One of the true pleasures of being at the BlackBerry Developer Conference was the opportunity to finally meet RIM’s Developer Support Guru, Mike Kirkup. Mike is a great guy and one of the heroes that helped to make the BlackBerry Cool 15 possible. He’s also the man behind the Open Mike section of the BlackBerry Developer Newsletter, which has a special focus this month on BlackBerry Storm development. In addition to the BlackBerry Storm simulator video, the BlackBerry Developer Newsletter has Mike talking about ‘Compatibility Mode’ and Storm events at the BBDC, and links to a number of useful support documents about Storm development. Check them out below:
The BlackBerry Developer Conference is finished and Doug is in transit on his way back to cold Canada. He’s going to get a rude welcoming because ever since he left it has been bone chilling cold. I’m really hoping we move our office to Santa Clara.
Stay tuned on BlackBerry Cool because Doug will have lots to say about the BBDC. We’ll have Podcasts and posts galore!
We ended up having 13 developers present last night at the first annual BlackBerry Cool 15, but it turned out to be the lucky number. The drinks were flowing, the room was full, the applications were great and everybody seemed to have a good time. Before I get to thanking everyone who made this possible, I’ve got some announcements to make.
During the BBDC Keynote Today, Rick Segal of the BlackBerry Partners Fund announced that they had added a third Category to the BlackBerry Developer Challenge: The People’s Choice Award. The BlackBerry Partners Fund chose the People’s Choice winner based upon the winner of the BlackBerry Cool 15, Nobex’s Radio Companion for BlackBerry. I’m thrilled that we played a (small) part in helping Nobex receive a $150,000 debenture. Congrats, Nobex, you earned it!
Rick Segal also made on-the-spot offers to two other BlackBerry Cool 15 developers, BeamBerry and SmrtGuard. Way to go!
If you didn’t present at the BlackBerry Cool 15 this year, make sure you sign up next year, or you’ll be missing out on some serious cash.
Update: Looks like the BlackBerry Cool 15 created a new category for the Developers Challenge: People’s Choice! Way to go, Nobex! All the Best of Shows won $150,000. You better be at the BlackBerry Cool 15 next year so your company can win!
That’s the end of the Keynote. RIM blew the doors off the place! I’m gonna go get my Storm voucher now!! less than a minute ago from web
people who want storms have to take a voucher. Sigh. Still, way to go RIM!!! less than a minute ago from web
Final Summary: BBDC is something really special for BlackBerry and the mobile community in general. 1 minute ago from web
It’s RIM’s plan to work with as many channels to market as possible. 2 minutes ago from web
‘The store is built to sell software, it’s built with the understanding and versioning, the ability to sell upgrades. 3 minutes ago from web
‘RIM really wants to be transparent around applications, from user perspective and developer perspective.’ less than 20 seconds ago from web
Congrats to Jamie Julius of Nobex Technologies, who gave the winning pitch at the first ever BlackBerry Cool 15. You can download the Nobex Radio Companion at http://www.nobexrc.com/download/ Enjoy your BlackBerry Storm! Congrats also go to David Shalamberidze, who won the audience BlackBerry Storm giveaway!
We’re now a weekend away from the BlackBerry Developer Conference, and I couldn’t be more excited. Mike Lazaridis keynote, hands on with the BlackBerry Storm, and the BlackBerry Cool 15. Oh wait, that reminds me, we’ve been talking about the BlackBerry Cool 15 all week, and we haven’t mentioned what the prizes are. Developers take note:
RICK SEGAL OF THE BLACKBERRY PARTNERS FUND will be participating as a judge and taking a keen interest in the applications presented. He will have offer sheets in hands and he is looking to spend, spend, spend.
WE’RE GIVING AWAY TWO BLACKBERRY STORMS! That’s right, not one, but two BlackBerry Storms will be given away at the BlackBerry Cool 15! While one will obviously be going to the developer with the best application, we haven’t decided what to do with the other one yet. Maybe give it to a lucky member of the audience? We’ll see…
You now have NO REASON to miss the BlackBerry Cool 15. Meet us at the Marriott Hotel in session rooms California 7-9 at 8pm on Monday, October 20th (right after the welcome reception). We’ll see you there!
A special thanks must go out to Rick Segal, Mike Kirkup and everyone at RIM/BlackBerry Partners Fund that has turned this wishful thinking into a reality.
Jinkies, it looks like we weren’t totally sniffing the wrong tree when we pointed to 2009 as a possibility for a touchscreen BlackBerry on Rogers. Both BGR and BlackBerry News have posted today about a previously unseen BlackBerry that is reported to make an appearance at WES 2009: the BlackBerry Magnum.
So what exactly is the BlackBerry Magnum? Apparently only a U.S. HSDPA, BlackBerry Curve 8900 form factor with a BlackBerry Storm-like touchscreen. Which, although exciting, kind of sounds like a souped-up Palm Treo. Anyways, the amount of BlackBerrys RIM is looking to release is making my head spin. We’ll tell you more as we learn it.
We’re less than a week away from the BlackBerry Developer Conference, which means that we’re less than a week away from THE BLACKBERRY COOL 15! Since our initial post about our first developer focused event, a lot of excitement has been floating into our inbox. We have some updates for you, so we thought now would be a good time to fuel the fire:
First off, we’ve confirmed the time and place. The BlackBerry Cool 15 will take place on Monday, October 20th, from 8pm-9pm, in breakout rooms California 7-9 of the Santa Clara Marriott. This is right after the welcome reception on the Mobility Pavilion, and we’ll be making sure to carry on the relaxed atmosphere with adult beverages and snacks.
We also have two new judges to introduce: Blogger Troy D. Brown of BlackBerryNews.com and Rick Segal of the BlackBerry Partners Fund! We’re particularly excited to have Rick joining us, as he is eager to break open the vault and cough up some term sheet love for the BlackBerry Nation. Cha-ching!
We’ve also had a lot of interest from developers who would like to demo software that doesn’t quite meet our pre-1.0 release state. We’ve thus decided to open up the BlackBerry Cool 15 to software that is still in ‘back of napkin’ state or went 1.0 as recently as September 1st. Bring your PowerPoint presentation, your napkin scribblings, a working build or a healthy dose of charisma — if you want to participate, we want you there!
Now for the fun stuff — the prizes. While we can’t make any announcements yet (sorry), in talking with Rick Segal today, it was decided that the prize had to be something “different”. Stay tuned!!
Sometimes news can come from the craziest sources: internal leaks, html sniffing, etc. Sometimes all it takes is a direct phone call! After friend of the site RogersDude69 tipped us off that Rogers had given callcenter employees a specific script to read when customers ask about touch screen BlackBerrys (i.e., the BlackBerry Storm), we just had to call ourselves and see what was up.
The audio below confirms that Rogers will carry the BlackBerry Storm 9500, and that we’ll see it before Christmas (hopefully in November)! Apologies to the extremely helpful customer service rep who was the subject of my ruse.
Click to listen!
So that’s Verizon, Telus, Bell and Rogers in North America. Where are Sprint and AT&T?
Inspired by yesterday’s Canadian federal election (another minority government?) and its upcoming American counterpart, BlackBerry Cool wants to do its part to get out the vote! We want you to tell us which BlackBerry has the right stuff to lead the BlackBerry Nation. Here are you candidates:
You can vote for your candidate using the our handy polling station after the jump. After you’ve voted for the top dog, make sure to tell us where you think the other BlackBerrys fit into the BlackBerry Nation Administration. Which BlackBerry would make a good Secretary of State? How about Vice President? Post a comment and let us know!
(yeah, the BBCool staff watches way too much West Wing)
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