Live from RIM's keynote session at WES 2010!
Though WES technically kicked off yesterday, the show gets really real this morning with RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis' keynote speech to attendees -- the vaunted (and somewhat ominously-named) "General Session." We think we're going to see the first glimpses of the company's upcoming BlackBerry 6 platform here, so stay tuned -- things could get interesting!
10:15AM ...and that's it! Daft Punk up on the PA now. Loving it.
10:00AM Apart from a brief mention of the "comical irony" of the Icelandic volcano eruption's greenhouse gas emissions, Cook hasn't said anything interesting so far, but we're staying tuned.
9:56AM Now we've got CSC's Jim Cook on the stage.
9:55AM In the course of the talk, Farrell said "we own Java now." It's true, of course, but there was something amusing about the matter-of-fact way he said it.
9:47AM Oracle's showing off a push-enabled medical application for BlackBerry that connects doctors with critical care nurses on staff. Seems like a pretty keen implementation -- dry, but germane, particularly for this crowd.
9:41AM If our silence is deafening, our apologies -- we're hearing about delivering BlackBerry apps to enterprise users. You're not missing anything, we promise.
9:36AM Here comes Oracle's Ted Farrell, chief architect of tools and middleware.
9:32AM And HP's off the stage.
9:31AM Now we're learning about HP's ePrint mobile printing -- "three clicks" to print from your BlackBerry to any appropriately-equipped printer.
9:27AM Sorry guys, we're having a really hard time staying focused on HP's enterprise services message. Don't take it personally, RIM!
9:21AM As much as we enjoy learning about lowering mobility TCO in the enterprise, we secretly wish HP would upend this thing and announce a new line of Windows Phone-powered iPAQs right now.
9:18AM If you're looking for more information on BlackBerry 6, you're not alone -- Mike didn't discuss it much, other than to say that it'll be coming in the third quarter of the year. We're expecting an official video shortly, so keep an eye out for that.
9:16AM First up among RIM's partners is HP's Robin Purohit. "Mobilizing the enterprise for real business advantage" is the topic of this little conversation.
9:14AM Circling back, the annoyingly transparent screenshots of BlackBerry 6 flashed across the rapid-fire video a moment ago clearly showed a touch interface, but as we mentioned yesterday, we'll see this action on RIM's traditional non-touch devices, too.
9:12AM Here comes RIM's Jeff McDowell -- the consumer-facing part of this keynote is over, we suspect.
9:08AM "It's such an awesome pleasure to have BlackBerry as a partner on our tour."
9:07AM "Before I go, I want to leave you with one last surprise." Here's will.i.am!
9:05AM It looks very, very socially connected (Twitter got a shout-out in the video). "We're excited about our all-new WebKit browser."
9:04AM And we just saw a quick glimpse on video -- not bad, at a glance! "We've redesigned all the core applications."
9:01AM "It had to be easy to use, yet incredibly powerful. It had to be fun and approachable. Anyone that looks at it should say 'I want a BlackBerry.'"
9:00AM BlackBerry 6! "It's an all-new user experience guided by a few fundamental design principles."
9:00AM "Now, I'd like to talk about where we're going from here."
8:58AM And next, the Pearl 3G. Nothing we don't already know here.
8:58AM Ooooh, official introduction of the white Bold 9700! "It's a gorgeous treatment."
8:57AM Now he's chatting up the new models introduces yesterday. Up first, the Bold 9650. "It's got everything."
8:56AM Still pressing forward with the self-congratulating: BlackBerry holds five of the top ten best-selling smartphones in the US.
8:55AM "We can't wait to see how you'll use the patented BlackBerry Messenger platform to create applications of your own."
8:54AM Now we're talking about BlackBerry Messenger, an app that Lazaridis is anxious to describe as a "social networking tool." A buzzphrase, perhaps, but an accurate one.
8:51AM "Email was the original BlackBerry super app." Indeed it was, Mike; indeed it was.
8:50AM A lot of self-congratulating going on here... much of this talk so far seems recycled from the Capital Markets call that Lazaridis participated on yesterday.
8:49AM "Today, you're going to see some amazing new software."
8:48AM "I'm confident we'll soon reach 100 million users."
8:48AM "Excited as I am about what we've accomplished so far, I'm even more excited about where we're going tomorrow." We think he's using the term "tomorrow" figuratively here.
8:47AM 41 million BlackBerry users, 90 million BlackBerrys sold to date.
8:46AM Here comes Mike Lazaridis!
8:46AM "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to WES 2010, the BlackBerry event of the year." Here we go -- we think.
8:42AM So much for "two minutes." Still holding, folks!
8:37AM "Our presentation will begin in two minutes." Sweetness!
8:35AM We're running about five minutes late at this point, but attendees are still filtering in. No word from the house when we might get underway, but we're guessing it'll be any minute now.
8:22AM Whatever song was just playing included f-bombs and a chorus of "sucks to be you." No joke! Wish we'd had Shazam out to figure out what it was, but needless to say, it doesn't quite send the message you're looking at an event like this. Or does it?
