Telecom Lead America: Research In Motion (RIM),
maker of BlackBerry smartphone, has launched BlackBerry Screen Reader, a free
software application that helps visually impaired customers to operate their
BlackBerry smartphone.

 

BlackBerry Screen Reader provides an audible output based
on visual information displayed on a BlackBerry smartphone.

 

“We are excited to introduce BlackBerry Screen
Reader as part of our suite of accessibility solutions for BlackBerry
smartphones. BlackBerry Screen Reader helps customers with visual impairments
stay connected with the people and information that matter most to them, and is
representative of RIM’s continuing commitment to support customers with
disabilities,”  said Greg Fields, senior product manager at RIM.

 

With BlackBerry Screen Reader users can access core
BlackBerry applications including email, calendar, phone calls and more. Users
can customize the text-to-speech settings (volume, pitch and speech rate) and
preferences for punctuation, verbosity and password security.

 

Furthermore, it allows users to set speech and audio
preferences quickly and easily through (physical) keyboard shortcuts. User
Guide for this software is available in accessible HTML through a desktop web
browser.

 

BlackBerry Screen Reader is available as a free download
for the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones. The application is
available in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

 

RIM provides BlackBerry 10 to developers, releases developer
toolkit

 

Research In Motion (RIM) released in beta the developer
toolkit for the BlackBerry 10 platform, which will allow developers to build
and test their apps in preparation for the BlackBerry 10 launch expected in the
latter part of 2012.

 

At BlackBerry World, the company has unveiled its vision
for the BlackBerry 10 platform and officially given developers the essential
tools for creating BB10 apps, including prototype hardware running the new
software.

 

[email protected]