A tourist, not a techie, in Bali

BALI – Let me confess at the outset that I am no techie or someone who is much into high-technology gadgets. I went here to attend the first BlackBerry Developer Conference (Devcon) in Asia.

Let me just refer to the BlackBerry as “BB,” as every user of this mobile phone brand fondly calls it and for brevity sake. The only thing that kept me abreast of the “techie” language and terminologies used in this gathering is my experience with my own BB.

The two-day conference started here yesterday and was billed as the first one ever held outside North America where the Research In Motion (RIM) started the BlackBerry. The Canada-based firm chose to hold its first BB Devcon Asia in this tourist capital of Indonesia because of the fact that this country has the biggest number of BB users outside North America, including the United States.

As I gathered here, there are about 800 participants who have registered for this conference, 60 percent of them Indonesians. I met some Filipino participants who include representatives of our local telecommunications companies (telcos) and other information technology (IT) firms. The two Philippine telco giants, Globe Telecom and Smart Communications, carry BB devices in their product portfolios for both postpaid and prepaid subscribers.

I flew here last Wednesday on an assignment from my editor-in-chief who was originally the one invited to the conference. He is really the techie in the office. I am though not one of those who we jokingly refer to as “low tech,” or someone who does not know how to use computers or is not conversant at all on computers and other high-technology gadgets like the BB.   

I classify myself as a “med-tech” or just a middle-range tech-savvy person. As a media professional, I must keep myself up to date on the ways of modern technology. Actually, I started using the BB late last year when my tech-savvy son gave it up when Apple issued its latest iPhone 4.

He taught me the basics in using his BB Storm 2 and made the necessary shortcuts to the applications (or apps) that I only needed to use. With its touch-screen feature, I can easily access my e-mails, Twitter accounts, and even my Facebook account.

Given the need for us, especially in media, to keep close track of the breaking news and the latest developments and information not only in the Philippines but also in the rest of the world, I am finding my BB as a very useful gadget for my own purposes as a news editor.

Instead of wasting precious time due to slow-moving traffic whenever I am in transit, especially to and from the office, I browse my BB and transform the downtime into something more productive. From then on, I got hooked on it.

So, on that note, I was able to relate myself to the speakers in this conference where RIM introduced its latest apps and product innovations. Gregory Wade, managing director for Southeast Asia of RIM, introduced the newest, more user-friendly BB products and services. Wade first gave the participants the basic facts for better understanding of the subject matter.

“I don’t want my audience to say ‘What the heck this guy is talking about?’ So I would give you a walk-through presentation like a coaching session if you may call it,” Wade enthused. He ended his presentation with a video production of satisfied BB customers in Indonesia, including the look-alike of US President Barack Obama. “Even Obama uses BB,” the video blurb ended. Incidentally, one can follow the official events and statements of President Obama through his own Twitter Alert account.

Since BB has widened its platform, Wade noted, the “BB community” has reached 55 million subscribers in more than 70 countries. According to a survey they commissioned, he disclosed, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are the most used. Thus, he said, the BB has become the “world’s largest mobile social network.”

The most applauded presentation on the first day of the conference, however, was the formal launching in Asia of the BB Playbook tablet and the BB WebWorks SDK for Tablet OS. This came after the first units of the BB Playbook tablet - RIM’s rival to Apple’s iPad - were first sold in the US and Canada.   

The BB Playbook though is much smaller than the iPad. The BB Playbook has a seven-inch touch screen and is less than half-inch thick. Its touch screen responds to five-finger multi-touch. It is also multi-tasking, performing at least three tasks all at the same time without one task being interrupted even while browsing the Internet.

The demonstration of these latest innovations put into the BB Playbook drew muffled ohs and ahs from the largely tech-savvy audience. But it did not excite me at all. My son also taught me how to use his iPad. He would lend it to me whenever we were mobile to read my e-mails. That was before I still did not have my BB. Now I just borrow his iPad just to play Internet games on it.

Tyler Lassard, RIM vice president for global alliance and developer relations, elicited a loud applause from his audience when he announced that their company would give and ship the BB Playbook for free to any developer who would be able to submit new apps for the tablet.

Also presented yesterday was the latest BB Torch mobile device which looks like the BB Storm 2 with a touch screen but with the added features of the BB Push Service SDK v1.01. Christopher Smith, RIM senior director for the BB development platform, described the latest BB products and services as giving their consumers “full access at your fingertips” to the mobile Web wherever they are. Smith admitted their company sees Southeast Asia as “leading the way” to more BB consumers.   

But that is as far as Indonesia is concerned since it is the biggest market for BB users. In the Philippines, the BB is not the more popular mobile device but I see it being most commonly used by corporate executives. At least, however, attending this BB Devcon Asia gave me the opportunity to see Bali for the first time, as a tourist and not as a techie.