A newbie to conferences — whether locally or travelling to them — I am not; operating this site has taken me to many different places and introduced me to many influential faces — many of whom are idols in their respected industry — enabling me to sit down, chat, get to know, and develop personal bonds with them. Manufacturer specific conferences, however, are a much different story — I am a newbie to those. So one can only imagine the excitement that ensued when I discovered a few months ago that the site was cordially invited to one of the hottest events of the year, the first annual BlackBerry World Conference 2011 or BBW 2011 (formerly the Wireless Enterprise Symposium or WES). You see, this ain’t no ordinary BlackBerry conference, it is THE conference to attend for anyone who even remotely considers themselves a fan-boy. It is also the show where RIM announces plans for the coming year; in terms of both hardware and software.

Coming into this year’s event was a bit different, though. Less than a week before the show, RIM’s forthcoming “Device Roadmap” was leaked, and a promotional page for their soon-to-be flagship BlackBerry Bold 9900 was put up, then quickly removed; neither seemed too mind-blowing, leaving both analysts and bloggers alike worrying. The worry was not only about RIM’s long term, but what could still be announced at BBW to knock people’s socks off. Many speculated, few knew the truth, the ball was now in RIM’s court.

Finally, the day came: Monday, May 2, 2011; Day 1 of the 3 day conference in Orlando, Florida at the Orlando World Center, Marriott Hotel. Needless to say, the place was abuzz with excitement and RIM was ready to fire on all cylinders. First up: The BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 smartphone, exactly what EVERY fan-boy has drooled about for years (or at least since the 9000 first dropped). Then came “BlackBerry Balance“, nothing ground-breaking, but something users have been requesting for a while: corporate functionality/security and personal device all-in-one. After that, we were on to some PlayBook action, with the announcement of the much anticipated OS update which would bring Video Chat and (over the Blackberry Bridge) BBM capabilities (yes, there were other stories covered, but not as newsworthy in my opinion); and just remember: this was only Day 1.

Day 2 seemingly came and went. Beginning with a keynote talk from RIM’s co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, who spoke openly and in-depth about: the forthcoming BlackBerry Bold 9900, the many (many) reasons why the PlayBook pwns all (to encourage this point and mark the 10th anniversary of BlackBerry World (formerly WES) RIM gave everyone in attendance a 16GB PlayBook) — and, the mind-blower: calling Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer on stage to announce the new — out of left field — agreement between them and RIM to include the Bing Maps and Search engine platform into their new BlackBerry 7 OS (scheduled to launch Q3). Other notable mentions from Day 2: Foursquare integration into BlackBerry 7 through the new BBM 6; Angry Birds FINALLY coming to BlackBerry via the PlayBook (though no official launch date was announced); native email and calendar functionality coming to the PlayBook by the end of the summer; and of course, the official BlackBerry World party Tuesday night at Universal Studios Florida, with performances by Toronto’s own Dragonette and the “King of Trance” DJ Paul Oakenfold.

Day 3 was one of my favorites of the press conferences. Because RIM outdid themselves again, this time bringing out inventor/entrepreneur Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway and the DARPA prosthetic arm) and famed Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell (author of many bestsellers including “Outliers”). Both spoke of self-motivation, courage and above all having the tenacity for change. It was nice to have speakers discuss topics outside of “How great BlackBerry devices are”, despite being a BlackBerry centered conference.

Despite my leaving early on Day 4, the message of the week was loud and clear: RIM as a company and BlackBerry as a brand are both strong as ever and despite nay-sayers, not going anywhere but up. Yes, there has been a lot of doubt around them since the PlayBook launched (falling stock prices aside); not only because it seemed to be “rushed” out (lack of apps, bridging issues, no core BBM, email, calendar functionality), but because a lot is riding on their purchase of the QNX operating system. During my final evening in Orlando, I was privileged to sit down for dinner with the guys from CrackBerry (Kevin, Chris aka Bla1ze, and Adam) and Al Sacco of CIO.com. During this dinner we shared our opinions on both the event and RIM’s future, this is when Kevin brought up a very valid, truthful point: “RIM’s purchase of QNX was part of a long term goal. At the core of the BlackBerry OS is — and always will be — the best communication device money can buy, this won’t change. The purchase was a strategic move, because even if device production just stopped, (which will practically never happen) QNX is extremely powerful — it has been used to run nuclear power plants — and the possibilities are endless. The decision was more than just device related, it was for long-term growth; give it time, RIM will be back.”

He went on to then say in regards to device announcements: “once you are selling an in-market device, the second you announce it, you can’t delay it…. All the phones are coming around the same time. They NEED to be on the market by back to school time. Looking at their stock prices, they need new devices. But to announce them all, without a release date, why buy a Torch now, when the new one is coming out? They still need to sell devices. There will be a flurry of devices at once, announced and release a short time later… but they knew they needed to announce something at BBW. They announced something shiny (9900) but let everything be announced before launch. They may look back next year and say crap… but… maybe not.”

FINAL THOUGHT:

Truthfully, I couldn’t agree more with Kevin. The BlackBerry has become a staple in both households and companies; a coming of age device for kids and often a first for those making the jump from standard to smartphone. And the introduction of BBM (which then spawned every other cross-platform IM) has arguably killed off standard text messaging. So counting RIM out because of a few bad months isn’t fair. Don’t get me wrong, they do have along way to go; but after BlackBerry World, official announcement of the BlackBerry Bold 9900, and hands-on time with QNX on the PlayBook (now with working Bridge, Video Chat and BBM), my feelings are slowly changing. RIM does have their work cut out for them, but I’m confident that they are on the right track, and I already can’t wait for next year…