Will Robertson's Blog

Tuesday was RIM’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) for shareholders. I have almost ended up in Waterloo twice before. First was an admission offer from Laurier University and more recently was a job offer from RIM, both offers I ultimately could not accept. The AGM finally got me out to Waterloo.

After the votes were cast and all of the board member nominees were elected by a vote of over 90% we got to the good stuff, a presentation by Mike Lazaridis and Jim Ballsillie followed by Q&A.

Mike and Jim covered a lot of ground Tuesday, however the real interesting bits that I got out of it was what they did not say. Here are a few things that stuck out to me:

- RIM will launch seven BlackBerry 7 smartphones this year: going on what we already know this seven include the new Bold, Torch 2, Storm-replacement, and new Curve. I would not expect any surprises, all of the BB7 handsets that are coming this year have been leaked already and these four phones make seven different models when you count the CDMA versions.

- The BlackBerry Superphone is coming early 2012: RIM said the PlayBook was just the start of their implementation of the “future-proof” QNX platform, with the Superphone continuing this work in 2012. I would not be surprised if we see more devices in addition to the PlayBook and Superphone running the OS that results from the evolution of BlackBerry Tablet OS. Possible devices include a settop box like the AppleTV, embedded automotive systems (like QNX is already into), and larger tablets.

- The release of the PlayBook is of equal importance to RIM as the release of the original BlackBerry: the PlayBook is not going away and will be heavily improved and supported with updates and new apps. The media likes to speculate that RIM may abandon the PlayBook, but that could not be further from the truth. The PlayBook and underlying OS is RIM’s platform going forward.

- RIM will continue selling and supporting OS7 devices even after launching the QNX Superphone. These devices will be demoted to the low end once the Superphone is out, and be heavily promoted in developing markets.

After attending the AGM and seeing the company in action I am even more enthusiastic about what RIM has coming out and can not wait to get my hands on the new Bold 9900 next month.

After getting a hang of RIM’s WebWorks SDK for PlayBook I have completed the new version of my PlayBook app Temp Notes.

This new version is a rewrite from the original version, and it much closer to the original app I had envisioned. Highlights of the update:

• Full text-section and copy/paste functionality
• Graphics (thanks to Dennern!)
• Support for Portrait orientation (way better for thumb-typing!)

Now that this transition is complete I can focus on adding the features that I have been planning.

The PlayBook app I created for the launch of PlayBook App World was not fully baked. App World reviewers made this clear with an average rating of 2/5 stars. Quite deserved given the confusing limitations of the current version.

To rectify this situation I have been working on the app in my spare time to make what I had actually envisioned. Using RIM’s WebWorks SDK rather than Flash Builder and ActionScript I have been able to fix my app by starting fresh with a better toolset. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are much easier to me and will greatly speed up the learning process.

My app, which I will be renaming Temp Notes (originally TempNote), will rollout in three updates:

1. Switch to WebWorks, new icon, and new UI design
2. Update with new features (multi-page, sharing, and advanced copy/paste feature)
3. Integration of future “Send As..” API and integration with RIMs Memopad app

Here is a teaser of the first update, which should be submitted to App World this week.

Today Kobo announced the next generation of their eReader, and with it came a great story on the Financial Post with many revealing statements indicating Kobo’s future plans.

Kobo eReader Touch Edition Demo Video from Kobo on Vimeo.

The most interesting statement to me was:

Mr. Serbinis said a version of Reading Life for Research In Motion Ltd.’s new BlackBerry PlayBook will likely be ready later this summer.

This is one of the features from Kobo’s iPad app that I have missed on the PlayBook version.

Other interesting statements in the article include:

• Kobo is well aware that eBooks are moving towards interactivity and embedded media.
• Kobo’s Reading Life, a system they introduced in their iPad and Android apps to reward heavy readers with virtual awards will expand to include offers from third-parties, which will include real rewards like free coffees. This is an interesting new business model, adding a third revenue stream to their current book sales and data analytics sales models.

It is great to see Kobo continuing to innovate and compete in a market where they are up against giants like Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble. Reading Life and social media integration is a great differentiator, something no other competitor has implemented. It would be interesting to see Kobo integrate Reading Life’s social integration to Facebook Places and Foursquare.

It is great to see Kobo continuing to innovate and compete in a market where they are up against giants like Amazon, Apple, and Barnes&Nobles. The Reading Life and social media integration is a great differentiator, something no other eReading competitor has implemented. It would be interesting to see Kobo integrate Reading Life’s social integration to Facebook Places and Foursquare.