RIM INVESTIGATING MESSAGE DELAYS

RIM acknowledged that many its users have reported delayed message deliveries on Wednesday, although it remains unclear what the culprit might be. “We’re getting reports that some users are experiencing delays,” RIM said on its official Twitter account. “We’re investigating and will update you ASAP.”

This is the second blackeye RIM has suffered since October. A BlackBerry outage affected millions worldwide for several days during October. The downtime resulted in a class-action lawsuit and could cost RIM an estimated $100 million.

BLOCKBUSTER HIT WITH 28 DAY DELAY BY WARNER BROS

Warner Bros has decided to give Blockbuster the same month long delay the studio loves so much before new movies can be rented out as its competitors, Redbox and Netflix. While Blockbuster has had delays at its kiosks already, being first to get new flicks in stores has been a part of its marketing for a while. The LA Times reports Blockbuster so far is turning to simply buying the copies it needs at retail to rent them out immediately, but we'll see how long that lasts. If you enjoy your discs via kiosk or mail don't think you're out of the woods either, as the paper mentions Warner wants to delay new flicks to those outlets even longer when their deals are renegotiated.

RIM CONFIRMS PLAYBOOK OS 2.0 DELAYS UNTIL FEBRUARY, WILL SHIP WITHOUT BLACKBERRY MESSENGER

BGR is reporting, and RIM has confirmed, that the Blackberry Playbook OS 2.0 that was recently announced has been delayed until at least February 2012. The delay is due to serious challenges RIM has encountered getting native apps such as email, Blackberry Messenger and more working on the BlackBerry PlayBook. Additionally, RIM also relayed issues with BlackBerry Messenger integration, noting that BlackBerry Messenger will not be included in the native apps bundle of PlayBook OS 2.0, instead coming at a later date.

The company confirmed a workaround where the BlackBerry Messenger can still be used by connecting an existing BlackBerry smartphone with data plan over Bluetooth to the BlackBerry PlayBook using BlackBerry Bridge.

MOTOROLA SLOW IN RETURNING LTE UPGRADED XOOMS

Consider yourself lucky if you sent off your Motorola Xoom for the 4G LTE upgrade and got it back in about a week, as promised. It seems that Motorola Mobility is now having some trouble holding up their end of the bargain on the quick turnaround. In a note to eager, empty-handed slate faithful, the company informed those waiting that it's experiencing delays and will let customers know when their device finally ships. No comments from Motorola on the cause for the delay or how much long it will take.

SAMSUNG AND GOOGLE POSTPONE ICE CREAM SANDWICH AND NEXUS EVENT

It appears that Samsung and Google have decided not to launch the Galaxy Nexus (or Nexus Prime, or whatever it's called) and Ice Cream Sandwich at their October 11th Unpacked event. The two companies sent out a joint announcement reading:

Samsung and Google decide to postpone the new product announcement at CTIA Fall. We agree that it is just not the right time to announce a new product. New date and venue will be shortly announced.

The press event on the 11th was expected to be not only the debut for the successor to the Nexus S, but our first good look at the next version of Android. For whatever reason the companies have decided to delay that launch. But, if Eric Schmidt is true to his word, we shouldn't have to wait too much longer... he did promise us that it would launch by November.

GROUPON IPO ON HOLD

Groupon, which is expected to fetch a $20 billion valuation upon its stock-market debut, canceled its investor roadshow and is reevaluating plans for an initial public offering in the face of stock-market volatility, said a person familiar with the matter. While the Chicago company isn't pulling its IPO, it is reassessing its timing on a week by week basis, this person added.

Groupon had originally been aiming to go public after Labor Day and to price its shares in mid-September, this person said. The roadshow had been planned for next week. A Groupon spokesman declined to comment.

RUMOR: APPLE iPAD 3 DELAYED UNTIL 2012

Digitimes reports that Apple’s plans for a Retina Display iPad launch this fall have been terminated; if they even existed in the first place. According to the report’s sources, Apple’s initial plan was to produce 1.5-2 million units in the third quarter and 5-6 million in the fourth quarter of a new iPad, but these orders have apparently been cancelled.

The report also believes that plans for the new product’s launch were cancelled due to yield rate issues in the production of the 2048 x 1536 Retina Display. Apple will likely stick to their annual release cycle and release a Retina Display iPad during spring 2012.

RUMOR: iPHONE 5 DELAYED UNTIL END OF YEAR OR NEXT YEAR DUE TO OVERHEATING PROCESSOR; NEW iPHONE STILL COMING IN FALL

Apple may have delayed the iPhone 5 launch until next year due to an overheating dual-core A5 chip, a new report from Sohu.com [translated] suggests. Rumor has it (and it’s purely a rumor right now) that Apple will instead launch the iPhone 5 later this year or early next when the A6 chip is available — or after it figures out the A5 overheating problems. Sohu.com also said Apple will instead introduce a slightly upgraded “iPhone 4S” device, with the same form factor as the iPhone 4, in September or October. The device is expected to feature an 8-megapixel camera, and it will also sport a faster dual-core processor, two specs that are on a par with earlier reports. With all the recent chatter surrounding a more significant iPhone update due later this year, it’s likely that Sohu.com is working with old intel in this instance.

RUMOR: APPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR RIM'S BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK DELAY

Research In Motion will finally launch its anticipated BlackBerry PlayBook tablet on April 19th, though most had initially expected it to reach consumers well before that date. According to a new report from DigiTimes, Apple may have been behind the rumored delays. The report states that RIM’s touch panel supplier, Foxlink, was so inundated with display orders from Apple that it wasn’t able to meet RIM’s manufacturing needs on time. “Sources from touch screen panel makers also pointed out that PlayBook shipments were postponed for about a month from the original schedule due to a delay in software testing as well as shortage of touch panels because Apple already booked up most of the available capacity,” the report claims. RIM’s late launch could have a significant impact on PlayBook sales, though several analysts believe the BlackBerry tablet will still sell quite well in its debut year.

RUMOR: iOS 5 DELAYED UNTIL FALL

We all waited for Steve Jobs to mention even a hint about iOS 5 in the recent iPad 2 event at the beginning of the month, but alas, we sat through the live streams to no avail. Many people were left wondering why Apple didn’t mention anything about the revamp of the software, as well as when news of the updated iOS would come out.

Apple has been on a pretty regular schedule of releasing iOS updates in the spring, and hardware updates in the summer, but according to sources who have tipped off TechCrunch’s MG Siegler, the new mobile operating system will most likely be pushed back to the fall.

The update to its mobile operating system is rumored to have cloud-based features for online storage of music, photos, and video. It’s also rumored to have a location service for tracking friends and family members. Apple could choose to preview iOS 5 at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference held in June. However, Siegler said he hasn’t heard anything about the iPhone 5, which is normally released at WWDC, but thinks rather than a new release, Apple could release its next-gen handset running a version of iOS 4.

That’s not to say the delay of iOS 5 necessarily means that new Apple hardware is going to be pushed back until fall, too. However, according to PCMag, FBR Markets analyst Craig Berger has said that Apple might not have everything ready to support its annual summer iPhone launch. Berger wrote in a late February note that some chip vendors haven’t received firm iPhone 5 orders yet. He said it would give Apple more time to enhance its next-generation instant communications on the phone.

GOOGLE'S CHROME OS DELAYED UNTIL 2011

While there have been rumors of a Chrome OS netbook arriving this month, Google’s Eric Schmidt has confirmed we won’t be seeing any this month, or next month, we may not even see one for several months in 2011.

Schmidt has stated that Google’s cloud operating system has suffered a delay. He made the remarks during a Q&A session at the Web 2.0 summit. What he wouldn’t say is what has caused that delay, and no one at Google is talking about it either.

The official line seems to be that Chrome OS won’t arrive for a few months yet, meaning we probably shouldn’t expect to hear anything until at least March. However, Mary-Jo Foley over at ZDNet has been told by Google that a new preview build will be released before the end of 2010. It won’t be final, but it has to be near complete by now. [Geek]

iOS 4.2 DELAYED DUE TO WIFI ISSUES

On November 1st Apple released a pre-release build of iOS 4.2 for developers. It didn’t take long for complaints to start rolling in about an issue with Wi-Fi using the new build. Basically, it wasn’t working correctly and users were finding it difficult to get a connection that allowed access to the Internet. A connection to a network is found, but then either doesn’t allow web browsing or disconnects itself after a few minutes.

Roll on to today, when iOS 4.2 final was expected, and it’s nowhere to be seen. It looks as though Apple has delayed it in order to figure out what’s causing the Wi-Fi issue.

iOS 4.2 may get a new release date next week, but it could be two weeks before it becomes available and another pre-release version is released in the interim. It’s the right thing to do as Apple don’t want millions of iPad owners complaining they don’t have access to the web after updating. [Geek]

FIREFOX 4 RC DELAYED UNTIL 2011

Mozilla announced yesterday that due to delays in getting beta versions of Firefox 4 out, the release candidates (RC) will be pushed back into 2011.

"Development on Firefox 4 has not slowed down and strong progress is being made daily, Mike Beltzner, the director of Firefox, wrote in a note to the mozilla.dev.planning mailing list. "However, based on the delays in completing the 'feature complete' Beta 7 milestone against which our Add-on developers and third-party software developers can develop, as well as considering the amount of work remaining to prepare Firefox 4 for final release, we have revised our beta and release candidate schedule."

The beta 7 release has been pushed to early November, according to the beta schedule. Beta 8 and 9 are scheduled for November, with beta 10 slated for early December, although the schedule could still change. [PC Magazine]