IntoMobile » BlackBerry Developer Conference 2008

RIM Launches Academic Program

Will Park — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:00:05 +0000

Ever wanted to go to school and learn about BlackBerrys all day long? Well, two bits of news for you: one, you’re crazy. Two, RIM is officially offering curriculum to academic institutions under app development, support, and administration branches. This can help you provide students the knowledge they need to achieve those dreams of making the killer app, ruling a BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) rollout with an iron fist, or manning a soul-draining tech support cubicle. Instructors can use the textbooks, labs, and materials to teach the courses in whole semesters, or piecemeal as modules in other courses.

This is a really interesting strategy on RIM’s part, and reminiscent of their past efforts in certification programs. Plugging into legitimate educational institutes ensures that the hard skills necessary to maintain RIM’s infrastructure in the big wide world don’t die, and young tech professionals recognise the platform as a valid and real path to make a living. I’m interested in seeing the quality of graduates versus other IT professionals who have fallen into BlackBerry after finishing nonspecific courses…

For more information, hit up www.blackberry.com/academic, and be sure to stay tuned over the coming week for more information from the 2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference.

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Open source not gonna happen for BlackBerry

Simon Sage — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:08:31 +0000

Here’s a little tidbit I missed out on by avoiding the sessions at the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Conference last week… RIM pretty much shot down any hope of the OS source code becoming available to the developer community at large.

“We do have an open source management team that is investigating this,” said Cassidy Gentle, a senior RIM software developer. “I would expect some of our Eclipse or Mobile Tools for Java could be made available on an open source basis, but as for our APIs or other software—that’s a pretty big leap,” Gentle said.

The whole BlackBerry Application Storefront announcement had a few people glancing innocuously in Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s direction, but clearly the similarities to Android end there. It’s not a huge surprise to be honest. RIM has always been pretty open about being closed, not only for the sake of stability, but security as well. Also, despite what the BlackBerry Storm release might insinuate, RIM wants to stay away from imitating as much as possible – if devs want an open sandbox to play in, Android is the way to go.

[via EETimes]

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The Signal (Episode 5: BBDC Edition)

Simon Sage — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:13:32 +0000

Welcome to Episode 5 of The Signal, right from the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Conference!

Sorry for the lateness all, travel arrangements from the BlackBerry Developer Conference in Santa Clara got a little extended, but we’re ready to go with the latest IntoMobile podcast. Even if you’re not into the BlackBerry scene, it might be worth your while to hear about the upcoming BlackBerry Application Storefront due to land in March. It’ll be paired up with a carrier-powered Application Center, following closely in Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s footsteps by providing a bundled, unified interface for browsing BlackBerry software. Besides the daily rundown, we go over the show’s announcements with DevelopIQ’s James Shannon and ISEC7’s Matthias Hager and Guido Wilken to see what developers themselves thought of the devcon. Just in case you can’t get enough, be sure to take a read-through of our interview with RIM VP of Global Alliances, Jeff McDowell, on what it was like from an organizer’s standpoint. And of course, if it’s all rubbish to you, we still have the week’s biggest news laid out all fancy-like behind the jump. It looks like some big names are saying “no” to Android…

Music by Krazy Baldhead.

Download The Signal (Episode 5: BBDC Edition) – iTunes – (26:08)

Headlines

IntoMobile – Now with 100% more “fresh”

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse says Android not good enough for Sprint

BlackBerry 8900 Javelin handled on video!

Sony Ericsson: UIQ is dead

Facebook Refusing to Develop App for Android OS

Sprint aims to cut ETF by December – Pro-rated cancellation fees on horizon

Android Open Source Project Open for Business

Slew of BlackBerry developer announcements

Rumours

Motorola i9 caught in the wild

Samsung Omnia, Samsung Saga and HTC Touch Pro Coming to Verizon in November

Motorola VE66 sports 5MP camera, WiFi, and a non-Android Linux

HTC Touch Diamond coming to Alltel soon

Samsung: 8MP phones with 3x optical zoom coming next year, 12MP later

AT&T Pantech Slate spotted in the wild

Sony Ericsson Hikaru Back on the Map

Nokia E63 caught in the wild

LG Voyager coming to Bell Canada on November 7th

LG Secret coming to AT&T?

HTC Touch HD With Slide-Out Keyboard in the Works?

First Pics of the Samsung i7710

Palm Treo Pro 850 spotted surfing Sprint’s CDMA network

RIM Ninjas Report Rogers 2009 BlackBerry Lineup

Low-end LG VX5500 coming soon to Verizon this month

T-Mobile to get Motorola MOTOZINE ZN5 on November 3

Releases

LG Reveal fashion phone coming to Bell Canada with “Shimmer Kit”

White HTC Touch Diamond Coming to the Netherlands in November

Sprint launches HTC Touch Pro!

Samsung TouchWiz phones coming to the US

Sony Ericsson C902 Titanium Silver aka Bond’s latest phone should hit stores anytime now

AT&T launches Samsung A767 Propel for budget-texters

Motorola RAZR2 V8 gets a new color – Antique Rose

Nokia 2228 is a low-end CDMA phone with LED indicator light

T-Mobile G1 is live – HTC “Dream” becomes T-Mobile reality, ushers in Android OS!

Rogers Selling HTC Touch Diamond Contract-Free for $599.99

AT&T BlackBerry Bold pricing and launch date announced

Telus goes live with LG Dare for $99 on contract

Motorola AURA is one expensive, cool-lookin phone

AT&T launches Samsung Epix – Windows Mobile touchscreen handset with optical mouse

HP unveils iPAQ Data Messenger and iPAQ Voice Messenger

Dell to sell Pharos’ Traveller 117 and 127 Windows Mobile smartphones

Sprint, Boost Mobile add Motorola i776; Not many care

Nokia 1606 lands on Cricket Wireless

Sprint adds LG Lotus, Samsung Rant and Highnote

Philips out with E100, low-end music phone

BlackBerry 8220 Pearl flips out on Future Shop, available soon

P.S.: WES = Wireless Enterprise Symposium, RIM’s existing annual BlackBerry convention.

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BlackBerry Storm Video Playblack

Simon Sage — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:52:17 +0000

Oh, hey, I guess there was one more goodie left in the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Conference bag-o-treats. We’ve got some of the first hands-on video of the BlackBerry Storm that doesn’t involve some kind of advertisement. A lot of the OS is still a work in progress, so it wouldn’t be fair to do a whole run-down, but I thought a demo of the more-than-ample video playback would be nice. Sorry about the umbrella reflecting in the back, things were a bit spur-of-the-moment. The screen is 480 x 360 HVGA – not bad compared to a lot of things, and more than steps up to the Bold, but the one thing you do risk with larger screens is more pixelation. The Storm wasn’t that bad at all. The one thing I was iffy on was the sound quality.

Maybe the Bold has spoiled me, but the Storm did sound a bit tinny. As far as I could gather, most of the sound was coming from a rear speaker down by the battery door latch, with a little sound coming from the phone bit, while the Bold has an extra two sound ports on the rear. Part of me thinks that there might be a speaker under the screen, since it seems to wrap around fairly nicely. I won’t lay the haterade on too heavily – maybe some clever equalizing on the software end will boost the bass and give it a fuller sound. The picture itself was great, and easily on par with many alternatives now available.

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BBDC: Day 3 Wrap-up

Simon Sage — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:13:34 +0000

The dust had settled from yesterday’s announcements at the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Conference, and everyone was ready to hit the books in the sessions today. Those many of us without the foggiest clue of what to do with a line of code were in a bit of a pickle, but some breathing room after a hectic day 2 would actually be alright. In fact, it turned out to be a great time to get some full-bodied opinions about the show from those it was built for, rather than, say, the ones who had built it.

In the morning I got to talk with the lads from DevelopIQ, finalists in the BlackBerry Developer Challenge for their upcoming FlipChart project, and developers of Will.i.am’s Dipdive BlackBerry application. We touched on the difference between the Application Center and the Storefront – namely how carriers will handle applications versus RIM. Keep an ear out for The Signal to check out our interview with James Shannon.

After that, I sauntered over to the Mobile Pavillion to touch base with the AT&T boys about their BlackBerry Bold launch party in San Francisco last night (turns out it was super-exclusive, and from what I heard, I don’t blame them for keeping press out). Meandering through the booths, I managed to find me some good face time with the BlackBerry Storm. Certainly not the first hands-on pictures out there, and far from the last, but hey, it’s the first time the 9500 has been shown against the BlackBerry Bold. Afterwards I regretted getting some shots from the bottom and underneath – alas.

Then it was time to ham it up with some old buddies I had met at last year’s WES – Matthias Hager and Guido Wilken from ISEC7, creators of B*Nator. As you can see, these guys won the Enterprise Innovation Award for the BlackBerry Developer Challenge, proving exactly what they had told me at WES: young developers can bring new ideas to the table. It was good to pick their brain about how consumer-centric announcements like the Application Center might (or probably won’t) affect enterprise software. Again, you’ll hear our chat on The Signal later this week.

Let me tell you, it was hard to leave that poolside to go talk with Viigo. After managing to do so, it was actually great to meet up with the guys I had supported from the very beginning, and now seeing them reach BlackBerrys far and wide. Obviously in my new digs here at IntoMobile, we talked a lot about what they could be doing for other platforms, but there’s still a BlackBerry version that needs to be done up. Keep an eye out for that one soon. The Windows Mobile version is still around, and happily supporting wireless podcast downloads… Hmmm… Lots of other stuff in the pipes for this outstanding content aggregator, so stick around for their latest announcements.

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BlackBerry Storm Picture Gallery

Simon Sage — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:31:52 +0000

After dodging dirty looks from Verizon (NYSE: VZ) reps at the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Conference, I finally managed to get some time with the upcoming BlackBerry Storm. This here is actually the Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) version, which, although had less of a presence here at the show in California, will have a much more widespread launch through European channels and abroad.

I did a lot of size comparing with my BlackBerry Bold, and the Storm seems a notch smaller on all sides, but not by much. Check the SizeEasy to get a more precise idea. The Storm of course has the microUSB slot first introduced to the BlackBerry Pearl Flip, which I also got to fool around for with a bit for the first time (not bad, little different, not a lot of horsepower). That new USB slot saves a lot of space on the thickness front. As mentioned, the OS is still fairly beta, but I managed to see a few more recent versions, and it’s clear that RIM is working hard on the bumps and will have something good and stable in time for the rumored November release.

Official specs, for the curious…

BlackBerry Storm Specifications

Features Available

Wireless email
Organizer
Browser
Phone
Camera (3.2 MP)
Video Recording
BlackBerry® Maps
Media Player
Built-in GPS
Corporate data access
SMS
MMS

Size and Weight

4.43″/112.5mm (Length)
2.45″/62.2mm (Width)
0.55″/13.95mm (Depth)
5.5 oz/155g (Weight)

Data Input/Navigation

Touch Screen Navigation, with ClickThrough for user selection
On screen keyboard: portrait SureType® and Multi-tap, QWERTY landscape

Voice Input/Output

3.5mm stereo headset capable
Integrated earpiece/ microphone
Built-in speakerphone
Mono/stereo headset, hands-free, phone book access profile and serial port profile supported (Bluetooth® technology)

Media Player

Video format support: MPEG4 H.263, MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.264, WMV
Audio format support: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMA ProPlus

Display

High resolution 480 x 360 pixel color display
Transmissive TFT LCD
Font size (user selectable)
Light sensing screen

Notification

Polyphonic/MIDI ringtones
MP3 ringtones
Vibrate mode
LED indicator

Approximate Battery Life

15 days (Standby time)
5.5 hours (Talk time)

Memory

Expandable memory – support for microSD™ card
1GB onboard memory
128 MB Flash (flash memory)

Modem

RIM® wireless modem
Tethered modem capability

Email Integrations

Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)® Exchange
Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for IBM® Lotus® Domino®
Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for Novell® GroupWise®
Integrates with an existing enterprise email account
Integrates with existing personal email account
Integrates with optional new device account

Device Security

Password protection and screen lock
Sleep mode
Support for AES or Triple DES encryption when integrated with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server
Optional support for S/MIME

Wireless Network

UMTS/HSPA: 2100 MHz
North America: 850 MHz GSM®/GPRS networks
North America: 1900MHz GSM/GPRS networks
Europe/Asia Pacific: 1800MHz GSM/GPRS networks
Europe/Asia Pacific: 900MHz GSM/GPRS networks
Dual-Band: 800/1900 MHz CDMA/Ev-DO networks

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AT&T BlackBerry Bold pricing and launch date announced

Simon Sage — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:54:14 +0000

I had heard rumblings of an AT&T (NYSE: T) launch party up the road from the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Conference in San Francisco, but all of the underhanded blogger-weaseling in the world couldn’t get me an invite. Regardless, someone still managed to get some pics.

The official word is that the AT&T BlackBerry Bold will be going for $299.99 as of Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Unlike SOME launch parties, AT&T was actually happy to be giving out the Bold to attendees. From what I’ve been able to gather over here, the latest delays were a result of MMS issues, and whenever AT&T fixes a bug, they have to begin their testing process from scratch, which resulted in the lengthy Bold delay. Good QA, but damn, that’s a bad string of luck. Good timing and placement of the launch party though, what with the Storm getting so much hype down here in Santa Clara. Do you think AT&T will be able to compete with Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s offering?

[via RIM]

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BBDC: Day 2 Wrap-up

Simon Sage — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:17:04 +0000

Oofa. Today was considerably more upbeat than yesterday – in fact, tomorrow seems more like a home stretch rather than something to be excited about. In the morning, just before the keynote address, we all had a few ideas about what was coming. The BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Store was more or less a given, but unless you were really into the development scene, the rest of the announcements were largely a mystery. Of course we were secretly holding out for free devices, like little girls wanting ponies for Christmas, but hey, that was more a pipe dream than anything else. Big ups to RIM for delivering.

Catching up on the announcements hammered into us from the keynote took the better part of the morning, but it certainly gave us that big juicy injection of news that us bloggers were so very desperately thirsty for yesterday.

Now, the biggest of these announcements was clearly the BlackBerry Application Center, telegraphed as it may have been beforehand. While RIM’s VP was adamant that the conference had nothing to do with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) or Google (NSDQ: GOOG) cozying up to mobile developers, it might be harder to make the same statement about the BlackBerry Application Center and Storefront. Just to clear things up about the difference: one will be carrier powered, and really just a place for them to amalgamate all of the download links that they already litter the homescreen with preloads already, while the Application Center will be more of an entire database of the software available for your device. Of course this is will be starting with the Storm, but I’m really curious about seeing it on older device which already have a big uptake. I guess that will depend on when OS 4.7 will be re-jiggered for those old-fogey devices with real keypads.

If you had the sheer ocular fortitude to make it through the keynote liveblog, you would have heard about everybody getting a free device. Yep, that’s me first in line, enjoying an Official BlackBerry® Slurpee, which were, for the record, delicious. How long was the wait, you ask?

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PageOnce launches app which tracks just about everything

Simon Sage — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:53:36 +0000

One of the few official app launches occurring at the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Conference comes from PageOnce for BlackBerry. These guys are tapping into a wide variety of APIs and partnerships to provide live feeds of information from many, many services. I talked to the head honcho in the press room earlier today, and he gave me a bit of a demo. It was really incredible how you could see Netflix, investments, e-mail, bills, everything, from under one roof. Think of it as a Facebook News Feed for all of your personal information. Although BlackBerry just launched today, there’s been an iPhone app out there for a little while now. Very cool stuff, and hopefully they’ll see some love with the upcoming BlackBerry Application Center when it launches in March. Also, good on ‘em for making a low-contrast UI. I think a lot of people overlook the fact that using a mostly-white screen is like staring into a lightbulb.

[via RIM]

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DeviceAnywhere launches virtual developer lab trial for O2 devices

Simon Sage — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:24:43 +0000

DeviceAnywhere and O2 (NYSE: TEF) have teamed up to provide up to 30 free hours to mobile developers to test their software on all the devices they want to. I had bumped DeviceAnywhere at the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Conference as they were simultaneously announcing membership with the ISV Alliance Program. In a nutshell, these guys hook up devices from carriers worldwide inside these boxes which then allow users to have remote control of the device. These users can then load up software and navigate and do everything they could do with the phone in a web interface as if they had it in their hands. After they’re done, the device can be wiped and reset to scratch, ready for someone else to test.

It’s a step up from pure software simulators in that you’re getting the real image from a real device somewhere, and the service has a bunch of features to help testing go easier, like queuing up programs to test on multiple device overnight, and video screen capture. Developers aren’t the only ones winning out by being able to test on a wide range of phones from many carriers – the carriers themselves save a lot of hassle by offering this service instead of issuing loaners and having to recall them. It even helps carriers let software developers test on unreleased devices, and reduce risk caused camera-happy bloggers in the neighbourhood. (Drat.)

I mean, a part of me thinks it’s a little perverse – you can’t help but imagine extensive prisons where rows upon rows of these poor, suffering phones are restrained and hooked up to an elaborate hive mind allowing far and away tormentors to wreck what havoc they will, only to blank their memory and do it all over again. But hey, that’s just me.

[via DeviceAnywhere]

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Slew of BlackBerry developer announcements

Simon Sage — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:05:41 +0000

Shortly after my laptop battery died during the Day 2 BlackBerry Developer Conference keynote liveblog, a bunch of press releases went out that are good news not only for BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) developers, but also you fine folks who use their apps.

RIM to Launch BlackBerry Application Storefront and BlackBerry Application Center: We saw this one coming a mile away, but whatever. They’re accepting submissions for this device-side, carrier-powered software store in December and looking to launch in March. Butting heads with the iPhone? Maybe. They made a point to say during the announcement that criteria for acceptance into the store would be made very clear, so folks wouldn’t spend months on an application and still worry if it will even get by the gatekeepers.
RIM Takes Push to a New Level with BlackBerry Web Signals Technology for Third Party Content Services: Just around the tail end of the liveblog, I hinted at AccuWeather demoing this. Basically, it revolved around the homescreen icon changing depending on the weather in your area. In this way Web Signals will allow online content to affect and change handheld software. Push technology is RIM’s game, and now they’re giving it developers.
RIM Updates BlackBerry Developer Tools: The tail end of the keynote revolved around of the more technical side of things, primarily in updates to the Eclipse and Visual Studio Plug-ins for the BlackBerry Java Desktop Environment. One feature from the Eclipse plug-in got noticeable applause, but damned I knew what the fuss was.
RIM to Bring the Power of the Web to BlackBerry Application Development: Updates to the same ol’ software is nice and all, but Gears (due in 2009) and Web IDE are some new tools RIM has announced today. Will be talking with plenty of programmers on the scene here to see what their reactions are like.

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BlackBerry Application Center and Storefront officially announced

Simon Sage — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:59:33 +0000

Running low on laptop battery here at the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Conference Day 2 Keynote, but here’s the straight goods on RIM’s answer to Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s Android Market and the iPhone App Store.

- RIM plans to launch the application storefront in March 2009; BlackBerry application developers can begin submitting their applications and content for inclusion in December 2008.
- The storefront will allow developers to set their own prices for applications; developers will retain 80 percent of the revenue generated from their applications.
- RIM is working with PayPal to provide consumers with a convenient and trusted way to pay for applications within the new application storefront, right from their BlackBerry smartphone.
- Organizations that have deployed BlackBerry® Enterprise Server or BlackBerry® Professional Software will retain control of what applications can be downloaded
- RIM is also working with its carrier partners to provide carrier-customized, on-device application centers. RIM has already worked with carriers successfully to provide this type of on-device distribution system for individual software applications, such as the popular Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones application.
- RIM is already working with carrier partners on plans to roll out the BlackBerry application center on future BlackBerry smartphones.
- For more information on the BlackBerry application storefront, interested developers should visit www.blackberry.com/storefrontinfo and sign up to receive periodic updates.

Check the full press release over here!

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BBDC: Day 2 Keynote Liveblog

Simon Sage — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:44:37 +0000

Here we are after a full night’s sleep (well, for some of us) ready to get down with the first keynote at the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Conference. We’re holding out for an announcement of the BlackBerry Application Center for the Storm – this sure is the venue for an announcement like that, so here’s hoping.

8:07 AM: Slideshow showing off RIM’s long, and sometimes confusing, history. They won an Emmy, eh?

8:11 AM: Front-row bloggers ready to do their thang.

8:20: Five minutes to go. Are you excited? I’m excited.

8:25: Tyler Lassard starting up the intro. Talking a lot about how much the developer community has grown, and how the conference will help RIM interface with them. Now a lil video about the inside of RIM and the early days of BlackBerry.

8:30: Mike Lazaridis talking in the video about early enterprises saying “I don’t know what this is, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if it’s not secure, we’re not interested.”

8:33: Mike Lazaridis now live and in person. A lot of reminiscing about the good ol’ days. “Fire, police, ambulance and dispatch was the killer app.” The importance of physics? Here’s a box, let’s think outside the box. You can’t optimize all four corners – there are limits, so you gotta find the right point in between. Developers have to find how to work in that impossible square.

8:43: Enterprise first, then consumer. Why? Most disruptive technology comes from enterprise first. Wireless data is now coming to consumers, though.

8:47: Lots of new devices, but all of them are acceptable for enterprise, even though they are also targeted to consumer segments.

8:52: Mike’s now talking about them rocking the North American market (54% penetration) – new consumer space is just as much an opportunity for devs as it is for RIM.

BlackBerry Application Center and Storefront official!

Mikey finishes up, and invites developers to give constructive criticism.

8:56: More video! More Mikey. Lots of devs… Hey, the guy who made the Facebook app. Good work!

9:00: Alan Brenner, VP and general manager stepping up about the evolving needs of mobile users. Why does BlackBerry work so well? What APIs is RIM going to be dishing out soon?

9:06: The user is usually doing something else – the app has to be as painless and do as much of the work for the user as possible. You can’t just miniaturize desktop apps. Java is still their core, but they’re expanding to web and other languages.

9:11: Daniel Baird and Patrick Markell from Slacker now showing us their mobile app… They announced a partnership with RIM awhile back. Kind of like Pandora, or Nutsie. Just showing what you can do with Java… I guess? Blech, syncs via USB. If it ain’t wireless, I ain’t interested.

Battery’s dead on the laptop! Updates and pics after the keynote!

Ah, let’s try BlackBerry boggin’ . SQLite and Gears web app support. Applause all around. I’m sure I’d be happy if I knew what they were.
And Web Signals… New? AccuWeather will demonstrate.

Continued on page 2!

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BBDC: Day 1 Wrap-up

Simon Sage — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:40:38 +0000

The first day of the BlackBerry Developer Conference started tentatively. Eager bloggers milled about the Mariott lobby and shrugged at one another helplessly while the tech-heads warmed up their gargantuan brains behind closed session doors for the two days of cramming to come. As the day wore on into afternoon, flights landed, and people worked their way to their targets. I bumped into some old buddies from Viigo, talked a bit with the fine folks from Zeemote (who you’ll hear more from in this week’s edition of The Signal) and met up with some very helpful PR folks from RIM (and even blogged about naughty secrets right in front of them). Of course it was great to reunite with some bloggers-in-arms, like Hayden, Al, Kevin, and Doug. Hey, speaking of which…

Quote of the night:

Me: Hey, Doug?
Doug: Yeah?
Me: Did you just go in the women’s washroom?
Doug: Yeah.
…
Doug: Did you just record that?
Me: Yeah.

To be fair, Doug did squarely place the blame on too many “Coronas sponsored by Bplay and paid for by the BlackBerry Partners Fund” at the BlackBerry Cool 15, which actually went very well despite it all. There were a lot of great applications, some late additions, and many which will be getting some venture capital. The popular choice was Nobex Radio Companion, an entrant who is also in the BlackBerry Developer Challenge. That was actually one of my concerns with the two contests… There was a bit of overlap in terms of applicants (PaperIQ is also in both) but hey, I guess there’s plenty of money and press to go around. In any case, it was a packed room and fine place to keep the alco-mobile rolling after the pavillion shut down for the night.

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Q&A with RIM VP on the first BlackBerry Developer Conference

Simon Sage — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:15:01 +0000

I had a chance to harass RIM’s VP of Global Alliances, Jeff McDowell, shortly after he was getting off the plane here in Santa Clara for the BlackBerry Developer Conference. Without remorse for his jetlag or lack of sleep, he was pummeled immediately with a barrage of questions regarding the show’s performance, its necessity, and other biting questions. The only mercy we spared him was not throwing in the raw audio for this week’s podcast. Don’t think you’ll get off so easy next time, McDowell…

Q: Let’s start off with the origins… At what point did RIM decide that they needed to have a developer conference?

A: We’ve been running the ISV Alliance program for about 6 years now, where we’ve provided a lot of hands-on support of technical developement, business development and marketing to ISV or commercial programmers (companies that build BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) applications or services), and we’ve been extremely supportive of that community. When RIM made that transition from primarily an enterprise device to being a device that anybody wants to use, all of a sudden we had an explosion in the areas of more consumer-based applications (personal productivity, travel, games, etc.).

That’s been going on for about two years, and we started supporting our community in a similar way as the ISV program, but realized very quickly that we need a better, broad-based program in place that serves the needs of this community in a much more diverse way. The needs of this community is similar in some ways to enterprise technical support, but different types of APIs are popular, UI is different, the size of the companies we’re working with is different, so we needed to put a more comprehensive program in place to address a broader development community, and that’s what we’re doing now.

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BlackBerry Partners Fund launches Jump Start initiative

Simon Sage — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:57:36 +0000

The boys behind the BlackBerry Developer Challenge have launched a new initiative called Jump Start. With this program, early-stage products can get up to $250,000 in venture funding to get started. The BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Conference is just the place to launch this kind of program, where budding application developers can have just an idea, but still turn it into something. Remember – the Partners fund is for all mobile platforms, not just BlackBerry. Any budding entrepreneurs should check out the program.

[via PRNewswire]

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BlackBerry Storm training manual leaks

Simon Sage — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:27:28 +0000

The OS hasn’t change that much, but this doc provides all the key points about Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s imminent BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Storm. One of the key tidbits here is around page 38, which shows off Desktop Manager 4.7, the PC-side software for the BlackBerry Storm. Confirmed therein is the Rhapsody support tied in with Verizon’s V CAST music service. This was rumoured a long time ago, but we hadn’t heard much of it since… we’ll have to see it in action here at the BlackBerry Developer Conference once the Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) booth opens up.

[via CrackBerry]

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Verizon BlackBerry Storm in-stock November 16th?

Simon Sage — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:28:31 +0000

Man, is it ever weird to be writing about rumoured BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Storm launch dates with RIM PR sitting across the table from you. Hot on the heels of some Rogers info, internal Best Buy inventory is showing Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s BlackBerry Storm getting in-stock on November 16th. Previous rumours were pointing to the 1st., but hey, things get delayed, right? I’ve had a chance to try out the BlackBerry Storm just a little bit here at the BlackBerry Developer Conference, and have yet to really get the hang of the click-screen, but haven’t entirely given up hope just yet. Expect some pictures and video soon.

Quote of the morning from the press room:

Blogger A: “Man, there’s nothing going on today.”
Blogger B: “Let’s just make a bunch of stuff up and report on all the rumours.”
RIM PR: “Guys, I’m right here.”

[via BGR]

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BlackBerry Developer Conference begins tomorrow

Simon Sage — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:56:17 +0000

RIM’s first conference exclusively for the developers of the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) platform begins tomorrow, and yours truly is on scene getting ready for the big day. The show will run until Wednesday night, and we’ll be having an extra-special BB DevCon edition of The Signal podcast at the end of the week. So, what’s the big deal about the BlackBerry Developer Conference? I mean, it’s just a bunch of hackers getting together, right? Well, here are a few things that might be worth your attention, even if you’re not among the BlackBerry hardcore.

Hands-on BlackBerry Storm coverage: Yep, the Storm is getting into our grubby fingertips once the Mobility Pavillion opens on Tuesday, and we’ll be showing you if this whole ClickThru business is just a gimmick to set the BlackBerry 9500 apart from your average full-touchscreen device, or if it is, in fact, a new step in the right direction.
Mike Lazaridis keynote: With Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) both horning in on the preloaded app store strategy, you have to wonder how RIM’s co-CEO will be changing his game to meet the demands of developers. Maybe the Storm will have one…?
Contests: Not only will the BlackBerry Partners Fund be making their picks from the top submissions of their contest, but there’s also the BlackBerry Cool 15 competition happening as well. Lots of great new applications will be getting their time in the spotlight, and may just decide to swing over to your platform if there’s the demand…
Developers: Wouldn’t be much of a devcon without ‘em, eh? It’ll be great to see not only what exactly third-party BlackBerry developers are working on (especially on that new touchscreen), but also get their impressions of the show, about the platform, and maybe hear a thing or two about what they would like to change.
Tomfoolery/shananigans: We all know programmers are a raucous lot – hopefully we’ll have a few fun nights that are just as good as the ones from the Wireless Enterprise Symposium. Those dancers might be hard to find, though…

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Verizon BlackBerry Storm to Appear at BlackBerry Dev Con!

James Falconer — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:30:39 +0000

If you plan on attending the first-ever BlackBerry Developer Conference, you’re in for a treat. Looks like Verizon (NYSE: VZ) will be on hand, and they will be showing off the Verizon BlackBerry Storm at their booth! Kind of makes you want to go to the conference now doesn’t it!?

As you can see in the graphic above that was sent out via email, Verizon will be there demonstrating all of the new features and functions of the Storm… with all of its touch-screeny-goodness.

For more information on the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Developer Conference, click here. Online registration for the event closes October 17th.

[Via: BBCool]

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