RSS Feed
Twitter
April 21st, 2010 
BBerryNews 
BlackBerry has been the proud sponsor of the Grammy winning Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D. World Tour which began in Japan in September of 2009 and just recently hit its North American leg this past February. Like any other album they’ve released, they use their music as a way to reach people on a special level and deliver a message. Having released The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies) in the wake of a recession last year, the general message was to just be able to let loose and have fun. The show reached the hometown of the Black Eyed Peas in Los Angeles, CA earlier this week and they had some special plans to make it a memorable one for their fans by including them in a small part of history.
Working with BlackBerry and other partners such as 3ality and AEG Network LIVE, The Black Eyed Peas pioneered a vision to deliver, for the first time in history, the broadcast of their live concert performance at Staples Center in 3D to viewers in theaters across the nation.
Our friend Sarah was kind enough to include us in this exclusive event this past Tuesday and it was no doubt an enjoyable experience. The event was held just a street light away from the Staples Center at the new Regal Cinema at L.A. LIVE. Guests piled into the theater with their 3D glasses; some were even interviewed by local news reporters (pictured above). But no one anticipated a special visit by none other than Will.I.Am himself. In addition to raffling two tickets to a lucky guest, he graciously thanked everyone in attendance and explained his vision of how technology can help enhance an experience and hoped that we enjoyed the show.
I was fortunate to meet Will.I.Am and had a very brief conversation with him about the show. All he could tell me was that the 3D experience was going to blow me away and that they really tried to go over the top with this tour. When asked about BlackBerry he smiled and admitted to being a fan of BlackBerry Messenger, or as many refer to it, simply “BBM”. I didn’t ask him for his bar code, but he did tell me they incorporated it into the show. He was referring to his solo segment during the performance in which he thanked BlackBerry and showed off a screen streaming random messages from fans; or “BBMs” as he called it (I doubt everyone had his pin/bar code). Will.I.Am demonstrated one of his many talents by performing a freestyle rap using these messages as they appeared; igniting a huge uproar in the crowd.
After the show, many stayed to attend a special after party at The Conga Room which Will.I.Am owns and was expected to provide a special DJ set. Also, local radio station KIISFM was there doing giveaways. It was an amazing turnout with other celebrities such as Malin Akerman of 2009s Watchmen in attendance to show their support.
Will.I.Am with Jonathan Nguyen
Posted in 
Tags: 
More on Wired’s 5 things article from BlackBerry Cool readers
Yesterday’s article had a great response from BlackBerry Cool readers, and it’s important to follow up with some points to consider. Special thanks goes out to Peter Werry from Multiplied Media for help with the article.
On RIM and the Consumer Space
It’s important to note that the consumer space is getting an incredible amount of internal focus at RIM. This is evidenced by the fact that RIM refer to themselves as “BlackBerry” rather than “RIM” at trade shows, they release numerous updates for App World, and they have expanded the BlackBerry Developer Conference to almost twice what it was last year. Last quarter alone, we saw RIM nearly double their total sales in the consumer space. All signs are pointing towards the consumer space being a key market for the smartphone industry and RIM isn’t about to ignore it.
On Security and the BlackBerry Browser
In everything they do, RIM never forgets that security and reliability are the key to a successful enterprise product. However, just because there needs to be a focus on those two features doesn’t necessarily mean the browser and other aspects of the device have to suffer.
RIM has made public comments about their intentions to improve the browser. TD recently released a speculative report on the subject as well. While security and reliability no doubt remain a key focus of the platform, RIM has made obvious moves towards improving their browser and making it more consumer focused. This is evidenced by their acquisition of Torch Mobile for their WebKit software. We could all agree that RIM’s browser tends to fall short in the consumer world, and we can be fairly confident they will be able to bring it to a level that will make them an industry leader in the mobile browser space once again.
On the Issue of WiFi and Pricing
In yesterday’s article, it was suggested that WiFi is left out as a feature on some devices in order to allow for price flexibility. The truth is that it can actually become more costly for RIM to create two versions of a device, one with and one without WiFi. This is because of the costs associated with developing for different hardware configurations, and the administrative costs of treating them as separate entities. The decisions to go with or without WiFi are mainly driven by the carrier. Generally, RIM is very constrained by carrier demands.
On the Topic of App World
A few BlackBerry Cool readers have been very adamant that App World has essentially been a development disaster. The theory is that management got freaked out that they were missing some huge opportunities for growth and they pushed the application to release before it was ready. RIM has done a good job of upgrading App World to fix the bugs, but much of this should have been happening before launch.
The question for the future is: will RIM step up its game as it has been doing so far to meet the consumer market demands?
RIM may have to essentially re-write most of their key components, and expose much more of the device capabilities to 3rd party developers. Eventually, it’s all going to come down to which device has the best apps, the best network, and the best device capabilities. Look to the first quarter of next year to see if RIM will continue to lead.
© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2009