BlackBerry: Ripe for the picking

MANILA, Philippines - Suddenly, Orlando’s magic fills the air as a horde of humanity, estimated at over 6,000, streams into the grand ballroom of Orlando World Center Marriott for the BlackBerry Live 2013 general session this fine, sunshiny Tuesday, May 14, in Florida. I’m seated several rows away from the stage amid a sea of BlackBerry-bearing participants. Excitement builds up as BlackBerry’s CEO and president, 55-year-old German-Canadian Thorsten Heins, takes center stage.

A berry good year

Thanking Brightstar (who gave away a BlackBerry Z10 to every delegate) for taking BlackBerry products to markets around the world, Thorsten announces with a hint of pride, “It’s been an incredible year for BlackBerry, it’s been a tremendous journey in the last 12 to 14 months. It’s not been easy, there’s still a lot of work to do, but men, we have reached solid ground with this company. We did it!”

A thunder of applause echoes across the room.  As the applause fades out, Thorsten confesses, “Some people actually told me that last year would be the last conference for BlackBerry and actually my first and last time to stand on this stage. Well, I’m happy to say they were wrong!” (Stress on the last three words.)

Thorsten continues, “And we’re not only still here. We’re taking our innovation, creativity to whole new levels. And guess what? We’re also taking new risks and we’re definitely in the race … Twelve months ago, I stood here all alone and promised to assemble the strongest leadership team in the mobile business. And I think I can claim and say I kept my promise. We now have an executive leadership that’s second to none — Frank Boulben, chief marketing officer; Kristian Tear, chief operating officer; Steve Zipperstein, chief legal officer; Brian Bidulka, chief financial officer. So, you have a German CEO, a Swedish COO, a French CMO, a US CLO, and a Canadian CFO. What else do you want in a company? I was so thrilled to put together this team and together we’re working to win back our reputation for innovation and execution.”

More thunders of applause from the electrified audience, now sitting at the edge of their seats in anticipation of more Berry good news.

Thorsten does not disappoint as he reveals, “We’re committed to making BlackBerry 10 the mobile platform that will take the industry into the next era of mobile computing. We will show the world that BlackBerry understands mobile better than anyone else. That’s in the DNA of our company — we live and breathe mobile.”

As you probably know, BlackBerry 10 — the entirely re-designed, re-engineered, and re-invented BlackBerry platform (not an update of the older BlackBerry OS, so Thorsten stresses) — was launched last January. It is available on two new LTE-enabled smartphones, the BlackBerry Z10 (all-touch) and BlackBerry Q10 (touch and keyboard) for a faster, smarter, and smoother user experience. Q10 is rated as the Bentley of smartphones.

BlackBerry unveiled its new Z10 and Q10 smartphones at simultaneous events in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Dubai, and Johannesburg.

Rated 10

BlackBerry 10 scores a perfect 10 in so many awesome ways. Designed to work and adapt to the way you work and share, it’s got such features as:

• BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), which allows you to share things with people you care about in an instant. That includes voice calling and video chat, and the ability to share your screen with another BlackBerry 10 contact.

BlackBerry plans to bring BBM to iOS and Android users this summer.

• The iconic qwerty keyboard so you can type faster and more accurately.

• The ever present BlackBerry Hub — the single place to manage all your conversations, whether personal or work e-mail, BBM messages, social media updates or notifications. Plus it enables you to peek into the BlackBerry Hub from anywhere, so you’re always just a swipe away from what’s dear to your heart.

• BlackBerry Flow — where features and apps flow seamlessly together so you can complete the task at hand effortlessly and efficiently.

• BlackBerry Balance technology, which most elegantly separates and secures work applications and data from personal content on BlackBerry devices.

• Time Shift, an astounding camera feature which lets you capture a group shot where everyone is smiling with their eyes wide open.

And let me tell you the story of the Story Maker, which lets you put a collection of photos and videos together, complete with music and effects, to produce an HD movie you can instantly share.

• The new BlackBerry 10 browser, which is incredibly fast, setting the industry benchmark for HTML5 support on smartphones.

•BlackBerry Safeguard technology, which helps protect what’s important to you and the business you work for.

• The BlackBerry World storefront, which now includes 70,000 BlackBerry 10 apps and one of the most robust music and video catalogs in mobile today, with most movies coming to the store on the same day they are released on DVD. More, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Foursquare apps for BlackBerry 10 are preinstalled, and users will have access to leading applications from across the globe. Leading application providers include Disney, Cisco, Foursquare, Skype, and Rovio.

And now, BlackBerry takes its globally popular mobile social network BBM to new heights called BBM Channels — a new social engagement platform within BBM, which will allow people to connect with the businesses, brands, celebrities, and groups they are passionate about.

It’s Blackberry picking time!

BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 will give people real-time multi-tasking and keep them moving,” says Thorsten. “And we’re not done yet; we will continue to introduce products to enhance our customers’ user experience, to suit all markets and needs.”

And then, oohs and aahs fill the room as Thorsten holds up a sparkling red phone —  BlackBerry Q5, to be launched in summer (that is, summer in the Western world). “It’s sleek, it’s slim, it’s designed for selected emerging markets at a more affordable price.  And it comes in red, black, white, and pink colors, you’re going to have a lot of fun deciding which color suits you best. I know it’s going to be a big hit.”

I know it will be a big hit, especially with the girls. I’m thinking of getting the pink one. Really Berry pretty!

A moving experience

Of course, we haven’t seen it all.  For in comes a dazzling black Bentley on stage, with Mark Rigley of QNX behind the wheel. With its amazing car-connected technology, BlackBerry leads the industry in car mobile computing to enhance one’s driving experience. Surely, cars will become more connected and more intelligent.

And then comes Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton with his stunning Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 WO4 Silver Arrow. BlackBerry smartphones will be used by the Formula One team so they can keep moving throughout the Formula One season.

“Formula One is all about precision, engineering design, and innovation — three values that mirror the approach that’s gone into creating BlackBerry 10,” remarks Frank Boulben.

And to keep everybody really moving, there’s Alicia Keys inviting fans to post personal pictures of themselves through the BlackBerry Keep Moving Hub. These pics will be used to make a music video for Keys’ Hallelujah song, which will be played on stage during her concerts.

At BlackBerry Live 2013, Alicia opens up a real conversation about how women can keep moving forward in a technology-driven world and live full lives in the face of everyday challenges.

As BlackBerry’s global creative director, she has launched the new BlackBerry scholars program (a full four-year course), designed to inspire more women to enter and develop careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Author Neil Gaiman (Stardust, The Sandman) and renowned director Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, From Dusk Till Dawn) are joining Alicia Keys as the first three BlackBerry collaborators leveraging the power of the new BlackBerry10 platform to create original content as they interact with fans like they’ve never done before.

So, where does BlackBerry stand today? From where we’re seated, we say it’s been a most exciting journey so far with BlackBerry.

“With the BlackBerry 10, we have the ecosystem, the privacy, the security, the flexibility, developments, global data network, and we weave all that together into a seamless user experience like no other,” asserts Thorsten.

In the last three to four months, BlackBerry 10 has upped its apps from 70,000 to 120,000, faster than any has done before. Its developers have jumped substantially from 39,000 to 69,000.

“More than 10 billion messages are sent and received every day via BBM and half of these messages are read within 20 seconds,” says Thorsten. “The best mobile messaging experience is BBM, it’s super fast and trusted.”

Anytime may as well be BlackBerry-picking time.