BlackBerry OS
Developer	BlackBerry Ltd
Written in	C++
OS family	Mobile operating systems
Working state	Current (Only updates)
Source model	Closed source
Initial release	Version 1.0 for Pager BlackBerry 850; January 1999 Version 3.6 for smartphone BlackBerry 5810 Wireless Handheld; March 2002
Latest release	7.1.0.2930 (BlackBerry 9790/9900) / November 2013
Marketing target	Smartphones
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
Official website	us.blackberry.com/apps-software/blackberry7/

BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system developed by BlackBerry Ltd for its BlackBerry line of smartphone handheld devices. The operating system provides multitasking and supports specialized input devices that have been adopted by BlackBerry Ltd. 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 corporate email, through 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 indicates 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, but BlackBerry will continue support for the BlackBerry OS.

Release history

Obsolete

Discontinued

Current

Beta

Future Release

Table of versions: BlackBerry
Version	Release date	Features / Information about
1.0	January 1999; 15 years ago	The BlackBerry OS made its debut and it was released for the Pager BlackBerry 850.
3.6	March 2002; 12 years ago	Released on the BlackBerry 5810 smartphone.
5.0	August 4, 2009; 5 years ago	It was released on the BlackBerry Bold 9000 8520 and came to the other BlackBerry smartphones a short while after its release.
6.0	Q3 2010	In April 2010, RIM announced the BlackBerry OS 6.0 version, which was released in the third quarter of 2010. This version included a new WebKit-based browser.
7.0	Summer 2011	It was officially released in August 2011, making its appearance on the BlackBerry Bold (9900/9930), BlackBerry Torch (9810/9850/9860), and the BlackBerry Curve (9350/9360/9370/9380). Any smartphones running an earlier version of the BlackBerry OS could not be updated to version 7.0.
7.1	2012	It has now been superseded by the BlackBerry 10 operating system, but is still sold by BlackBerry on its smartphones. This was an update to version 7.0 and added several new features compared to 7.0, including Ability to create a WiFi hotspot Calling people over WiFi (if supported by their mobile phone operator) Ability to listen to FM radio (Curve Only) Blackberry Tag (sharing images using NFC)
Version	Release date	Features / Information about

Availability

Discontinued

Still sold

Upcoming

Version	Supported devices: BlackBerry 8000 series
4.5	BlackBerry devices in the 8100 and 8800 series, plus BlackBerry Curve 8300/8310/8320.
4.6	BlackBerry Pearl Flip.
5.0	BlackBerry Curve 8330/8350i/8520/8530/8900.

Version	Supported devices: BlackBerry 9000 series
5.0	BlackBerry Bold 9000, BlackBerry Storm, BlackBerry Storm 2 and BlackBerry Tour.
6.0	BlackBerry Bold 9650/9700/9780, BlackBerry Curve 9300/9330, BlackBerry Pearl 9100/9105, BlackBerry Style 9670, and BlackBerry Torch 9800.
7.0	BlackBerry Bold 9790/9900/9930, BlackBerry Curve 9310/9315/9350/9360/9370/9380/9220/9320, and BlackBerry Torch 9810/9850/9860.
7.1

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):

• Andale Mono
• Arial
• BBAlpha Sans
• BBAlpha Sans Condensed
• BBAlpha Serif
• BBCAPITALS
• BBCCasual
• BBClarity
• BBCondensed
• BBGlobal Sans
• BBGlobal Serif
• BBMilbank
• BBMilbank Tall
• BBSansSerif
• BBSansSerifSquare
• BBSerifFixed
• Comic Sans MS
• Courier New
• Georgia
• Impact
• Tahoma
• Times New Roman
• Trebuchet MS
• Verdana

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 recently released BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer.

Last updated on 4 October 2014 at 09:36.

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