After what feels like years of decline, CEO shakeups, and launch after launch of the same old stuff, RIM is turning a new maple leaf.
The Canada-based firm is today unveiling its BB10 operating system, which will determine the future of the company in many ways.
RIM has long struggled to compete with Apple and Google when it comes to app and media ecosystems and feature-rich smartphones, but BB10 is said to change all that. We all know that an OS means very little without hardware to run on, which is why RIM is also using today to fully introduce the BlackBerry Z10, its new all-touch flagship.
But what else will RIM have in store for us during this six-hour press experience (said to run from 8am ET to 2pm ET)?
We’ll be live blogging the whole thing, so stay tuned.
Thanks for tuning in guys!
the personal one, and the work one, the work one we continue to leverage our network and infrastructure security.
blackberry is known for having a secure system. how do you prove security to clients?
showcasing features of bb10 in real life circumstances in marketing.
how will blackberry make a dent in the market against google and apple?
the press lady in charge is explaining that all the info is in the other room.
q: will there be a special blackberry data plan?
the way i look at the tablet business, its all about providing value to shareholders. what we’ll be doing in the tablet space is looking for specific services on top of the tablet, what that could be and those financial, healthcare verticals. we want to provide a valuable position that’s not just hardware.
we’re working on bb10 software for all existing playbooks.
Q: any word on blackberry 10 for playbook and any word on future tablets?
A: They are exactly the same.
Q: Are both q10 and z10 the identical OS?
Thorsten goes back to carriers. Waiting to see testing. But he expects to see q10 in April in the US.
Asking about availability of q10. When will q10 be available in US?
Thorsten said its up to carrier testing, but that they’ve alredy started rolling out marketing campaigns on the enterprise side.
The first question came from Cnet, asking to clarify time and date of US launch, along with push.
Thanks for tuning in! We’re taking a short break and then we’ll be back to keep you in the loop on the Q&A! Woohoo!
RIM changed its name to BlackBerry. Alicia Keys has a job there now. There are two new phones, the all-touch Z10 and the physical QWERTY Q10. They both run BB10, and from what we’ve seen, BB10 kicks ass.
Looks like we’re closing up: Some things you should know are this.
Thorsten has totally nailed the whole teleprompter thing.
Hooray!
Thorsten is giving everyone in NYC a Z10. EFF WORD YES!
Now for local info.
No singing.
He didn’t get off stage though. There’s a video. And he’s walking through the middle of it. I’m confused. IS he going to start singing?
He’s thanking media, partners, employees, and Alicia again.
This is one of the longest press events I’ve ever attended.
Thorsten gave her an awkward european two-cheek kiss. she didn’t seem to expect it. good times.
She says she’s going to capture sights and sounds for each city she visits on her Set The World On Fire tour
tag line for video reads: Keep moving projects with BlackBerry
BREAKING: Alicia Keys is in the video package.
another video package.
Sorry that’s a bad vine.
This is crazy.
Working with ppl in entertainment industry. Wants to further enhance concept of work and personal device blending into one.
Alicia says she’s a committed focused individual. Working closely with carriers, retailers, designers, and app creators. Those are a lot of different responsibilities.
She says there are many parallels between tech and music industries.
This is surreal.
She wants something where she can grow professionally and personally. Anyone know her last hit single?
Alicia says she wants to work directly with a technology company.
Playing the field with two phones. But she missed the way BB organized her life. And when BB said it had been working out, getting better, she decided to date BB exclusively.
She said she broke up with BlackBerry because she found something sexier.
I’ll vine it. hOld.
I think this might actually be happening for real.
She looks amazing. She’s in like a tux.
BalckBerry’s new Global Creative Director is Alicia Keys.
Created a new position. A Global Creative Director. She is a 40x grammy award winner. author. film and theater producer. top 30 ppl in world of twitter. WTF
Directly engaging in a conversation with entrepreneurs and artists, with working moms.
BB10 will come from listening to our customers.
another big announcement:
I’m proud to be an American, but that sucks.
In the UK, Z10 is available tomorrow.
Pricing will vary by carrier partner, but Z10 will retail $149 on a THREE?-year contract?
Availability for most US carriers for Z10, March.
By the end of February, BB10 will complete testing. ATT Verizon Sprint and T-Mobile will announce pre-reg and pricing plans TODAY.
He’s teasing when we can get BB10.
Thorsten is coming back on stage. Package over.
the video just shows a bunch of apps and stuff.
video package. he’s off stage now.
“nobody will feel they’re lacking content and apps on bb10″ That will be the main question here guys. Is that true?
a full content experience is more than just apps and games. BlackBerry World has apps, games, videos, and music.
we wanted to partner with these applications providers. we wanted to show them the opportunity that bb10 offers.
Talking about how they got such a strong library for launch.
Lots of apps. Is the main idea.
Talking about Facebook, Gameloft, Where My Water, NYT, Songza, Rdio,Press Reader, WebEx, WSJ, Bloomberg, Box,
we have 1,000 of the top apps in the world committed to bb10.
Amazon Kindle. WhatsApp. SAP. Angry Birds. All committed to BB10.
He’s talking about big apps. We have SKYPE committed to BB10.
Expects to see thousands of apps added each week.
for BB10.
Over 70,000 apps in the BlackBerry World.
He’s talking about how hard everyone worked on the OS, which allows for a great content experience.
Bringing up VP of Global alliances and bisdev. Martyn Mallick
BB10 is an open platform, he says. We’ll launch with a major collection of media: movies, TV shows and music.
“This is the new BlackBerry”
Vivek is off stage. Thorsten chatting it up.
All of this is REALLY cool. I wonder how Tim Cook is feeling right now.
You can change animations and transitions on the fly, then share with friends.
Story Maker lets you choose media from photo gallery, you can add music, you can put titles and credits on it, and when you hit done BlackBerry adds transitions and animations to your pic//video slide show.
Introducing another app: Story Maker
Vivek really needs a vacation. It’s all he can talk about.
The Picture Editor includes Instagram-type filters.
Shows Time Shift, which we’ve seen before. http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/01/the-blackberry-10-camera-app-can-turn-back-time/
Tap to take a picture. Move focus by dragging autofocus icon around frame.
Moving to BlackBerry 10 camera. He’s using the opportunity to show off the white Z10.
So far, is BlackBerry (not RIM) impressing you?
It’s a single source for all types of content. Evernote, Outlook, photos, web pages, etc.
It’s a lot like Evernote, complete with folders.
introducing a brand new application called BlackBerry Remember. When you flag an email, or flag a web page, Remember grabs it. You can add voice notes, pictures, due dates, etc.
Thorsten says its a great consumer feature, but also a great collaboration tool for small enterprises.
Andrew, in London, is showing Vivek pictures on Andrew’s phone through Vivek’s phone using screen share. Is that meta enough for you?
They’re introducing BBM screen share. Which means that one caller can control the screen, letting the other caller watch him navigate the interface.
SUCCESS! straight from a chat to a video call, from ny to london.
Making first BBM video call.
Talking about BBM and its 60 million users.
You guys may not know this, but Thorsten Heins is super tall. He seems to be towering over Vivek.
You can also have both work and personal apps open at once. Because “work and personal lives blend together now.”
Simply swiping down on the home screen lets you choose between personal and work OSes. The applications change, the homescreen, and the BlackBerry World all switch based on which version of the OS you’re in.
Doesn’t want people to have to carry around two phones. One personal one business. “We call this balance.”
Moving onto enterprise stuff.
Thorsten feels like he lives up to the promise that RIM has best typing experience on both touch and physical keyboards.
You can also go into punctuation by swiping down anywhere on the keyboard.
He’s demoing switching from one language to the next.
You can literally flick words to the top of the screen based on BB10′s predictive texting capabilities. We covered this exclusively a long time ago.
Vivek: “we’ve kept the blackberry look. white font on black keys.”
Looks like we’re moving on to keyboards. Thorsten: “we have the inspiration to be the best keyboard ever.”
Essentially, almost everything is integrated into one place. I haven’t used it personally yet, but I can imagine that it’s both super helpful and a bit overwhelming.
BB10 pulls social updates, reports, and information on people who are included on your schedule, so you have some backup info when you meet in person.
So far, it all looks pretty badass.
BB10 automatically pulls down images from social networks INTO YOUR CALENDAR so you know who you’re meeting with.
Without having the calendar open, your upcoming events are all included int he Hub.
The more content that comes in, the more actions you have from within the Hub. Like flagging, deleting messages, or responding.
You can tweet, share, and respond within the hub, without ever going into a new app.
Without leaving the hub, you can accept, like, comment on various social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Thorsten mentioned that you can do everything with one thumb.
When something comes up that requires more than a glance (like responding to a message) you can flow back and forth between apps.
He was playing a YouTube video, swiped to the side, and the video kept playing on the side.
“Sometimes you get immersed in certain content. I’m connected in so many ways, but I want to look at what just comes in. That famous red alert flash goes off, and I can swipe to the side to check my incoming alerts while never pausing my activity.”
you can open up and minimize apps by swiping up from the bottom. nothing gets paused. real-time multitasking.
Vivek says he’s most excited about BlackBerry Hub.
Starting a demo. Vivec Bhardwaj, head of software portfolio, comes up on stage.
He says the back panel material was designed exclusively for this product. It’s thinner and stronger than plastic.
He promises that these are the best keyboards on the industry.
“We built the same BB10 experience for the people who told us they just have to have a physical keyboard.” crowd answers in quiet applause.
He’s talking about the Q10 now. “First BB10 device with physical keyboard.”
This device integrates information for me intuitively, adapts to me, andm akes me even more efficient.”
“We knew a large display was important. the display is clear, sharp and cinematic. the back of the device offers a textured surface making it really comfortable to hold. curves slightly around the edge and it feels good in your hand.” he’s talking about z10.
“Aren’t they beautiful?”
The BlackBerry Q10 is the name of the keyboard device.
Here it is. Two devices shown. One is the z10, the other is a keyboard device.
THEY’RE COUNTING DOWN TO THE LAUNCH.
And we’re back to talking about BlackBerry (not RIM) employees. again.
HE’s talking up BlackBerry 10. Trying to get a little response from the audience.
Looks like our coverage banner is a bit off now.
Heins says that BlackBerry is at the forefront of the brand, and that BlackBerry is the new name.
UM WHOA!
another big announcement: FROM THIS MOMENT ON RIM BECOMES BLACKBERRY
“we’ve created a new global leadership team to help usher in the next phase of growth. we’ve defined our vision, a dedication to the boundless opportunities of mobile computing.”
And he thanks Mike Lazaridis who is in the audience. Lazaridis stands and waves. Big smile on his face.
He thanked Jim Balsillie, former CEO, for global reach.
He’s thanking employees who worked specifically on the OS.
We had to make a decision two years ago: “adopt someone else’s system, or build our own brand new one.”
He’s still stalling. He said he’ll show us the OS in a sec. For now, he’s talking a little about the history of BlackBerry.
He’s talking about how BB10 has a focus on content and apps, along with security and multitasking.
“We want to extend to beyond your device to your home and car.”
“With bb10 you will be at the center of your internet of things.”
“We want to help make the transition from mobile communication to true mobile computing.”
“blackberry 10 will keep you moving!”
“these people are moving quickly and need mobile devices to help them get up to speed.”
“we always said we were building this for a specific set of customers. social connected, appetitie for getting things done. multitaskers. people who need balance in personal and professional lives. people who want to flow seamlessly from app to app without using a home button.”
“Today is not the finish line. It’s the starting line”
The people at RIM have been at their most engaged and committed during the work on BB10. He’s thanking and congratulating employees because BLACKBERRY 10 IS HERE!
It’s BlackBerry 10 time!
“i know that innovation is at the heart of RIM”
“it’s been a year since i’ve taken the reigns. it’s been the most difficult year of my life. but also the most exhilarating and exciting.”
“We’ve been on a journey of transformation. Transforming our business and brand. But transforming mobile communication.”
He’s welcoming all the cities that are joining the event globally.
The show is ACTUALLY going to start. President and CEO Thorsten Heins is stepping up on stage. Lights… Flashing… Can… Hardly… See…
His locks are gone!
Uh oh. They’ve brought out some scissors. He’s gonna cut his hair live.
Kevin from CrackBerry is doing an interview. He said he’d grow his hair out until BB10 came out. So his hair is long.
Lil’ E is on stage. Rumors suggest he’s actually here.
More video package.
Saunders is “totally stoked and pumped” and he says “thank you for all your dedication, we’ve put together the largest catalog of apps for a first-generation platform” so thanks DEVS!
Alec is talking about reaching out to developers, and that the response has been “pretty phenomenal”
VP of developer relations, Alec Saunders, is chatting with the guy. To be clear, the host guy is not actually on stage, just on screen.
Asking us to join the conversation on Twitter with #blackberry10
Now there’s a little video package showing excitement over BB10.
Mike Lazaridis is in the building. Here in NYC.
There are also events in London, Paris, Johannesburg, Dubai, and here in NYC.
RIM is showing us a video that shows live footage of the various BlackBerry 10 events happening around the world. Toronto is really excited!
I was right! Looks like we’re getting started with a little promo video.
I have a *feeling* unconfirmed that we’ve reached the end of the playlist and are listening to the first song again. If I’m right, we should be getting closer.
Re-Designed, Re-engineered. Re-invented. That’s the tag line they’re using.
RIM seems intent on showing us how many people care about BlackBerry 10 with a big screen full of tweets and Instagram photos.
Presumably, the idea is to build a lot of hype up while we wait. They’ve also increased the tempo of the music as we get closer and closer. EXCITEMENT!
To be clear, we were asked to arrive at 8am for registration. We had a breakfast type platter while waiting in line for the doors to open.
They’ve asked us to disable wifi hotspots. Lol.
Guys. Would you rather have an all-touch BB10 handset (like the Z10?) or one of RIM’s famous physical keyboards on your new BlackBerry?
That’s the entrance. According to some God-like voice over the speaker system, we’re beginning soon.
Things seem to be livening up a bit. I can’t quite tell though because the bright blue lights seem attracted to my eyes.
So far, we expect to see the BlackBerry Z10, RIM’s new BB10-powered handset. And we also expect to learn a bit more about the new OS. Anyone have any hopes for the event?
Also this one: http://vine.co/v/bJ0OJr3mtbt
Here are some vines I took before the event: http://vine.co/v/bJ0F1Ha3nrj
Hello folks! We’re just waiting for everyone to get seated, listening to some Money Grabber by Fitz and the Tantrums.
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Berlin, Germany
San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
