BlackBerry News (BBRY): Canada Faces Innovation if BlackBerry Is Sold, BlackBerry chief stands to receive $55.6M if ousted, Blackberry 9720 Available in UK for £179.99, and More..

Editor’s Note:  BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)

If BlackBerry is sold, Canada faces an innovation vacuum (The Globe and Mail)
The sale and breakup of a flagship technology company is a reoccurring theme in Canadian business. But this time is different. If BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) goes, there is no ready replacement. That’s a telling switch from the situation Canada faced with the sale of Newbridge Networks in 2000 and the demise of Nortel Networks in 2009.

BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY)

BlackBerry chief stands to receive $55.6M if ousted (CBC News)
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) chief executive Thorsten Heins stands to make as much as $55.6 million if the company is sold and he is ousted from the top job, according to securities filings. Under the change of control provisions in his contract, Heins would receive $7.5 million in compensation for his salary and bonus, $72,000 in benefits and retirement savings and $48 million in equity awards, based on the company’s share price at the end of its latest financial year.

CrunchWeek: BlackBerry Puts Itself In Play, Google’s Geeky Easter Eggs, Mobile Ad M&A
(Tech Crunch)
The great thing about CrunchWeek is that when a few of us writers gather to muse about the most interesting stories from the past seven days in tech news, it’s never the same thing twice. It’s like the special unique snowflake of TechCrunch TV! This time around, Anthony Ha, Greg Kumparak would up discussing BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s decision to “explore strategic alternatives” (which basically means it is up for sale), the cheeky new hidden “Easter egg” Google hid in Google Maps, and what Jumptap’s $200+ million sale to Millennial Media says about the state of mobile advertising.

Blackberry 9720 Available in UK for £179.99 (Geeky Gadgets)
RIM unveiled the BB7 OS powered BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) 9720 a few days back with an expected launch date in Europe and other countries in the coming weeks – expected to September for UK residents. Surprisingly, the device is now available in UK through an online retailer for a nominal £179.99 for the unlocked version. Unlocked Mobiles is offering the SIM-Free version in UK that with an expected delivery time of 1 day.

Leaked OS 10.2.0.1323 for the BlackBerry Z10, Q10 and Q5 (Berry Review)
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) 10 users just got another nice update on the 10.2 branch. We now have OS 10.2.0.1323 for every device but the STL100-1 Z10. Kudos to BerryLeaks for making this happen and posting it on CB Forums. So far the Evernote app is still not working and the Android player is the same as the previous leak. BerryLeaks has even posted up a video on how to install these leaks.