RIM is holding its yearly developers conference this week, playing host to over a thousand developers still dedicated to the BlackBerry platform. The company detailed several novel features to BlackBerry 10 scheduled for release in early 2013. And yes, there was this bad music video, too.
Anyway, a fellow TC editor strangely posted a RIM employee’s OOO reply earlier tonight. He called it both epic and sad. He stated it was delusional, yet awesome. He then laid into this random employee for having a positive outlook and faith in his struggling employer.
This RIM employee deserves better. Much better. He (or she) deserves a pat on the back for sticking to the mission in spite of all the mud that’s been flung. Sure, the OOO reply was a bit over the top, but that’s what it’s going to take to save RIM. And RIM is worth saving.
Hello my friend. I am travelling to San Jose for the biggest mobile developer event of the year – BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012.
If you are in the San Jose/San Francisco are and would like to attend the developer event of the year, please send me an email with the subject of “I want to go to BBJam” and I will get back to you ASAP.
For up to the minute BlackBerry Jam Americas action, please follow us @BlackBerryDev.
Otherwise, if you need me urgently, please feel free to BBM me and I will respond immediately if not sooner. Emails will be dealt with at a later time – most likely by me hitting CTRL-A and deleting them. If it was really that important, you’d BBM me. Or call. Or send me a message on Twitter.
If you don’t need something urgent – then I will respond to this email as soon as possible.
Have a great week!
Let’s take a closer look at this.
…BIGGEST MOBILE DEVELOPER EVENT OF THE YEAR – BLACKBERRY JAM AMERICAS 2012
Simply put, BlackBerry Jam is not the single biggest mobile developer event of the year. RIM tells me 1,500 are in attendance this year. But BlackBerry Jam is the largest BlackBerry event of the year. More telling, attendance is up from last year and nearly double that from previous years. RIM takes a unique approach to developers conferences in that it travels around the world, meeting the developers in their area. The company went on a sort of world tour last year, selling out nearly every venue on its 26 stops.
Besides, there’s nothing wrong with a little excited exaggeration on a random OOO reply.
“I WANT TO GO TO BBJAM”
This might seem strange, but Blackberry apps make money. In fact according to a recent study, BlackBerry apps make more money than Android or iOS apps. Plus, RIM guarantees developers will make $10,000 on their BlackBerry 10 apps within the first year — or it will pay the difference. The company revealed more details about this program at BlackBerry 10 Jam this week. So yeah, devs chasing money probably want to go to BlackBerry Jam.
FOR UP TO THE MINUTE BLACKBERRY JAM AMERICAS ACTION, PLEASE FOLLOW US @BLACKBERRYDEV.
A quick glance at twitter shows that people believe in RIM and are excited to be at BlackBerry Jam. There’s no reason to hate.
https://twitter.com/kylesweather/status/251107602677764096
https://twitter.com/AussieBerry/status/250630200432406528
https://twitter.com/RMeghdies/status/251143928269651968
As stated earlier today, though this wasn’t in the OOO, I think it’s very telling as to where the company stands today:
We have a clear shot at being the No. 3 platform in the market. Carriers want other platforms. And we’re not just another open platform running on another system. We’re BlackBerry.
This is what RIM CEO Thorsten Heins told the world yesterday. He hasn’t given up. He’s not overselling the company or product. He’s setting a realistic and obtainable goal that will still make everyone involved money. Honesty is a powerful motivator.
A positive attitude goes a long way. This RIM employee should be commended, not berated. He (or she) is excited about RIM and its developers. Hell yeah! Sure, he might have drank the Kool-Aid, but I would rather work with a loyal and dedicated employee than a talented asshole.
None of us here at TechCrunch have any dog in the mobile platform race, yet it’s often perceived differently. It really doesn’t matter to us if Google dominates Apple or if Samsung overtakes Nokia. We don’t care if OS X has a bigger market share than Windows 7. But we do care when companies die.
RIM messed up. They were very late to the game. BlackBerry 10 will hit the market six years after the iPhone debuted. BlackBerry 10 might be too late as Wired says. But that story is old. We’ve told it before. It’s time to move forward, which is exactly what RIM is attempting to do and at least Wall Street is encouraged. And it’s clear RIM’s employees attempting to save the company actually care.
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