PocketBerry » Interviews

BBM Apps Hackathon With Alan Brenner

Jon Destouche — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:00:26 +0000

I had the opportunity to spend some time with Alan Brenner the Senior Vice President of BlackBerry Platform for Research In Motion. For those unaware, Alan Brenner has put together many components of the BlackBerry platform. Applications such as the BBM platform, Facebook for BlackBerry, Twitter for BlackBerry and MVS (on the enterprise end) are just a few of his accomplishments.

Alan opened up the fourth Hackathon event in San Francisco, one of many organized nationwide. I had the opportunity to speak with Alan Brenner about the BBM Platform, and the Hackathon event. It is amazing to see these events that RIM is putting on and it how it really gives developers the ability to work and share together, and to learn from each other and the professionals.

Alan shared some great information about the BlackBerry Platform that I know caught my attention. Alan shared that in regards to BlackBerry App World apps generate 40% more revenue. That is more revenue compared to the competition (iOS and Android). There is plenty of opportunity to grow as a developer in BlackBerry environment. We spoke about the BlackBerry Connect Applications and about BlackBerry Messenger brand, and it is really exciting to see where RIM is going using BlackBerry Messenger to connect users in a different way with their friends and family on BBM, which is something that the competition can’t say that can do. Some current BBM stats include over 45 million active users worldwide, growing (with almost 2 million new users monthly) , and over 5.2 million BBM groups. With it being the number one social network for BBM users it only makes sense to utilize BBM connected apps. With over 26 million BBM connected apps downloaded so far, there are so many benefits out there for not only consumer, but for Enterprise users as well. Applications that range from location sharing, to gaming, to sharing articles or news the possibilities are endless.

For enterprise users IT admins utilizing BlackBerry Balance can keep separate work from personal allowing enterprise users to stay connected with friends and family through BBM and BBM connected apps. Even for BBM user who may be concerned about privacy you don’t have to worry, because BBM is still very secure. Besides most people on your BBM group are people that you can trust (I hope so at least).

Speaking to Mr. Alan Brenner was a great privilege, and sharing lots of knowledge about the BBM connected platform, I can’t wait to see what is on the brink with RIM, BBM, and BBM connected applications.

Mike Lazaridis says the King of Smartphones is BlackBerry

The PocketBerry Team — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:06:26 +0000

Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis suggests that the BlackBerry is the king of all smartphones. In a recent interview with the folks over at Computer Woche, he explains why the iPhone is not topping the BlackBerry device. Lazaridis says how folks “however, tend to easily forget that we have tailored our portfolio to different market segments.” When you think about it, RIM is catering its devices to every type of customer. Whether it be a multimedia guru looking to load tons of music and video or a corporate CEO looking to email away, RIM has put out a device. In this day in age we see both touch screen and QWERTY buttoned BlackBerry devices released while the iPhone provides only a single touch screen device, with slow and small updates down the road.

Click here to read the full interview>>

-by Mac Jadalhack

PocketBerry Interview with Twitvid.com Co-Founder

The PocketBerry Team — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:00:43 +0000

We were given the opportunity to chat with Adil Lalani, one of the founders of TwitVid.com. So what’s TwitVid? It’s a Twitter website that gives users the unique ability to “tweet” videos. Recently they released a TwitVid application for the BlackBerry handheld, enabling Twitter users across the world to share and view videos.

UberTwitter, one of the most famous BlackBerry Twitter applications recently provided their users with the new ability to send videos via Twitter, as they have embedded TwitVid into their mobile application. Lalani emphasized though, that although UberTwitter was using TwitVid’s service to enhance their own, there is no intention on forming a business partnership.

Unfortunately, the minds at TwitVid were unable to comment on any future upgrades due to the relative newness of the application, but they did tell us that improvements to the application’s features are coming. UberTwitter’s recent offering of a premium version of their app naturally brought up the question of monetization as far as TwitVid is concerned. Lalani said “at this time our mission is to make consumers happy as we have no plans to monetize. We are focused right now on growth. We want to be the kings of video tweeting.”

TwitVid is a growing service that has been around for quite some time now, having originally launched on the PC platform, and then the iPhone. The earlier generations of the iPhone do not include video capturing so moving along with a BlackBerry app will call for an increase of video uploaded. Currently TwitVid is gettin average of 2-3 videos uploaded per minute as it has become a very popular trend in “tweeting.”

As Twitter has become a very popular trend for celebrities, so has TwitVid. Lalani mentioned that currently, Demi Moore, Dane Cook, Dwight Howard, and many NBA players are very active users of TwitVid. There was a very interesting concept that Lalani explained in regards to how creative their service can be used. If you visit the desktop website, you’ll see on the right side of the page that the famous band 30 Seconds to Mars is holding a very interesting campaign. The band posts questions on the page, and the fans then respond in a video format. So what’s the catch? The band handpicks the best video responses to place in their next documentary which is currently being put together.

To wrap-up the interview, we had to know if Adil Lalani was a BlackBerry user or not. He admitted that he is currently an iPhone user; he is very Apple oriented. This part of the conversation turned into a comical twist where he told me the story about his trip to the University of Waterloo which is full of BlackBerry users. I added that it was “highly dangerous” walking around proud with an iPhone around there.

TwitVid for BlackBerry is a great application to have as it is small in size and extremely user-friendly. Interviewing with one of the co-founders gave us a better idea of the application and actual website’s function, as I hope it has influenced you all to get in the vibe with TwitVid. The application is available on the BlackBerry App World absolutely free. To get your full functions out of TwitVid including the campaign for 30 Seconds to Mars, be sure to check out their desktop website.

-by Mac Jadalhack

PocketBerry » Interviews

BBM Apps Hackathon With Alan Brenner

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