that could change after February 9, when the company has all but confirmed that it will introduce its first WebOS tablet.

Images and details of the BlackBerry Dakota--the impending flagship smartphone from Research In Motion (RIM)--have emerged. The Dakota is packed with features as RIM struggles desperately to regain lost ground and compete with the Apple iPhone and the rising Android invasion.