Balsillie reports “Blackberry looks beyond lawyers, bankers to add music consumers”
by The PocketBerry Team
Its not just U.S. President-elect Barack Obama whos addicted to a BlackBerry these days. It was hard to find an executive at a music industry conference in Cannes this week without one of the devices in hand.
BlackBerry is expanding into digital music and hopes to attract consumers whove gravitated to Apple Inc.s iPhone or Nokia Oyjs Comes with Music mobile phone. Research In Motion, the Canadian company that makes BlackBerry, was a main sponsor of the Cannes music conference, with co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Balsillie demonstrating the companys products and promoting its open platform for digital music applications.
“Were rocking, were totally rocking,” Balsillie, 47, said in an interview. “The company is forecasting 20 percent to 25 percent growth for this quarter and expects to exceed that target”, Balsillie said. “We’re already very music centric, what were talking about now is our platform.”
While Balsillie says BlackBerry isnt “trying to compete with Apple”, the company is cementing partnerships with a variety of application developers. It plans to open an online applications store for BlackBerry users in March, showcasing content deals with Slacker, an Internet radio device, and Shazam, a music recognition service. Another rival, Palm Inc., unveiled its own touch-screen model, Pre, last week to compete with the iPhone.
We are the overwhelming market leaders and weve been in the smartphone business for years, Balsillie said. The Storm is a BlackBerry with different packaging, not a competitor of iPhone.
As for Obamas professed love for his BlackBerry, which has provided the company with a marketing boost, Balsillie said the U.S. government is BlackBerrys biggest account, with more than 500,000 customers.
The CIA and FBI recently just ordered 20,000 more units, and Balsillie said hes been personally cleared for security by the U.S. government. “There is enormous privacy and an enormous responsibility and this is obviously not a game for us.”
