We’re here at the BBM Hackathon in NYC and we sat down with RIM’s VP of Developer Relations and BlackBerry Alliances, Tyler Lessard. The problem with interviewing people at RIM is they’re obviously not going to tell you anything that hasn’t already been announced, and the best you can hope for is “yes, we’re working on it” or “it’s something we’re driving towards.” Even if you ask a random question like “what’s your favorite app?” you can be sure the answer at a BBM Hackathon will be “BBM”. We did get a few tidbits of information that we haven’t heard before so it’s worth clicking through for the interview. Continue reading ‘BBM Hackathon NYC: Interview with Tyler Lessard About BBM, Developers and More’
We were sent over this presentation and at first glance it looks really obvious. We know RIM is talking about a transformation publicly and internally and this document seems less like something that was discussed internally and more a presentation to some RIM team members by an outside marketing firm. The slides are marked with John J Simpson, and there’s a marketing professional on LinkedIn with that same name. Sure, RIM has had some poor looking slides in the past, but this seems to high-level and obvious to be something that would be passed around or demonstrated internally.
We know RIM often has marketing people come present to them and this seems like one of those presentations. For example, RIM recently had Scott Stratten of UnMarketing go to its Waterloo office to give a presentation on how to market the company effectively. It’s normal for a large company to have guest speakers to present ideas that may or may not be used internally. This just looks like one of those presentations and the author is passing it around like a leaked document to try and drum up interest for his own career. Anyways, that’s our thought on it. More slides if you click through. Continue reading ‘RIM’s “Operation Disruptive Transformation” is a Marketing Consultant’
We’re here at the BBM Hackathon in NYC and the event is a decent first for RIM (we can’t remember them ever doing a hackathon). There are about 30 developers that came out and all of them are working on either completely new applications around BBM or adding BBM integration into existing applications. At the end of Day 2 we’ll have demos to show so stay tuned.
So far, we’ve heard from foursquare and RIM and it looks like the BBM Social APIs have been a big success for RIM and developers alike. Foursquare talked about the fact that signups on BlackBerry, post-implementing the BBM integration, have exceeded iPhone and Android. From an anecdotal standpoint, this makes a lot of sense as I’ve seen many of my BBM contacts now sharing their 4SQ location. RIM’s Tyler Lessard talked about how the BBM Social APIs are a natural progression for RIM and this event is just one of many that RIM will be hosting. Lessard mentioned that these events will likely happen globally and could potentially include more than just Java BlackBerry Developers. Continue reading ‘BBM Hackathon NYC Day 1 Impressions: Foursquare and RIM Success’
Wakeful is an innovative alarm clock app that wakes you with a customizable voice that reads headlines, weather and more when you wake up. The app has recently been updated and now features the ability to set customized news. In addition to the ability to set customizable new, Wakeful has also added the ability to turn off your local weather. Once updating to the latest version of Wakeful BlackBerry alarm, you will now be able to choose from the following customized news sections:
We’re back to share the latest in awesome apps for the three biggest smartphone platforms. Lately we’ve been seeing developers succeeding on BlackBerry by looking to success on other platforms. Ninja Fruit Bash, the Fruit Ninja clone by Pepper.pk, hit the Number 1 Downloaded App recently in App World, and Angry Farm by Smarter-Apps has seen tremendous success. Check out the latest apps on other platforms and see what might be the next big winner. Continue reading ‘App Roundup: What’s New on All the Major Platforms’
We haven’t heard from Nobex in a while but it’s great to see they’re still updating the app and going strong. Nobex Radio has been updated to 3.0.6 and it includes integration with BlackBerry Messenger as well as native Twitter and Facebook applications. In addition, the user interface has been improved. For those who don’t know, Nobex Radio adds a social component to music listening, allowing you to share your favorite songs and stations with friends. Features include: Continue reading ‘Nobex Radio Gets Updated with BBM Social as well as Facebook and Twitter’
