Financial Post Supports RIM @ CES2012

[CDM76]

CES 2012: RIM preaching the BlackBerry gospel, offering free batteries | FP Tech Desk | Financial Post


For most part, it looks like good news from the FP. This year RIM is all about apps, and BBM is the backbone of many apps.

“Building good software takes more time than building bad software. So I think it’s a very positive thing for the company to look at this and say, we’re not going to release it until it’s ready for primetime.”

While on the surface, it might seem like the BlackBerry 10 delay would make Mr. Saunders’ job more difficult, he sees an upside.

“From the perspective of developers and developer relations, it’s actually a good thing,” he said.

“It gives us an opportunity to sell more PlayBooks and get people building applications for the PlayBook platform now. PlayBook is the stepping stone to BlackBerry 10; if a developer builds something for PlayBook, it will run on BlackBerry 10. That’s a key message that we keep drilling into.”

[Michelle Haag]

LAS VEGAS • As hundreds of conventioneers poured off the Las Vegas monorail and headed out into the desert sun towards the massive hall playing host to this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, black T-shirt-clad young people were there to greet them, on the look-out for BlackBerry users.

The young ambassadors were sent by the marketing department of Waterloo, Ont.’s Research In Motion Ltd. to seek out BlackBerry owners, connect with them via the company’s BlackBerry Messenger with an offer of some serious perks.

If a BlackBerry users needs a fresh battery for their Bold or a quick limo ride from one hotel to another this week at CES, all they need to do is send a BBM message to the company’s representatives, and they’ll arrange a meeting to deliver the new battery or arrange the trip.

As one of the young people adorned in the BlackBerry t-shirt explained, the perks are a way of saying “thank you for sticking with RIM” after a difficult year.

Alec Saunders was not one of the young people standing out on the monorail platform in a BlackBerry t-shirt making new BBM friends. Instead, the vice president of RIM’s developer relations team is in CES this week doing a different kind of outreach, preaching the BlackBerry gospel to developers in an effort to bring application makers onto the RIM bandwagon as the company prepares to launch fresh software upgrades for its BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook tablets.

“We’ve been spending a lot of times over the last few months, looking at BlackBerry’s value proposition versus our competitors in the marketplace,” Mr. Saunders said in an interview at the BlackBerry booth.

“One of the things that leaps out is that the BlackBerry is about doing stuff; it’s about communication. As developers dig into what it means to build a BlackBerry application, they’re going to start to come to the same realizations. BlackBerry is for doers, rather than viewers.”

This week at CES, RIM is showing off the latest version of its BlackBerry OS 7 operating system software — which powers the current generation of BlackBerry smartphones and launched on Monday — and the PlayBook OS 2.0 software upgrade for the company’s touchscreen tablet computer which is set to arrive in February.

For Mr. Saunders and his team, CES offers a chance to showcase what the BlackBerry platform has to offer with its new software. RIM announced this week there are now more than 50,000 applications available for BlackBerry devices — still well behind the more than 600,000 available for Apple Inc.’s iPhone and the more than 330,000 on Google Inc.’s Android software — and that more than 2 billion applications have already been downloaded.

Last year at CES, RIM’s sole focus was to showcase the BlackBerry PlayBook, which would launch several months after the show. This year, RIM is focusing on its application strategy, showcasing the apps that are available and getting the message out about the platform.

The lynchpin of RIM’s developer outreach plans is BBM, the instant messaging technology that allows users to send short messages to other BlackBerry users. Since opening up the technology to third party developers, enabling creators to incorporate BBM into things like news apps and games, RIM has seen a growing number of developers working with BBM.

“We’re in a situation right now where BBM connected is turning out to be a dramatic new viral, social distribution channel for mobile developers and there’s nothing like it on the other platforms,” Mr. Saunders said.

Of the 50,000 applications available in RIM’s BlackBerry App World marketplace, about 400 feature BBM-connected technology. However, those applications represent 20% of all the downloads taking place within the BlackBerry ecosystem.

Still, while Mr. Saunders is eager to talk about RIM’s immediate future, what many developers want to know about is the company’s long awaited transition to BlackBerry 10, the new operating system built on the QNX technology that currently powers the PlayBook and which will form the bedrock of RIM’s computing products in the future.

Although BlackBerry 10 was supposed to launch in the first half of 2012, RIM revealed in December that the transition to the new technology would be delayed until at least the second half of this year.

“Software takes time to build; it just does,” Mr. Saunders said.

“Building good software takes more time than building bad software. So I think it’s a very positive thing for the company to look at this and say, we’re not going to release it until it’s ready for primetime.”

While on the surface, it might seem like the BlackBerry 10 delay would make Mr. Saunders’ job more difficult, he sees an upside.

“From the perspective of developers and developer relations, it’s actually a good thing,” he said.

“It gives us an opportunity to sell more PlayBooks and get people building applications for the PlayBook platform now. PlayBook is the stepping stone to BlackBerry 10; if a developer builds something for PlayBook, it will run on BlackBerry 10. That’s a key message that we keep drilling into.”

[sleepngbear]

Article is full of good stuff, but I love this blurb: "One of the things that leaps out is that the BlackBerry is about doing stuff; it’s about communication. As developers dig into what it means to build a BlackBerry application, they’re going to start to come to the same realizations. BlackBerry is for doers, rather than viewers.”

Maybe it's a bit of an over-simplistic generalization, but I think it shows that this guy gets it that BlackBerry is about something just a little different than the rest. That difference is why I prefer it from anything else. I'm starting to believe that the things RIM is doing, while maybe not exactly leapfrogging the competition, will certainly differentiate it from them ... in a good way.

Cool stuff ... thanks for posting.

[chrism_scotland]

Its nice to see RIM getting some support, I was wavering but seeing the OS 7.1 and finally some good news on the PB OS 2.0 front (looks awesome) I've decided to get another Blackberry handset as my business phone to complement my existing personal 9900.

[Brianflys]

"BlackBerry is for doers, rather than viewers.”

I like this! Great tagline for RIM.

[magician1]

Originally Posted by Brianflys

"BlackBerry is for doers, rather than viewers.”

I like this! Great tagline for RIM.

So simple yet so powerful. What a strapline!!!!!! Awesome

[D_March]

It feels like things are starting to turn. I think part of that is they aren't showing things before they are ready but it also feels like they have a plan in place that might actually be executing well. I have to add that I'm very impressed with the footage I have seen for the 2.0 update. I didn't expect it to have so many improvements.

[CDM76]

Its a LITTLE early, but lets hope this momentum continues for the rest of the year !

[The_Engine]

RIM gets an A+ at CES so far. No vapoware, things announced are immediately available and they are live demoing the stuff with OS2. The PIM solution is Sooooo much more then native email and the bridge concept is evolving in to something that defines the role of the tablet vs the phone.

And using BBM to help conference goers with a spare Battery or a ride or whatever is genius. The crackberry team needs to test this out and show case this.

Really, big kudos to RIM. For their whole CES approach.

[Dapper37]

Good stuff.
doers vs veiwers. like it.
agreed, great idea suporting the current BB users.

[scott.slater]

Originally Posted by The_Engine

RIM gets an A+ at CES so far. No vapoware, things announced are immediately available and they are live demoing the stuff with OS2. The PIM solution is Sooooo much more then native email and the bridge concept is evolving in to something that defines the role of the tablet vs the phone.

And using BBM to help conference goers with a spare Battery or a ride or whatever is genius. The crackberry team needs to test this out and show case this.

Really, big kudos to RIM. For their whole CES approach.

I totally agree about the BlackBerry Bridge function. I love how they are making it to where everything can still revolve around the phone, i.e., the phone is the central part to our daily lives, and a tablet should expand on this by making tasks easier, more enjoyable, etc. Then you take this a step further when we arrive at our home, hotel room, etc., by using our phone to power the tablet as a multi-media hub (browsing the internet, watching movies, etc. on a TV hooked via HDMI, now we need a dock that we can put our Playbook into that will give us a HDMI out, a USB port or two out, and charge at the same time). And we will be able to access anything off our phone as well!

Sorry for the rumbling, just so many possibilties with this device (yes, typed from my Playbook).

[world traveler and former ceo]

this is going to be a great year for RIM!!! ... starting with Playbook 2.0 in February!!!

[adiafzal]

Originally Posted by world traveler and former ceo

this is going to be a great year for RIM!!! ... starting with Playbook 2.0 in February!!!

Amen to that!

[JAGWIRE]

this article had many many good point and a great feel to it. This is exactly what RIM needs right now and that a positive energy. It is still early in the year so lets hope they can keep it up but if they do watch out RIM is going to be going back to its former glory.

[anthogag]

"BlackBerry is for doers..."