BBCool AppStoreThe voice of the BlackBerry community.
Jim Balsillie Unveils Dramatic Revitalization for Copps Coliseum
On Tuesday, June 9th, there is a critical court hearing to determine whether the Coyotes can be relocated when they’re sold out of bankruptcy. The Make it Seven campaign needs to present the judge with evidence of bigger, stronger and deeper numbers of Hamilton backers.
Use the “Tell a Friend” feature to tell your neighbours, co-workers, family and friends to sign up to makeitseven.ca.
[ED NOTE: If you've registered at makeitseven.ca, you have already seen the message from Jim Balsillie. I thought I'd repost the letter for those who haven't seen it and to encourage more registrations.]
A message from Jim Balsillie:
Yesterday, Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes filed documents in court confirming his receipt of our offer to purchase the team for US$212.5 million, that the offer expires June 30, 2009 and that it is conditional upon moving the team to southern Ontario. We learned that the court has moved up its date to hear arguments on the question of relocation to June 9th and Judge Baum has said he will rule on this issue shortly after. If he rules the team can be relocated, the Judge has also indicated he will move the date of the auction we have asked for up to June 22nd.
We have maintained from the beginning that we need to be in control of the team by then to know if we can move it this year, or if we have to keep it in Glendale for another year and then move it to its new home, Copps Coliseum, where we have secured the rights to a long-term lease.
We are moving ahead. In the days ahead, I will have more exciting details to share with you about bringing this team to Canada.
In the meantime, we need our voices to be heard. Currently, we have over 130,000 people signed up www.makeitseven.ca and we need to reach out to hockey lovers throughout Canada and the world to expand our movement. If each of you were able to get one friend to sign up, we could mobilize over a quarter of a million people in an online movement.
Both Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are incredible philanthropists. Their contributions to the social sciences, sciences and academia have really helped advance our understanding of this world. These philanthropic ventures require an incredible amount of cash and equity on a regular basis in order for these ventures to succeed as planned.
Recently, RIM’s executives Jim and Mike adopted what are called Automatic Securities Disposition Plans or ASDPs. ASDPs are plans that will allow Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis to sell shares of RIM at a predetermined interval, regardless of whether or not they are under a “blackout” period. A “blackout” period, would include such times as when quarterly financial reports are released. Normally, an executive would be barred from selling shares during a financial report release, due to concerns over insider trading and how their selling of shares would affect the market.
WIth the ASDPs in place, charitable foundations will be able to rely on the vast amount of funds being sent their way from RIM’s top executives. One example of this includes Jim Balsillie’s weekly share donations of up to C$100 million over 24 months to a charity he founded. Balsillie will also donate another C$57 million of shares to the Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), an Ontario-based think tank. Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis is matching Jim Balsillie’s contributions with about C$190 million over 22 months to his charitable foundation.
To learn more about ASDPs and how they affect trading regulations, see Gowlings.
Click through to read the official press release regarding the adoption of new ASDPs
Netbooks are getting a great deal of attention in the tech industry because they’re seen as the stepping stone from laptop to mobile. RIM does not see the netbook as competition and will continue to make powerful smartphones that will ultimately make the netbook obsolete.
“Form factor is a personal preference but it’s got to be something that lasts the better part of the day and you can hold up to your ear and clip onto your belt,” he said in response to our question about his vision for future products. “Those are a very tight systems constraints for a netbook.”
In response to the netbook offering a keyboard and screen experience not available for mobile, Jim says:
“If you want richer keyboards and richer displays you can just use perphiperals and bluetooth.”
Bob Stutz an executive from business software supplier SAP, which delivers business applications to BlackBerry devices, went on to completely dismiss the netbook.
“We’ve been down this route with these kinds of devices,” he said, “Why we are doing this with RIM today is because these (other) devices don’t work,” he said, noting that consumers want sturdy, inexpensive and well connected devices.
“Customers really have been down the gamut … They’ve been down this path. At the end of the day what we’ve really found is that if they can do it on a BlackBerry that’s what they’ll want.”
What do you think, will you buy a netbook?
[Via]
There has been some discussion on Canadian conservative talk shows about the fact that Jim Balsillie’s deal requires an investment on the part of the Hamilton government to update the Copps Coliseum.
The deal would involve an investment of $150 million dollars on the part of the Hamilton government to bring the Copps Coliseum up to NHL standars.
Although this may seem like a significant investment of tax payers dollars, it will have significant returns. The City of Hamilton knows this, which is why they have committed to helping Mr. Balsillie with the move. For those tax payers in Hamilton who aren’t convinced, the ROI potential is an easy sell.
The City of Hamilton will have 300 days or so to use the improved facilities as they see fit. An NHL team only plays around 41 home games, which means that minus a couple weeks for renovations, the facility can accommodate a wide range of revenue generating events for most of the year. Events such as big ticket concerts, indoor sports and trade shows are all much easier to accommodate, and will generate business for the government as well as local businesses. Jim is even investing millions of his own dollars to help with the facility upgrade.
[Via]
Jim Balsillie spoke with the editorial board at the Toronto Star yesterday and he expressed some frustration regarding the purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes. He talked about this love for the game and his passion for Canada. A real patriot, Jim said he had to take a “side door” approach to try and secure the Coyotes and give Canada a 7th hockey team.
I recorded the conversation with my BlackBerry 8900 using MyCaption so you could read the transcripts. There is also an audio clip for you to listen to
Jim Balsillie Toronto Star Audio
Click through to read the transcribed conversation using MyCaption
Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of RIM is making an aggressive move to get a 32-year lease for Copps Coliseum, buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move them to Hamilton, but the city of Arizona is trying to block his slapshot.
The city of Glendale, Ariz., laid out its legal objections to the proposed sale of the Coyotes, saying a bankruptcy court judge shouldn’t consider the sale of the team “based on the false premise that (the winning bidders) are legally capable of relocating the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team.”
The Glendale believes that their bankruptcy doesn’t allow the Coyotes to break their “Non-Relocation Covenant” that prohibits them from relocating, and requires the team to play all of its home games at the arena for the full term of the 30-year lease.
“The city believes that it has the right under applicable law to prohibit any relocation of the Phoenix Coyotes,” say the city’s documents signed by lawyer Cathy Reece. “The city believes and therefore asserts that its right to enforce the Non-Relocation Covenant under applicable law shall survive these Chapter 11 cases, including any sale of the (team).”
Obviously Arizona is not keen on the idea of losing their hockey team which generates revenue for the city. Even though the team is bankrupt, if they relocate, the city loses any potential of saving the hockey team as a revenue stream.
Although Arizona is upset about the deal, Hamilton couldn’t be happier about a team relocation. The city is expecting a surge in local spending as well as visitors from the surrounding cities for big games and events. Balsillie signed a deal which was approved unanimously by the council, promising Balsillie a long-term lease if he secures the Phoenix Coyotes. The deal includes a $5 million injection of cash from Balsillie to help upgrade the 17,000-seat arena by 2010.
[Via]
In order for App World to be a real success, we’re going to need to see it preloaded on upcoming BlackBerry devices, as well as pushed by carriers to all their BlackBerry subscribers. The reason we’re not currently seeing this, is because the carriers are threatened by App World, and concerned with losing a major revenue stream.
From the carrier perspective, App World is both a blessing and a threat. App World is promoting a surge in data usage which directly translates to extra revenue for the carrier. The threat from App World for the carrier comes down to competition with the carrier content portal. In a content distribution taste test, the carriers will always lose to App World, but this doesn’t matter to them. All the carrier cares about is owning the sale of content and owning that revenue stream. App World threatens to eat the carrier’s lunch, as more subscribers realize that the content download experience is much better through RIM.
Not only are carriers preventing App World from reaching more users, they’re also preventing subscribers from getting access to the content we want. The carriers have always tried to impede tethering and VoIP applications which keep our bills low and stay connected. This is just one reason why the carrier content portal needs to bow down to App World.
In the end this is all going to come down to a CEO showdown. Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are going to have to show some incredible leadership in order to convince the carriers to get out of the way. Behind closed doors, RIM executive will sit down with the likes of Randall L. Stephenson of AT&T and Ivan Seidenberg of Verizon. Their negotiations will hinge on some of the following points:
Continue reading about how RIM will take down the carriers with App World
By Nan Palmero and Kyle McInnes
Jim Balsillie was the first keynote presenter and he was introducing the speakers more than giving a presentation himself. It was good to see Jim Dog but the man of the hour was definitely Malcolm Gladwell.
Shane Robinson executive vice president, chief strategy officer at HP was at WES to talk about their latest cloud-based initiatives. The cloud is an innovative platform that is going to lead to some incredible applications for mobile and desktop alike. Shane put it best when he described the innovation following the birth of PC. When PC was developed, there was two decades of growth in applications and users. The cloud is the next platform to provide another two decades of growth.
Continue reading about the great keynotes given at WES 2009
Everyone knows Jim Balsillie aka Jim Dog is a huge hockey fan. In the past, he has tried to acquire the Nashville NHL franchise and move it to Hamilton, Ontario. The bid failed but rumors were abound that Jim was looking to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins. Nothing ever came of the rumors but we know Jim loves his hockey. With the playoffs starting today, Jim is glued to his TV.
“Will I be in front of the TV? Absolutely,” said the co-CEO of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion.
But the 48-year-old Balsillie was less forthcoming about any current interest in acquiring an NHL team. He wouldn’t comment on possible ownership or if he might be in talks about a team, such as the Montreal Canadiens.
He even declined to divulge his favourite club, saying “I get into trouble every time. I can’t go there.” But he has been reported to follow the Habs.
Vive les Canadiens de Montreal!
[Via]
