[Qurve]

Watched the launch live on my Q10 on cbc.ca and while I think the Passport is an awesome device I kept telling myself "why are the presenters sooo crap???"

No, I don't think they need to hire Dr.Dre or Jennifer Lawrence, they just needed someone passionate about the product and definitely a better setup (honestly, at least on my screen that room seemed like the budget event space room at an airport hotel...)

Don't know who exactly was the guy that presented for the most part but I found him very lacking in passion and enthusiasm and above all not a very good presenter (not that Tim Cook is one either) - during the Blend part for example his "and that is a game changer that will transform etc..." sounded more like "can I have a medium latte please"...

Anyway, the day has arrived and we can all relish the news!
Hope London and Dubai gigs were better!

BlaQberry10

[Makaveli@Beta]

I thought it was ok but lacking abit in polish. They need to spend more money when it comes to the presentation of these events. And while it was to see the great one his little speech and quit exit off the stage wasn't enough.

[nicksto]

I agree, Jon Chen really dropped the ball at today's presentation, it was cringe worthy. The younger guy who did the presentation on the OS did a fantastic job though.

[tonythecanuck]

It was OK, I watched it live streaming on CBC.ca. Gretzky's appearance was a surprise. There was a lot of information, but it's true there was no "wow factor."

Posted using my BlackBerry Z30.

[mlbrowninsc]

Could have been more polished I guess, but at least I got to see it all. Streaming worked great unlike that Apple streaming event a couple weeks back.

[stardomains]

I thought it was fine. I appreciate that it isn't a circus made for or populated by silly fanboys. It's a mature presentation for professionals about a great new product. I think it did what it was meant to do. As a matter of fact, it's one of the reasons I have an affinity for BlackBerry.

[howarmat]

I thought that Gadway did a good job. Some of the material he covered could have better but I do understand the target audience for the device. The rest was kinda meh. Wayne seemed nervous as hell and out of place for the whole 2 minutes he was up there. The biggest thing was the crowd seemed dead. I assume most people have seen and played with the leaks so everything that was shown wasnt new and that is the harm in all the leaks.

Blend was suppose to be the "big thing" i think that wasnt much known until today. And then the presentation crashed during that.

Overall I wouldnt say it was poor. I was just looking for some kind of wow that would make the crowd get up and cheer and it never seemed to happen

[early2bed]

Well, it certainly wasn't polished. One gets the impression that JC won't allow them to spend a lot of money. It's certainly endearing and perhaps a good signal to shareholders but it's not the kind of thing you want to convey to potential customers whether they be enterprise or consumer.

He even complained about how much the demo units to the audience were going to cost them. Here's a gift we got you. It was mostly my wife's idea. I didn't really want to spend the $100 bucks. We just don't really have it in our budget. Enjoy.

Apple really raised the bar on these events. Like it or not, it does show someone how much care you put into your product. I think it's a Japanese idea that you signal quality in the way that you package and present something.

[tufcustomer]

Can this be seen anywhere? Missed the live stream.

Posted via CB10

[andy957]

I tend to agree. Chen kept scratching his head as if he couldn't understand why he was there, and shuffling the papers in his hand, while pacing back and forth. Also his English leaves a lot to be desired for a CEO of a corporation like BB. I like how he misspoke the following: "We listened to our customer". Anyone else pick up on that? All in all it was not very passionate.

[Deckard79]

I seem to be the only one here who thought Chen was really good.

Saw Thor present the BB10 launch - now THAT was cringeworthy. The guy had the charisma of a boulder.

Chen makes me laugh. Not just me either - heard a lot of laughter from the crowd. There were moments when I thought "did he really just say that in a product launch?!", but although on the face of it that could seem counter-productive, I think it puts us on his side.

Everyone is welcome to disagree with me!

Posted via CB10

[lmsilvam]

Yeah, quite poor IMO. And this shows two things - one, how they really haven't learned their lesson from previous marketing disasters and two, why Apple and Samsung are what they are and BlackBerry is not. This is as much about the delivery of the message as it is about the content - or more so even. Compare this to the very well-rehearsed Apple keynote (don't hate me, it was just a good example of how to deliver a message), with wow factor and an excited audience. And I know some people might think "well, two different audiences, two different targets, we're not iSheep" and whatnot, but the truth is no matter who you are, an ordinary consumer or a pro user or a traditional BlackBerry power executive user, we all appreciate and are impressed by a well crafted, well delivered presentation. Toronto was NOT that. Chen is a great CEO but not a good public speaker and his contribution should have been limited to the intro. The jokes were awful, all of them, and the whole thing came across as unpolished and lackluster.

On the bright side, I liked the Passport intro video, I liked the "Passports for everyone here" bit (not the joke afterwards), and Gadaway did a professional job of introducing all the features.

[grevan88]

Is there a link to a recording of the event anywhere??

[mhg0157]

Watched the launch live on my Q10 on cbc.ca and while I think the Passport is an awesome device I kept telling myself "why are the presenters sooo crap???"

No, I don't think they need to hire Dr.Dre or Jennifer Lawrence, they just needed someone passionate about the product and definitely a better setup (honestly, at least on my screen that room seemed like the budget event space room at an airport hotel...)

Don't know who exactly was the guy that presented for the most part but I found him very lacking in passion and enthusiasm and above all not a very good presenter (not that Tim Cook is one either)

BlaQberry10

Ok, I didn't see the event, but (and this is just my opinion) I've noticed that compared to Americans, Canadians do seem more..."easy-going" I'll say. To me they seem to have a bit flatter affect, so it could be that is affecting your impression?

And I'm not saying this as a criticism of Canadians, just that relatively speaking, there's a difference.

As for me, I think the product speaks for itself. I'm excited about the phone, not the presentation.

Posted via CB10

[Carrtman]

I prefer low key presentations I absolutely can't stand it when companies are focusing more on PR and hype instead of the device itself. Add to that the annoying paid off "customers" clapping and screaming everything because they are told to do so and every presentation is ruined.

Unless you have a really hot chick presenting the thing, I care about the phone and not the presenters.

[app_Developer]

I think Gadway did well. Chen takes the self-deprecation thing *way* too far. It's good in small measures, but he totally over does it.

Also cringed at his talking about the negative reaction they got from customers when they saw the size of the passport. Should never have even touched that. Just focus on the positives of the size, which they did a great job with later.

And the whole bit about "I have to say it's great because I'm paid to say that" was just terrible. There were other issues also, but those were the most memorable.

The video looked like a parody of an Apple video. That was just embarrassing.

Good news is the demos went well and clearly showed why this is a great device. Gadway made his case very effectively, IMO. I can't wait for mine to ship.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tyler Nellissen]

The younger guy Jeff did great. John seemed like he was over it. He said some mildly disparaging things about BlackBerry and phones. "I didn't make this one but I didn't kill it so..."

Uh what?

Posted via CB10

[alan510]

It struck me as more of a business meeting than show biz. Maybe it's the difference between a business directed device and one that has entertainment in its basic DNA. I don't know. But I'm also not too critical because the star of the show performed well. That Passport is I think I just have to buy in the very near future.

Posted via CB10

[A_Aviator_A]

My $0.02:

-The Wayne Gretzky cameo was too fake and tacky, they definitely didn't need it in there. It felt like an infomercial for the 2-3 minutes he was out there. The passport has legs to stand on its own, they didn't need a fake Gretzky endorsement

-Chen is not a good speaker...the over-use of the vocalization "uh" in his speeches is very evident. His message is not continuous

-The guy who did the software presentation immediately after Chen did a truly fantastic job.

-My only criticism of the event is that I saw many references to what the passport can do better than the iPhone. I would have NEVER mentioned a competitor's product by name. It makes it look like the benchmarks for your product's performance are evaluated against the standards set by the iphone. They should have kept it generic, and referred to the iPhone as a "generic slab phone" or something similar.

-Anyone else see the nice "sent from my BB10 on the TELUS Network" plug during the software presentation?

[Lobwedgephil]

They do need to learn how to create buzz or excitement better.

[Deadmunny]

"I didn't make this one but I didn't kill it so..."

Uh what?

Posted via CB10

I took that to mean he was NOT taking credit for it as it was in the works before and that not killing it was his ONLY contribution.


Posted via Digicel Z10 10.2.1.2977

[BirdHand]

Actually I can't wait to see a replay of this presentation.

I saw bits of it this morning. I heard many cringe worthy lines from John Chen. There were also plenty of lines that made me smile. He is funny in a good sense.

No comparison to Apple-style launches. Fortunately the Passport on it's own merits has a chance to succeed. That 'Work Wide' theme was good and the videos about the product were nice.

Remember even if Tim Cook and the entire Apple team did a terrible presentation, the iPhone 6 would still have been received well on it's own merits. For BlackBerry however, they must try harder and rehearse better next time. They are in comeback mode. No time to screw up.

BlackBerry shareholders must have been pleased: The fact that Chen isn't too worried about devices being a hit is a positive sign. This device will be a hit if they continue to price it right and get this in the hands of people quickly.

[TeaBoy]

These guys are not comedian or like Chen said actors & actress.

[Dave Bourque]

Chen had jet lag. This is why he seemed so tired.

Z10STL100-3/10.2.1.3247

[bintheredundat]

Was actually poor in my opinion.

Having the dev's on stage -although I get the rationale behind that move. I found that awkward as they moved away from the questions and went off on tangents.

Chens closing remarks should've left us on a high. Instead he talked about the struggles they've had ( a few times) and then mentioned that the $150,000 in devices being given away was something he didn't agree with! No wonder only four people clapped.

The main presenter was good, clear, well spoken and did well imo. The rest just seemed amateur.

Oh and Chen announcing the classic in his hand while shuffled papers was a flop.



Posted via CB10 on my Z10 Oreo