BlackBerry OS – definition

BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system developed by Canadian company BlackBerry Limited for its BlackBerry line of smartphone handheld devices. The operating system provides multitasking and supports specialized input devices that have been adopted by BlackBerry for use in its handhelds, particularly the trackwheel, trackball, and most recently, the trackpad and touchscreen.

The BlackBerry platform is perhaps best known for its native support for the corporate communication environment, which allows complete wireless activation and synchronization of email, calendar, tasks, notes, and contacts.

Developer	BlackBerry Ltd.
Written in	C++
OS family	Mobile operating systems
Working state	Stopped (replaced by BlackBerry 10; and Android)
Source model	Closed source
Initial release	January 19, 1999; 22 years ago (as Version 1.0 for Pager BlackBerry 850) March 4, 2002; 19 years ago (as Version 3.6 for smartphone BlackBerry 5810 Wireless Handheld)
Latest release	7.1.0.2931 (BlackBerry 9790/9900) / November 2013; 7 years ago
Marketing target	Mobile phone
Available in	Multi-Lingual
Package manager	BlackBerry Desktop Manager
Platforms	BlackBerry line of smartphones
Kernel type	Java virtual machine
Default user interface	Graphical
License	Proprietary
Succeeded by	BlackBerry 10
Official website	us.blackberry.com/apps-software/devices

Currently deployed versions include the BlackBerry Device Software v5.0, the BlackBerry 6 OS, and the BlackBerry 7 OS.

BlackBerry 10 OS is a QNX-based operating system, similar to the one found on RIM’s Playbook tablet. It will replace the BlackBerry OS on smartphones and tablets in 2013. Details are yet to be disclosed.

The BlackBerry platform natively supports corporate email, through Java Micro Edition MIDP 1.0 and, more recently, a subset of MIDP 2.0, which allows complete wireless activation and synchronization with Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, or Novell GroupWise email, calendar, tasks, notes and contacts, when used with BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The operating system also supports WAP 1.2.

Updates to the operating system may be automatically available from wireless carriers that support the BlackBerry over the air software loading (OTASL) service.

Third-party developers can write software using the available BlackBerry API classes, although applications that make use of certain functionality must be digitally signed.

Research from June 2011, indicated that approximately 45% of mobile developers were using the platform at the time of publication.

BlackBerry OS was discontinued after the release of BlackBerry 10 in January 2013; however, support for the older OS continued until the end of 2013

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BlackBerry Playbook OS – definition

The BlackBerry Playbook OS was developed by Research in Motion (RIM) for its Playbook tablet. It was based on the QNX Neutrino real-time operating system designed to run Adobe AIR and BlackBerry WebWorks applications.

The OS has been received really well by reviewers worldwide despite the lacking features in the original release. Later on, most of these have been added and the OS even got a native Android app launcher (though app support is rather limited).

The Playbook OS is no considered an evolutionary dead-end as no new generation of tablets have been released by RIM.

However, RIM’s latest endeavor – the BlackBerry 10 OS – is similarly based on QNX and it will replace the long-standing BlackBerry OS on smartphones in 2013.

BlackBerry fonts

The following is a list of fonts that were included in some versions of BlackBerry (note: some of them were not included in older versions):

BBAlphaSans and BBAlphaSerif are based on the free software DejaVu fonts.

BlackBerry Tablet OS

On September 27, 2010, BlackBerry Ltd. announced a new unrelated QNX-based platform, BlackBerry Tablet OS, to run on its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer