During my last day at BlackBerry World 2012, I had the extreme pleasure of sitting in on a session presented by Spencer West. If you haven't heard of or seen him before, Spencer is an extremely motivational individual who lost his legs at age five. He told his amazing life story and how he is now setting off to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with his two friends in hopes of raising $750,000 for the charity Free The Children. The climb will provide schools and clean water for children in East Africa and begins in just over a month. Thanks to RIM, Spencer will have his BlackBerry PlayBook and Bold 9900 along for the ride and will be documenting the journey daily. You can follow along through Twitter and Facebook or check out freethechildren.com/redefinepossible.
Alan Panezic took the stage during the BlackBerry World 2012 general session to show off some cool Enterprise goodies. He talked a bit about the upcoming plans to have BlackBerry Mobile Fusion in the cloud, then showed off Citrix Receiver on BlackBerry 10. Using a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device, we got to see just how well Citrix Receiver will run and how amazing it will be for the workspace. Some great stuff in here, so take a few and check out the video above.
During the general session keynote at BlackBerry World 2012, RIM CIO Robin Bienfait took the stage to talk about BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, BlackBerry Business Cloud Services, and other Enterprise-related details. She also talked a bit on bringing the Mobile Fusion services to the cloud within the next year (which is pretty awesome). It was the we have seen Robin on stage, so take a look to see what went down.
During BlackBerry World 2012 we got a chance to chat with The Martinez Brothers. Steve and Chris are a DJ team and both BlackBerry users (and lovers). They were recently featured in a TV ad as part of the BeBold campaign and were the headling act at the BlackBerry World party this year at Universal Studios. The duo talked a bit about their BlackBerry use and how it helps in their career as well as what they think of BlackBerry 10. Take a few minutes and check out the full interview above. BeBold!
Follow The Martinez Brothers on Twitter
Follow The Martinez Brothers on Facebook
If you aren't a developer and won't be able to pick up a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha for yourself, you can still check out this unboxing video from forums member SCrid2000. Registered developers who attended BlackBerry 10 Jam were able to pick up their devices early this morning so they can start porting their apps to BlackBerry 10. Keep in mind that this is not the final BlackBerry hardware or software - it's just a prototype device for developers to use to ensure their apps work on BlackBerry 10 devices. Check out the full video above then hit the link below for more.
If you missed any of our Day 1 BlackBerry World and BlackBerry Jam coverage, we've conveniently rounded up the links below so you can click through to catch up on all the action. There's lots to read and lots of great videos to watch. Be sure to check out the BlackBerry 10 preview videos, which we're clearly excited about...as noted in my CrackBerry Kevin on BlackBerry 10 video above.
General Session Keynote
BlackBerry World Keynote video previewing BlackBerry 10!
A quick demo of the new BlackBerry 10 keyboard
Thorsten Heins talks about "BlackBerry People" at BlackBerry World 2012
Take a peek at the upgraded camera coming to BlackBerry 10 smartphones
BlackBerry 10 Connected Porsche shown off at BlackBerry World 2012
Thorsten Heins introduces the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha at BlackBerry World
BlackBerry 10 highlights - App switching, multitasking, and notifications
Pacemaker Shows Off Upcoming App for BlackBerry PlayBook
BlackBerry Jam Keynote
BlackBerry 10 homescreen and Cascades elements visualized at BlackBerry 10 Jam!
RIM preparing to take BlackBerry 10 Jam on tour to reach out to even more developers
BlackBerry 10 Alpha Dev device owners will be able to trade up
Certified quality apps coming to BlackBerry App World along with a $10,000 incentive to build them
BlackBerry World 2012
CrackBerry Kevin on BlackBerry 10
RIM proves you can teach an old dog new tricks
The stock market and the audience at BlackBerry World will ultimately converge
BlackBerry 10 Alpha Dev device specs and features
BlackBerry 10 Sneak Peek Video
BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha Hands On!
RIM Launches BlackBerry 10 Platform
Research In Motion's BlackBerry 10 Platform earning the praises of developers
Cascades for BlackBerry 10 now available
Going Head to Shoulder with RIM's CEO Thorsten Heins!
While roaming the halls after the BlackBerry World 2012 general session, we ran into our BeBold video contest winner Ryan Reyes. Ryan was super excited to be here in Orlando (as are we) and it was awsome to hear what he thought of the keynote and BlackBerry 10. Check the video above as we give Ryan a quick CrackBerry interview and hear what he had to say!
The BlackBerry World 2012 keynote session is now over. If you followed our live blog you already know that we were pretty excited by the innovation that RIM unveiled -- BlackBerry 10.
The user interface was stunning. The on-screen keyboard rocked, with its unique way of presenting word suggestions and using swipe gestures. And that camera app, which functions like a little frame-by-frame time machine ... fantastic stuff. I hope RIM has patented all of these innovations.
So why is RIM stock down? It's down about 3% while the broader NASDAQ is up slightly today. On the live blog I said I'd be shocked if RIM didn't trade up today. I seem to have a knack for being wrong about how the market will react to news.
The stock market is a funny beast. People scream for innovation out of RIM. Yet when RIM delivers smashingly innovative stuff, they yawn and find something else to complain about.
We've got to keep in mind that RIM hasn't actually delivered any of this in a commercial device yet, and the timing is uncertain. So the market has a right to remain skeptical. But at the same time, the audience inside of the keynote session at the Orlando World Center Marriott was pumped. Applauses interrupted Thorstein's portion of the keynote more than I can ever recall in a RIM CEO presentation (or really any RIM presentation).
So there's a disconnect between the audience (who are developers and enthusiasts), and the market. And disconnects like this don't live forever. They can't. Either the company fails to execute on getting this great stuff out the door, and the audience is let down, or RIM actually hits its mark.
I actually feel proud to be a RIM shareholder again. I was actually convinced that I might enjoy switching to a touch screen keyboard. I'm loving BlackBerry 10. But the market obviously remains highly skeptical.
So we wait. The launch of BlackBerry 10 is "make it or break it" for RIM. I think they'll make it.
Stay tuned for a follow up where I'll post my thoughts on RIM's messaging and overall keynote session.
While BlackBerry World 2012 and BlackBerry 10 Jam are fully underway today, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins took the stage this morning to show of the latest in BlackBerry and BlackBerry 10. I can’t say how firkin' excited I am! During the BlackBerry World keynote, RIM showed off a quick demo of some of the amazing features of BlackBerry 10 -- the keyboard, camera and inbox. But don’t sit here reading this take a look for yourself!
Today during BlackBerry World, RIM has made some announcements regarding the BlackBerry 10 platform. They have released the initial version of the developer toolkit for native and HTML5 development. This will certainly be a boost to developers who can now design applications in anticipation of the BlackBerry 10 software that looks to be available both on phones and PlayBook later this year. Any developers attending BlackBerry 10 Jam this week will also receive a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device on which to test their applications. Be sure to check out our full hands-on with the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha.
Press Release
RIM Launches BlackBerry 10 Platform
Developers get powerful tools in advance to build apps that deliver highly engaging mobile experiences for users
BlackBerry World 2012 / BlackBerry 10 Jam - Orlando, FL - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today unveiled its vision for the BlackBerry 10 platform at the BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, Florida released and the initial developer toolkit for native and HTML5 software development. The toolkit is available in beta as a free download from http://developer.blackberry.com.
If you aren't here in Orlando for BlackBerry World 2012, don't worry because there is plenty of coverage coming your way. Tomorrow at 9am ET you can watch along with us as RIM will be streaming the keynote iive once again, and the Crack Team will be live blogging as well. As RIM CEO Thorsten Heins takes the stage for his first BlackBerry World, we'll most likely see a good amount of BlackBerry 10 and hopefully a surprise or two along the way. So block off your calendar and tune in Tuesday starting at 9am ET (we'll post a link to the live stream as soon as we have one).
The Crack Team is out in full force this week in Orlando for BlackBerry World 2012. Kevin, Adam, Bla1ze and Chris Umi are live on location in Orlando to check out all the goodness that will come of the events. We're hoping there is plenty of great stuff coming our way this week, so keep it locked here for all the latest from both BlackBerry World 2012 and the BlackBerry 10 Jam. If you're at the events, be sure to track us down and say hi -- you can find us here on foursquare.
Be sure to follow our BlackBerry World 2012 coverage on CrackBerry all week long and remember, Tuesday morning will be the keynote session (9am to 11am ET), which you'll want to tune into our live blog for. And for all the stuff happening between the articles, be sure to follow us all on twitter (and don't forget, following Kevin on Twitter will give you a shot at winning his Porsche Design BlackBerry!).
CrackBerry: @crackberry
Kevin: @crackberrykevin
Adam: @azeis
Bla1ze: @bla1ze
Chris U: @cumiastowski
Remember the new Porsche concept car QNX was showing off at CES? You might have heard that they added some cloud integration, and were showing it off at Mobile World Congress 2012. Of course, we had to check this out for ourselves.
NewBay is an online content locker where you can store your music, pictures, video, and other files in the cloud for access just about anywhere. RIM acquired them in October, so we're still waiting to see the service bundled in with BlackBerry devices like iCloud. In the meantime, NewBay has partnered up with fellow acquiree, QNX, so that the car could access that content through the primary dash and the rear-mounted BlackBerry PlayBooks. Of course, this is just a tech demo, but it gives a very clear idea of the kinds of products RIM has coming down the pipe.
Unfortunately, Wi-Fi at the show was pretty rough, nevermind attempting to use the QNX Porsche's integrated cellular connection, so they had to hook up the car with an ethernet cable to get everything running. The guys at NewBay and QNX apparently only took a week or two to pull off this partnership, so it's understandable that video sharing wasn't fully implemented yet.
Considering how many companies RIM has been snatching up over the last couple of years, I'm interested to see other partnerships between RIM subsidiaries pan out into real products, and not just neat concepts.
The second concept demo from RIM's Sweden branch at Mobile World Congress 2012 is PitchRocket. This is both a PlayBook and smartphone app that help you quickly create visually-impressive presentations. Through the phone, you can create slide text and insert images, while the slide itself is dynamically created on the PlayBook based on whichever preset style you've selected. There would also be the possibility of user-created, and maybe even sellable presets to expand the core imagery.
While PitchRocket is certainly closer to the realm of reality than Confetti, it's easy to see these features folded into the BlackBerry Presenter and Slideshow to Go. The graphics are very snazzy, but I have a feeling that unless these are exportable into the PPT format, you might have some issues down the line if you need to share materials with anyone. As the name implies, I could see something like this getting a lot of use from hurried salespeople who get thrust into meetings at the last second.
PitchRocket is a neat concept, and not entirely in the realm of fanciful tech demos that never become a reality. Anyone interested?
RIM's Sweden branch, previously known as The Astonishing Tribe, has made a big splash at Mobile World Congress 2012. One of two new concepts that they're showing off is called Confetti. It's a simple collaboration app that lets you easily transfer files between BlackBerry PlayBooks with a lot more flair than you'd expect. By mounting a webcam on the cieling, the PlayBooks are recognized, assigned a color, and positioned in relation to one another. Before a meeting starts, there's a casual game of virtual catch that you play by tapping your screen's dot. It shoots a streaming of jagged, funky pixels over to another member, and you keep bumping it around until the meeting is ready to start.
You launch the meeting with the top-down swipe, and now you can get to work. Little bubbles show up around the edge of your screen, each representing someone in the meeting, and they change position as the owner moves around. You can use the system menu to pull in images and documents, which can then be dragged to one of these edge bubbles to transfer the file over the local Wi-Fi network. You can also broadcast the file to the other users by pinch-zooming, or using a special gesture, shunt the image out to a projector. You can still share files directly with other users during this exposition mode by moving two BlackBerry PlayBooks close to one another.
Follow CrackBerry on
| ADVERTISEMENT |
|
|
