Alec Saunders, VP of Developer Relations, just took the stage at RIM’s DevCon gathering in Amsterdam to build up and promptly knock down a few “myths” about RIM’s state of health. First up, he tackled the notion that BlackBerry is a declining platform by saying that App World is seeing six million downloads per day, which is up 30 percent from three months ago. He also rejected the idea that BB apps devs don’t make money, revealing that 13 percent of them have made over 0,000 from their products and that App World generates 40 percent more revenue than the Android Market. Lastly, Saunders said “we’re sorry” that RIM’s strategy has been “hard to understand” for “some people”, but added that BB10 will solve that problem. He said that the new OS represents a “simple and easy-to-understand strategy” that is about combining the best of QNX and the current BB OS, offering consistent cloud services and making software that is both backwards and forwards compatible.

RIM indulges in some ‘myth busting’ at BlackBerry DevCon Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pardon us Americans as we act surprised, but it turns out that we have one more thing in common with our Euro brethren: a growing number of us dislike shopping in stores. According to Kelkoo estimates, online spending in the European Union is projected to continue its upward trend, which is said to reach somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 billion before year’s end. If the estimate holds, this would be a 16 percent increase over the 0 billion raked by e-tailers during 2011, and is naturally assumed to come at the expense of traditional brick and mortar outfits, whose growth is projected to increase by a mere 1.8 percent.

The data gathered also suggest there’s significant room for expansion, however, as online spending accounted for just 7.8 percent of all EU retail sales in 2011, with the UK, Germany and France being responsible for a whopping 71 percent of that tally. The 16 percent projected growth is a slight decline from 2011, which saw EU online spending grow by 18 percent — although, Europe’s habit for click-and-ship continues to outpace the US, which grew by only 12.8 percent in 2011. Now, since you’ve crammed all these numbers, why not check the funny pages?

[Shopping button via Shutterstock]

EU online spending estimated to grow 16 percent, reach €232 billion in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew that Panasonic’s mobile division was summoning its strength for a return to the Old World, and finally we have some detail: it’s aiming to bring an “ultra-slim D-shaped” Android smartphone with a slim bezel, 4.3-inch qHD OLED screen, NFC and some rugged credentials to Europe in March next year. The manufacturer hopes to use Europe as a stepping stone to the US, China and the rest of Asia, aiming to broaden its range of Android devices and sell at a total of nine million of them outside of Japan by the end of March 2016. Read on for the full PR.

Continue reading Panasonic reveals 4.3-inch OLED smartphone with global ambitions, no name

Panasonic reveals 4.3-inch OLED smartphone with global ambitions, no name originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Dec 2011 02:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Espoo isn’t making it any easier to say goodbye to MeeGo’s last dance with polycarbonate. Nokia’s alluring and elusive N9 in-snow-white-dress appears to now be on sale… in Finland. Web retailer Verkkokauppa has the handset listed on its site for 630€ — that’s 0 for you import types. Memento hunters throughout Europe can buy what this Finnish site’s selling or just sit tight and wait for the color variant to hit their respective markets this December. But if patience isn’t at the top of your priority list, we’d suggest you hit up the source below with some plastic in hand.

White Nokia N9 descends from Lintukoto, goes on sale in Finland originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just two days after the European Commission announced that it was investigating Apple and major international publishers for possible e-book price fixing, the US Justice Department has made it clear that it’s also launching a probe into the possibility of “anticompetitive practices involving e-book sales.”

E-book publishers are now being investigated in the US, not just Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Dec 2011 04:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feature phones still dominate the world’s wireless landscape, but in the United States and parts of Europe, smartphone adoption is surging. According to figures released by VisionMobile, a “market analysis and strategy firm,” smartphone adoption has reached over 27 percent around the world.

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