CTIA 2010: Where is the BlackBerry Presence?

So as CTIA winds down I can’t help but wonder where RIM is? The theme of this CTIA is enterprise and applications. The majority of enterprise devices are BlackBerrys and RIM is trying to increase their reputation regarding apps. It seems like such a natural fit. The reality is they don’t even have a booth at the show. I’ve been investigating and all I could find was this gray, windowless, cubicle “meeting room” (MR-412). Now, I know they just held DEVCON last week but does that even matter?

As someone who is deeply tied to RIM and their success this is very frustrating. A typical excuse I’m hearing is that CTIA is not what it used to be…”Just look at the floor” some say. To this I say bollocks, the mobile industry is growing and at an incredible rate, all major handset manufacturers continue to show strong growth, and the outlook is great.

It’s all about presence. “To succeed in Silicon Valley you need to be in Silicon Valley” is one of my favorite sayings and, in my opinion, RIM doesn’t get this. Now Apple is not at CTIA but they don’t need to be, they own the valley. RIM is not Apple and taking that stance is faulty strategy.

What do you think? Do you think RIM should be more visible at CTIA and Silicon Valley?

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http://twitter.com/redkeymedia RedKey Media

Agreed! Where is RIM? I was expecting to see the playbook proudly displayed along with some exciting new apps – along the lines of what motorola and Samsung are doing. For the amount of money they put into that meeting room, they could have had some small/minor presence! come on RIM! your marketing team needs to wake up.

Adil – Redkey Media
http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/vendor/1111 Eric at Ebscer

After DevCon there is not much point. Being a CITA wouldn’t have done any good.

Like Apple, RIM is large enough that they can run their own conferences on their own terms, and don’t need to deal with other stuff like this…
Donny

I can only guess as well. My bet is on the growing industry – is growing in mobile consumers and NOT growing Prosumers in the corporate (mid size SOHOs to full out corporate global business’ in excess of 2000 users). Due to this the larger corporate space on a GLOBAL scale is loosing head-count and those they cannot loose … usually those at the top tiers … are looking for ways to reduce corporate costs while increasing corporate mobile effectiveness and efficiency: this means cutting out the middle man (BES; non-BES-Express) and going direct Microsoft Exchange with a) Android, b) iOS4, or c) awaiting what Microsoft Phone Edition 7 will bring.
Satch

That belt looks ridiculous with the rest of your outfit. Seriously, quit trying to be fashionable.
http://www.blackberrycool.com/ Kyle McInnes

They’re big enough to have a presence everywhere. I don’t think it does them any harm to be at CTIA.

But it’s true, they’re big enough they run their own show. DEVCON is going to be double the size of this year’s.
http://www.blackberrycool.com/ Kyle McInnes

If you knew Kemper you would laugh. He doesn’t dress to impress at conferences. He once went to WES wearing sandals and cotton pants. Amazing.

BlackBerry Cool

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