With the Verizon BlackBerry Storm launch less than a day away, it was obvious that it would dominate our podcast. We brought in Kyle McInnes, Editor in Chief of QuicklyBored and our resident iPhone user, to talk all things BlackBerry Storm and how it might stack up to Apple’s touchscreen. From price to target demographic, the Application Center to copy and paste, we’re all about the BlackBerry Storm this week.

Downloading/streaming options for the BlackBerry Cool Podcast can be found after the jump, as well as links to all the relevant news stories. Enjoy!

Special thanks to our new sponsor, Rove Mobile!

Listen to the BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Episode 42

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Talking BlackBerry Storm with Kyle

Gary Krakow: Verizon should give away the BlackBerry Storm
It’s official: Verizon BlackBerry Storm launches November 21st, for $199
“Storm vs. iPhone: which will win?” (Weekly Contest)

BlackBerry Cool Reviews

Head 2 Head: Aerize vs. PeeKaWho

BlackBerry Cool News

Viigo launches NCAA Basketball service for BlackBerry Cool To Go
Viigo unleashes NBA service
Slydial now available for BlackBerry
Desktop Manager 4.7 now available (BlackBerry Bytes)
Fortune profiles RIM, references BlackBerry Cool 15

Ok, so we’re a little late (early?) with this edition of The BlackBerry Cool Podcast. Blame the Blackberry Developer Conference – the sunny weather and good times left us pretty unreceptive to Ottawa’s dreary climate, making doing any sort of work quite difficult.

We’ve been thinking quite a bit about BBDC this past week, because it was such a clear marker of the sea change currently underway in the BlackBerry ecosystem. There is so much energy coming from RIM and BlackBerry developers right now. The amount of cool applications displayed during the BlackBerry Cool 15, the BBDC Keynote, or by enthusiastic developers with BlackBerrys in hand was mind-boggling. If you weren’t there yourself, you wouldn’t believe BlackBerrys could do these things. I’m sure with the new APIs and tools being released by RIM, the software we see at WES will be even better.

To that end, this week’s entire podcast is dedicated to the people that help make BBDC worthwhile: developers and the VC’s that fund them.

Beth Marcus, Zeemote
Evgeny Lebanidze, BeamBerry
Peter Werry, Multiplied (Poynt)
Robert Kao, SmrtGuard (PeeKaWho)
Rick Segal, BlackBerry Partners Fund

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get anyone from BlackBerry Cool 15 winner Nobex on the podcast (they were too busy cashing their 150,000 cheque), but we’ll have them on next week. Downloading/streaming options for the BlackBerry Cool Podcast can be found after the jump, as well as links to all the relevant news stories. Enjoy!

Special thanks to BlackBerry Cool Podcast sponsor, Rove Mobile, and BBDC coverage sponsor, bitHeads!

Listen to the BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Episode 39

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BlackBerry Developer Conference Key News

BlackBerry Storm to come with McAfee Mobile Security?
Plazmic 4.6 CDK goes official and available for download
BBDC: First hands-on with the BlackBerry Storm
BBDC Keynote: BlackBerry Cool Live Blog
RIM to launch BlackBerry application storefront and BlackBerry application center
RIM to bring the power of the web to BlackBerry application development
RIM updates BlackBerry developer tools
RIM takes push to a new level with BlackBerry web signals technology for third party content services
The BlackBerry Cool 15 was a huge success!
AT&T BlackBerry Bold arrives November 4th!
Complete audio of the BlackBerry Developer Conference now available (BlackBerry Bytes)
RIM Talks BlackBerry Storm Development
Web Push Signals Now Available

After a few setbacks and delays (damn you, CTIA), the BlackBerry Cool Podcast is back! It’s also our 40th podcast, which is some sort of milestone, I guess, and a good place to implement changes. We’ve fiddled with the format a little, added some music and a new weekly podcast guest: Fake Ted Rogers. The BlackBerry Cool Podcast will also now be released on Mondays (apologies to all those who enjoy listening to podcasts while raking leaves on the weekend).

This week’s podcast is a bit of a catchup, as we discuss the major news of the past month: the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 and BlackBerry Storm, and Rogers new BES/BIS plans and BlackBerry Bold price drop. Coincidentally, we also discuss why RIM will never make a BlackBerry app store. Whoops. In fairness, the BlackBerry Application Center is the perfect compromise between what we said RIM needs and what they would never do, so give us partial credit. We also attempted to talk about RIM’s stock and the economy, but cut it because we had nothing significant to contribute on either subject.

Downloading/streaming options for the BlackBerry Cool Podcast can be found after the jump, as well as links to all the relevant news stories. Enjoy!

Special thanks to our new sponsor, Rove Mobile!

Listen to the BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Episode 39

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Talking with (Fake) Ted Rogers

Rogers BlackBerry Pearl 8220 Party shots
Rogers BlackBerry Bold drops to $299 October 1st
New Rogers BES plans coming October 1st
New Rogers BIS plans coming October 1st
Free BlackBerry Wallet app
Verizon BlackBerry Storm gets firm release date: Noveber 4th?
RIM developing a BlackBerry Application Center

BlackBerry Cool Editorials

Twitter: Connecting with People (Nan the Power User)
Vlingo 1.1 for BlackBerry Reviewed

BlackBerry Cool News

Text messaging while driving banned in California, use Vlingo instead
Gary Krakow hates the BlackBerry Scrollball
Rogers BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 to come in pink before Christmas?
T-Mobile BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 pricing and launch update
BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 lands first on TIM
OS 4.5 now available for Bell BlackBerry 8330 (BlackBerry Bytes)
OS 4.5 now available for Rogers BlackBerry Curve 8310/8320 (BlackBerry Bytes)
WorldMate Live celebrates 1 year anniversary with facelift and special promotion

BlackBerry Cool Weekly Contest

‘What would you change about BlackBerrys?’ (Weekly Contest)

A bit of a slower week newswise, though still plenty of interesting Bold-related stuff, including upcoming AT&T availability, OS 4.6 browser speeds, as well as some fresh pricing info on the BlackBerry 8220 and some more confusion on the BlackBerry 9500’s naming scheme. This is Simon’s last podcast on BBCool, so you better soak it all in.

Listen to the BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Episode 39

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Interview

• Golden Shellback, the future of the waterproof BlackBerrys (audio): Waterproofing services may be here as early as the end of the year – just ship your BlackBerry to these guys and they’ll get it coated in their patented polymers.

News

• Updated: The Definitive BlackBerry Bold versus iPhone 3G Browser Comparison (video): Who wins in the epic struggle between Bold and iPhone? Well, you’ll just have to watch the video, won’t you?
• BlackBerry Bold due to hit AT&T September 12th. with $299 pricetag?: Americans waiting for the BlackBerry Bold are nearing a rumoured release date – excited enough for it?
• Australian BlackBerry Bold enterprise rollout delayed by software issues: Telstra’s slowing down its enterprise Bold rollout until a software upgrade due in September.
• Rogers BlackBerry 8220 priced at $149.99: $149.99 on a three-year plan isn’t quite what we were expecting, what with all that talk about a $50 Kickstart…
• The BlackBerry Thunder is the Storm 9530 (and the Thunder?): A leaked image of the box design confirms that the first touchscreen BlackBerry will be called the BlackBerry Storm 9350. The device will also appear on Rogers and Vodafone with the traditional Thunder namesake.
• BlackBerry Connect coming to India: Now plenty of Nokia customers on BPL can get in on the tasty, tasty, BlackBerry services.
• Wi-Fi Curve, Pearl come to South Africa: The BlackBerry 8320 and BlackBerry 8120 hit up MTN to join their GPS-flavoured buddies.

Take a listen to the full interview with Sid Martin from Golden Shellback!

The Beginning

“It wasn’t quite an accident, but it certainly has taken off. I work for Northeast Maritime Institute in Fairhaven, Massachusetts and we had started a program where we were trying to work on the man overboard problem (where someone’s on a ship at some point, and they fall overboard and they need to stay in contact with the ship). Many times when someone’s fallen overboard and they’re recovered, they may have passed away in the accident, and unfortunately they may have had communications equipment with them… A radio, or even a cellphone in a pocket… None of these traditionally would work. So we started tackling the problem, and look at ways for individuals to stay in contact with the ship, and we developed a transponder that sent GPS coordinates, but it needed to continue to function once it was in the water.

I’ve worked on military and space projects for much of my career, and from previous experiences, I knew there were some coating methods out there, but quite often they involve time to get the coating done, and extremely expensive. So I started working on a way that I could coat these transponders, and came up with the process and it worked. All the demos we did in the water, the system continued to function. I was curious and decided to start coating cell phones and VHF radios, and they also worked.”

Working with Manufacturers

“I would really like to work with manufacturers. We’ve been trying to talk with cellphone manufacturers for at least a few months now, with varying success. The easiest way to do this and the most inexpensive way for the consumer would be if the phone could be coated from the manufacturer.”

Pricing and Availability

“We’re still trying to develop what the pricing is going to be. There are some issues with the warranty, and whether the warranty is violated. We’re working on offering an insurance package for the individuals’ device. What that insurance package is going to cost is going to impact what the consumer ends up paying. Right now, unfortunately, coating might be as much as what the phone’s current cost is. We’re doing everything we can to reduce that pricing. I’m sure as we start doing more volume, pricing. …

Our goal is by the end of this year we want to have it out there, a method for people to be able to get their individual phones coated, or other items. We’re still focusing on the end of the year. I’m amazed as each week passes, all the challenges that we have thrown in front of us and have to overcome. To me, a week is a long time, and I can usually get a lot of work done. It’s just amazing how many things crop up when trying to set this process up… Dealing with the consumer, and the various issues the legal group always manages to find.”

The BlackBerry Bold finally launched in Canada this week, but spotty attendance at Rogers outlets and potential 3G coverage issues could rain on the parade. Best Buy and Future Shop are getting their stock imminently, and it may be up to them to salvage the situation in RIM’s home and native land. The BlackBerry 8220 and BlackBerry 8210 that were once known as the Kickstart have begun popping up on a few sites, potentially confirming the mid-September launch date. We go over all these stories and more in this week’s BlackBerry Cool Podcast.

Listen to the BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Episode 38

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We talked with Rick Segal from the $150 million BlackBerry Partners Fund recently to go over the broad strokes of the venture capital initiative, as well as some of the finer points about the firm’s goals and their partners. Currently, they’re taking applications not just for BlackBerry developers started, but any mobile software projects. With the iPhone and iPod App Store in full tilt, this is a ripe opportunity for entrepreneurs to tap not only the lucrative BlackBerry scene, but all mobile platforms. Any developers out there who really want to catch the the Partners Fund’s eye should check out the competition they’re running at the BlackBerry Developer Conference in October, where winners will get upwards of $150,000 in investment prizes…

Take a listen to the full interview with Rick Segal from the BlackBerry Partners fund!

What the BlackBerry Partners Fund is all about

“It’s $150 million, the companies that we invest in are stage-agnostic, which means they can be napkins, they can be pre-IPOs, they can be anything in between. The range of the first round is typically somewhere from $500,000 to $3 or $4 million… The fund itself is co-managed by RBC Venture Partners and JLA Venture Partners…It’s a traditional venture fund, so it is not grants, it’s not like the Facebook allocations where guys walk in to a giant ATM, they get $250,000 and go off to do their thing. It’s not that at all. It’s one of the key messages that probably isn’t getting out there as well as I’d like it to.”

What the BlackBerry Partners Fund is expecting from developers

“Personally, I’m hopeful that some developers are going to take a giant step backwards, get in a nice easy chair, put their feet up and say ‘Okay, let’s pretend that we’ve got a blank sheet of paper, and let’s pretend that the device is going to have unlimited bandwidth, unlimited memory, and an amazing, functional keyboard, and be a functional device that people will just love and carry with them everywhere. Armed with that metaphor, what can you do in that world that you can’t do today?’

I make that comment because I’m fine with people coming in the door and bringing yet another location-based service, and yet another better way to do Facebook, and a better new social media “press-this-button-and-all-your-friends-will-know-where-you-are”, and all that other kind of stuff. That’s fine, we can look at those. What I’m really looking for is someone taking a step back and saying ‘Okay, before the internet, eBay was impossible.’ … You have all this infrastructure in there, you have all this high-speed, so now that you have that in place, tell me what you can do now that you couldn’t do before and really blue-sky it. … The real thing to do is, ‘Okay, what can I do that is coming?’ “

How the limited partners contribute to the BlackBerry Partners Fund

“The limited partners, RBC, which is first and foremost a bank, and it’s a big bank, and it’s a big financial services institution. There is incredible value for guys doing mobile applications to find out that their mobile applications don’t work in an enterprise environment… You also look at Thompson Reuters. Thompson Reuters is a huge, huge media conglomerate and services organization. So when you’re doing things, and your application is about rendering content, and looking at ways to deliver content and better ways to get feedback from people using your content, there isn’t any better player in the world than Thompson Reuters to start talking to about those applications and services.

You have Research in Motion which is a limited partner. Naturally, there’s a big wall that is up and says ‘You don’t get a vote’. They’re just a limited partner, so they’re not telling us what to invest in, what not to invest in, they’re independent and hands-off when it comes to that. That’s not to say we don’t pick up the phone and say to them ‘We’re looking at a company in this particular space, what do you think?’ … Then of course you have us, JLA, as a limited partner and also as a co-manager with RBC Tech Ventures. We’re just nice venture capital guys that know how that whole process works, we have lots of our own rolodex people, and we’ve got lots of experience, and we already have investments in things like QuickPlay and blog networks, so we’ve been around the block the block a little bit.”

On greed and venture capitalists

“You have to remember one very important thing about venture capital. At the end of the day, it’s all about the money. There shouldn’t be any misunderstanding. … If there is an amazing opportunity that was an amazing, game-changing thing for the mobile space, and it required lots of money. I would sit down [with the iFund] in a heartbeat. … Some of the mainstream press guys love to create controversy where none exists. Like, the iFund vs. the BlackBerry fund vs. the Facebook fund vs. the Starbucks fund vs. the MacDonalds fund. Surprise! All of the people that are doing this have everything in common: it’s called greed. I guarantee if go back and you take a look at what’s going on over at the iFund, you’ll find the dramatic, draconian, ‘you have to do it this way, it can only be for this, etc.’, all those requirements are gone. The reason those requirements are gone is because the guys running that fund are greedy, just like me. … I believe the right thing to do is to get super-good at what you do from solving a particular problem in the mobile space and get it out on as many platforms and to as many customers as possible. Naturally, we want and expect BlackBerry devices to be an integral part of that business plan, because it’s all about the money.”

For extra reading, be sure to check out Rick’s guest post at BerryReview.

This week we have fun taking it to the Canadian wireless industry not only for overpricing the BlackBerry Bold on Rogers, but also for the unopposed text message charges by Telus and Bell. A lot of different upcoming devices are touched on, including the flip BlackBerry 8220 (a.k.a the Kickstart), the newly-scoped iDEN BlackBerry 8350, as well as a new feature in the BlackBerry Javelin. There’s plenty more where that came from – just hit the jump!

Listen to the BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Episode 37

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Interviews

The flip BlackBerry now known as the Pearl 8220 is the big story this week, along with plenty of other info regarding Rogers’ plans for BlackBerry Bold and the slightly less-appreciated BlackBerry Curve with Wi-Fi. Lots of talk regarding their rebranded UMA service, Talkspot, but we also hit on Verizon and Telus getting the BlackBerry Thunder, and Virgin Mobile’s entry into the Canadian BlackBerry scene.

Listen to the BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Episode 36

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News

• BlackBerry Pearl 8220 coming to Rogers! What’s a Kickstart?: The flip BlackBerry 8220 is coming to Rogers in Canada, and we got some details from the source!
• BlackBerry Kickstart software peeped, packing CellData: The upcoming BlackBerry 8220 will have a few new additions to its software, including some low-key LBS and BB Messenger tweaks.
• Telus getting the BlackBerry Thunder?: The touchscreen-ified BlackBerry 9500 could be coming to Canada, with a potential Telus exclusive.
• BlackBerry Thunder coming to Verizon October 13th?: An internal spreadsheet from Verizon clearly shows the BlackBerry Thunder, which was accompanied by a note suggesting launch date.
• Rogers BlackBerry Bold coming August 19th, but launching without UMA: New sales information from Rogers shows that the BlackBerry Bold is almost here, but it won’t be coming with UMA support initially.
• BlackBerry Bold lands in the UK: No word on price yet, but Brits can nab the BlackBerry 9000 from T-Mobile. Expect 3 Mobile and Vodafone to have theirs available soon.
• BlackBerry Bold launches in Chile, Hong Kong soon: The BlackBerry 9000 is dawning, but not where you’d expect it. Movistar will be offering the Bold for $588 and PCCW for $260.
• BlackBerry Bold available in Germany?: T-Mobile Germany’s online store is showing the BlackBerry Bold for €459.95 and it looks like you can actually order it! Woo!
• Virgin Mobile releasing BlackBerry 8130 in Canada: Any Canadians looking for a new BlackBerry Pearl should check out what Virgin Mobile is offering, especially since they’re chucking in an 8 GB memory card.
• Rogers to release BlackBerry 8320 end of September: The Wi-Fi BlackBerry Curve will be hitting up Rogers by the end of September in a continued push for the Talkspot VoIP service.
• BlackBerry Unite! updated for rich e-mail: The automated patch MR2 for BlackBerry Unite! is offering some controls on file transfer, device policy and e-mail polling.
• BlackBerry OS 4.6 available from Optus: The BlackBerry Bold’s handheld software is available for Optus customers, pointing to an imminent release.

As usual, this week’s BlackBerry Cool Podcast features a few tidbits about the BlackBerry Thunder, BlackBerry Kickstart and BlackBerry Bold, but we’ve also got some fresh colours from Bell and T-Mobile on the way. We’re also giving you a snippet of Doug’s talk with Andy Brown of Strategy Analytics. Andy was at the UK Bold launch and had the opportunity to interview RIM’s co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.

Check out links to all the relevant news after the jump, as well as options for streaming and downloading the BlackBerry Cool Podcast.

Listen to the BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Episode 35

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News

New treatment can totally waterproof your BlackBerry: Imagine a totally and completely waterproof BlackBerry – coming soon from Golden Shellback.
BlackBerry Bold coming soon to Austria: Coming by way of A1 for € 249,00, the Austrian BlackBerry Bold is certainly on the way.
RIM considering Chinese factory: Norm Lo says that production facilities may be getting into China in the near future.
BlackBerry Thunder due October 8th. with Rhapsody?: The BlackBerry 9500 could be coming to Verizon this October, along with an over-the-air music download store through Rhapsody.
BlackBerry Kickstart video walkthrough: The BlackBerry 8220 gets a solid video review, taking a preliminary look at the software changes and the striking new form factor.
T-Mobile 3G rollout confirmed for October 1st.: Major American markets like New York, Chicago, Orlando, Detroit, Atlanta, Los Angelas, Washington DC can expect 3G service this October.
Sunset BlackBerry Curve from T-Mobile due August 4th?: A slick orange/red BlackBerry 8320 is due to come to T-Mobile in a short week’s time. Check the pics!
Bell rolling out new colours for BlackBerry Curve and Pearl: The BlackBerry 8330 looks great in crimson, and the BlackBerry 8130 looks none too shabby in white or titanium.

Weekly Contest

Take this survey for a chance to win a 1GB iPod Shuffle and help improve a cool BlackBerry application!: Vlingo wants the BlackBerry Nation to fill out a 5 minute survey and have a chance to win a free 1GB iPod Shuffle. Sounds like a deal!

First up, sorry for the lateness. The aforementioned server issues slowed production, but no worries- we still recorded and have a heaping two weeks’ worth of news for you this episode. The BlackBerry Thunder and iPhone 3G were both huge news items last week. There are lots of numbers on the ‘net to refute the iPhone’s hype, while the BlackBerry faithful are sticking to their guns and holding out for the BlackBerry Bold. Some more pictures of the BlackBerry Thunder have also floated up, showing off the on-screen keypad and media player, as well as a massive false start by Expansys. This week a lot of stuff was ramping up to a BlackBerry Bold launch, primarily in the form of OS 4.6 software.

Check out links to all the relevant news after the jump, as wells as options for streaming and downloading the BlackBerry Cool Podcast.

Listen to the BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Episode 34

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Interviews

Cortado Corporate Professional Server (audio):Cotado’s mobile document access service is heading to small and medium businesses. We talk about with them about SMBs, Every Laptop Left Behind and more.

News

BlackBerry Thunder touchscreen input pictures emerge: Photos of the Verizon BlackBerry Thunder emerge, displaying both QWERTY and SureType touchscreen capability.

BlackBerry Thunder due mid-October?: The touchscreen BlackBerry 9500 gets a semi-solid release date while the BlackBerry Bold might not be hitting shelves until September.

Expansys offers BlackBerry Thunder for preorder!: Call dibs on the touchscreen BlackBerry 9500!

iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Bold go head to head: How does the BlackBerry Bold stack up against the iPhone 3G? Well, it’s a close race.

Boy Genius takes a close look at the BlackBerry Bold: The Gadget King Boy Genius takes his stab at the BlackBerry 9000, and walks away amply impressed.

1.9% of BlackBerry users switching to iPhone: Very few BlackBerry users will be making the switch to the iPhone 3G – hey, thing might even be paving the way for the Thunder…

BES 4.1 Service Pack 6 released: Rich text e-mail viewing is the big change in the latest BlackBerry Enterprise Server software, but there are plenty of other little changes.

OS 4.5 available from Orange UK: Come and get your latest BlackBerry device software for the the BlackBerry Curve and Pearl!

—

Rogers BlackBerry Bold due August 12th?: Freshest rumours of the BlackBerry 9000 in Canada are pointing to a mid-August release, just like AT&T.

Plazmic 4.5 CDK released: The latest Content Developer Kit gets rid of the requirement for BlackBerry JDE to be installed.

BlackBerry Bold coming to Chile: Claro and Movistar will be getting the BlackBerry 9000 by August.

Desktop Manager 4.6 available from Vodafone Germany: Desktop Manager 4.6 available from Vodafone Germany

BlackBerry JDE 4.6 beta released: BlackBerry JDE 4.6 beta is now ready for your downloading pleasure – now with message list integration!

BlackBerry Media Sync launched: The BlackBerry Media Sync for iTunes could be coming to www.blackberry.com/mediasync today…

BlackBerry Kickstart hands-on: pics and specs: We’ve got some hands-on pictures and impressions of the BlackBerry Kickstart… so far, it’s looking good!

More BlackBerry Thunder pictures emerge: We’ve got some eye candy of the touchscreen BlackBerry 9500, featuring the camera and a bit more of the media player.

Weekly Contest

10 $50 Amazon Gift Certificates Draw from Zumobi!: Zumobi is giving away ten $50 Amazon.com gift certificates in promotion of their new mobile widget application for BlackBerry. Enter the draw and you have a chance to win!

This week we had the chance to talk with Cortado’s Henning Volkmer and Roger Guerrero about their recently-launched Corporate Server software for small and medium companies, branching to a lot of interesting topics, like the the continuing importance of printing documents (even in the digital age), dreams of leaving every laptop behind, the particular needs of SMBs and their partnership with DataViz. Take a listen to our interview with Cortado, also available on MP3.

“We realized that there really is a need to make solutions easier for people who do not have a large IT budget, people do not have IT knowledge in their company, yet companies that realize how much potential is in these solutions. Often the smallest are the most innovative companies, and so it only seems natural to take a look at what we can do to allow these companies to make the most out of this very innovative spirit and how they can defend their position in the market by taking advantage of these offers.”

It certainly wasn’t a quiet week at BlackBerry Cool HQ. With barely any time to recover from back-to-back national holidays, we learned that Bell and Telus are trying to charge us for incoming SMS, the BlackBerry Thunder may not be the BlackBerry Thunder, and the BlackBerry Javelin may be here before Christmas. Oh, and let’s not forget the release of the sequel to the most hyped mobile device, ever.

On the home front, Simon was able to piece together the mother of all BlackBerry IM client reviews while also providing an in-depth guide to everything you’d want to know about The Smartphone Challenge (trust us, this is something you want to know about).

Sorry for the late post, but it was so we could debut our wicked new podcast banner. You’ll find podcast downloading/streaming options, as well as links to all the relevant posts, after the jump. Enjoy!

Listen to the BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Episode 33

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Reviews

BlackBerry Instant Messaging Clients Head-to-Head Review

Interviews

Charlie Slaughter of The Smartphone Challenge

News

BlackBerry Bold to match iPhone 3G pricing?
BlackBerry Bold distant second to iPhone 3G demand
BlackBerry Thunder keypad still needs work
BlackBerry Thunder media player shots surface
BlackBerry Javelin due before Christmas?
Call to papers for BlackBerry Developer Conference
Bell and Telus to charge for incoming SMS

Weekly Contest Question

How will the iPhone 3G hurt RIM?

The Smartphone Challenge is bringing a busload full of decked-out BlackBerry to small and medium businesses around Texas. The company in question gets these devices with free airtime, apps, and service for two weeks, after which the Smartphone Challenge tries to take the BlackBerrys back. To date, they haven’t been able to wrestle the handsets from the fevered grasp of these SMBs, but the Smartphone Challenge continues to dare companies to put away a BlackBerry after they’ve spent some quality time with it. The big thing is education – supporting new users and smoothing the learning curve is absolutely essential to increasing adoption.

Here’s everything your company needs to know about the Smartphone Challenge.

We’ve got an FAQ below, but also an interview in MP3 format that covers the broad bases of the Smartphone Challenge, more details on Rackspace’s involvement and the general e-mail setup, as well as a bit of insight on what it takes to seduce employees into using their BlackBerrys and the needs of small and medium businesses.

Do companies usually seek you out, or are you actively targeting companies/sectors in need?

At this point in time, we are currently targeting our customers. We have made a few press releases, have handed out tons of brochures, etc. I will say though, every customer that has gone through the process has at least referred one other business. Some have already contacted several businesses on our behalf.

How do you show these companies why they need smartphones? We heard you have a party – what does that entail?

The first part of this question is rather easy… we simply find something (typically a software program within their vertical market) that they absolutely cannot live without. It might be a CRM, a medical software, Real Estate MLS listing program, etc. and pre-load those on the BB devices prior to the launch. They go nuts!

As for the party, every customer is different! We typically have a cake (with our SPC logo), we have snacks, several different bottles of wine, we’ve even brought beer to a contractor that we knew liked to drink. The learning environment is fun. We found that the more involved that you get the client on the launch, the faster they get hooked.

“TeleNav Track, as the name suggests, is a tool that’s used by organisations that have folks in the field that are doing things like repairing equipment or making deliveries. It’s a tool that helps you better manage your field team, your field assests, and helps you gain more productivity out of that team and assets. There are basically four key capabilities… one has to do with GPS reporting. We’ll tell you where all your field workers are, what job they’re performing, and you can get a visual on a map to see exactly what they’re doing. Number two is around dispatching. You can dispatch a job to them, get the status of the job (when they started it, how long is it taking), so you can track the time. Number three is wireless forms if they have any paperwork that they need to complete out in the field. Instead of putting it on paper, they can just collect all of that information right on their BlackBerry. We even have barcode scanners that you can connect via Bluetooth. Number four is navigation, which is our forte, where we provide turn by turn directions to the job sites that the field workers need to get to.”

Pin down an MP3, map iTunes, or track RSS.

Don’t forget BerryTunes…

“Vlingo for BlackBerry is the first release of our voice user interface product, the idea being just with the power of your voice, you can control many of the features of your BlackBerry. With Vlingo for BlackBerry, just by pushing the side button and speaking, users will be able to speak an SMS message. We’ll take your voice to our servers, translate the speech to text, send it back to the BlackBerry, pull up your SMS application, pull the recipient out of your phone book, put him on the ‘To:’ line, and type the words that you spoke in the body of the message. The user can look at it, verify it’s all correct and press ‘Send’. It really is about the process of discovery and usability; your voice finds and launches the application, and with the power of your voice you can just speak what you want. With Vlingo for BlackBerry, users will be able to speak text messages, speak e-mails, to do web searches, to open applications like their contacts and calendar, to dial names, and one of my favourite features is Note2Self. I can say ‘Note to self, remember to pick up a bottle of wine on the way home.’ and I can configure that in my Options setting to either add a task or add a memo, or send myself an SMS or e-mail. We just translate your speech to text, and add it as a reminder for you.”

Mutter MP3, utter iTunes, or ramble RSS. Also on BerryTunes!

• BlackBerry Cool Podcast: Get Connected Fairly Act: Ottawa Member of Parliament David McGuinty is heading up an act which could completely clean up Canadian wireless fees.
• RIM doubles revenue on Q1 report, shareholders visibly deflate: Revenues of $2.24 billion fail to impress analysts this quarter, but just you wait until the Bold launches…
• AT&T BlackBerry Bold delayed until mid-August?: Wow, Canada’s getting the Bold first? Woo!
• OS 4.5 for BlackBerry 8330 making the rounds: OS 4.5 is packing HTML e-mail viewing and a bunch of other goodies that CDMA users may want to try out…
• BlackBerry JDE 4.5 goes public: The latest BlackBerry JDE offers Maps integration… maybe some cool new apps to come out of that…
• BIS 2.5 upgrade coming June 28th, with HTML e-mail?: A BIS upgrade scheduled for this weekend should give U.S. subscribers long-anticipated HTML email support.
• BlackBerry Desktop Manager 4.5 hits the streets: RIM releases BlackBerry Desktop Manager 4.5. Key features: it no longer looks like a Windows 95 application.
• BerryBUDDY and OtterBox reviews updated: The BlackBerry Curve and Pearl both have had some changes over the last little while… let’s see how the accessories keep up.
• Review: SugarSync: There are a lot of different places where you can keep your files these days – SugarSync can keep ‘em all together.
• Weekly Contest: How Would You Regulate Carrier Power?: BlackBerry Cool is giving you the power to fight carriers — how will you use it? Post a comment and win a free SugarSync subscription and a BBCool tee shirt.

All MP3 and no iTunes makes RSS a dull boy.

Also on BerryTunes, for streaming podcasts right to your BlackBerry!

BoxTone

Simon interviews Brian Reed from BoxTone about all the work that went into producing the social hot spot for WES 2008, plans for next year, and their recent partnership with Neverfail.

Viigo

Do you use Viigo? Why Not? Our 8′ friend interviews Viigo President and CEO Mark Ruddok about Project Tango, Enterprise Light, and communicating with open source platforms.

Zenprise

Simon talks to Ahmed Datoo of Zenprise about 64-bit servers and their recent support in the Zenprise 4.0 update.

ISEC7

Simon talks to ISEC7 about their remote control application for BlackBerry, B*Nator. You can download a free trial here.

Mobile Governance Council

Simon chats Chris Harold about his internal roll out of the Mobile Governance Council, a private organization dedicated to establishing standards for IT setups. By determining what needs to be available from an internal smartphone roll out, such as remote wiping, availability, etc., Chris tells us how enterprise can outline their upcoming roll out.

3i

3i is the glue that put SAP and BlackBerry together, namely involving the ability to push out approval requests over the SAP server. This was kind of a big deal at WES this year, and this interview really outlines the extent of SAP and BlackBerry’s partnership for integration.

Listen to the podcast via MP3, RSS/XML, or iTunes.

Listen in as we talk about the panel that these three gentlemen are participating in (”Every Laptop Should Be Left Behind”) and what it means for the future of mobility. Also, we talk about American political folk music, and why $150 million dollars isn’t that big of a deal.

Listen to the podcast via MP3, RSS/XML, or iTunes. To learn more about the Every Laptop Left Behind movement, head here.

Simon’s going interview crazy at WES this year, so I’m just going to let him roll with it. This time our 8′ friend interviews Viigo’s Mark Ruddok about Project Tango (video preview above), Enterprise Light, and communicating with open source platforms. You can listen to it over on the Best of WES page, or hit the streaming link below.