How much does CrackBerry know?

Hey CB: riddle me this... Here's a quote from the recent story about the Verizon OS version issue:

The light at the end of the tunnel though, so to speak, is that both BlackBerry and Verizon are aware of it and come next week, there should be some resolution on the matter

This is one of many examples where you appear to have insider info that you give a tiny little glimpse of. You had a ton of info when you were testing the dev Alpha that Kevin repeatedly stated could not be shared. And not just you -- there were thousands of developers who had a dev Alpha, too, but there were barely any leaks. Then there's the retailers, component vendors, printers, manufacturers, carriers, test houses, etc. that obviously know details about things longs before the public does.

I have no problem with all this and understand the necessary privacy, but I am curious about the technicalities around that privacy that a company like BlackBerry must enforce and was wondering if you could share anything you know?

Things like:
Are there really scary legal agreements imposed by BlackBerry for any insider info that you will basically be destroyed over if you divulge info not blessed for public release?
Does CrackBerry officially get information directly from BlackBerry?
Do you correspond directly with BlackBerry to get information or pass on information that emerges as major issues from the CB user base?
And surely you know some BlackBerry insiders that must emit the odd Tweet now and then... I can't believe that I've never met an engineer who worked for RIM. I need to spend more time in Waterloo, I guess.

Thanks! And thanks for keeping a great site.

Good thread.. happy to address all your questions there. Getting things prepped for the BBM Stress Test, but will reply to this thread later today / tonight.

All the best!

Looking forward to seeing the response to this one.

Posted via CB10

where's our reply kev? good questions

Hey Kevin, were you ever able to get to this? I know your plate is full, but even some brief insight would be great!

I wonder if the fact that he posted that reply on April 1st meant anything.

Those must be difficult questions.

Posted via Q10

@galleon - I've responded to all those questions on other threads since then, more than a few times now. Lol... sorry for not updating this one.

In General:
- no, we don't sign NDAs... no other scary legal things imposed
- what we know, varies... sometimes we know a lot. sometimes we are in the dark. sometimes we don't know anything, but we have been following BB for so long we have a pretty good idea of how they think
- we always try to pass on to our readers and community whatever information we can. if we get information unofficially and we are asked not to share it, we don't (don't want anybody to get fired).
- we definitely have a good working relationship with BB. we want BlackBerry to kick **** - we're champions for the company. If we come across OS bugs, etc. we'll try to esclate them up to BB directly. they are also on top of our forums... it's actually rare that we escalate something they're not aware of.