BlackBerry executive won't mention the Apple iPhone

BlackBerry executives are getting plenty of media exposure as everyone wants to talk to them about the new BlackBerry 10 OS and the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 handsets. On Wednesday, over in the U.K. on the show 5 Live Breakfast, BlackBerry's U.K. Managing Director Stephen Bates was asked what his company had learned from the Apple iPhone.

Bates could have said that he'd rather not answer the question, or that he had nothing to say about the topic. Instead, he fumbled his way through a response that must have been programmed into his head by the BlackBerry PR team. But it came out all wrong. For example, the BBC interviewer asks the executive, "What have you learned from the iPhone?" Bates response? "So, so, the key focus around BlackBerry 10 that we’ve really driven to is to deliver a new unique user experience."

You can listen to the audio below. We really can't understand the reason for Mr. Bates' reaction to what is really a rather simple question. We have seen the new management team at BlackBerry go to great lengths to cut ties with the past, so we wonder about this reaction to the Apple iPhone. And Bates' tap dancing around the question has been spread throughout the media. Now is the time for the world to see a poised, focused BlackBerry as has been personified by CEO Thorsten Heins. It is time for Heins to put a positive spin on this. It is the sort of task that Steve Jobs would do countless times when Apple faced a public relations problem. The difference is that Jobs became a living legend who had the media eating out of his hand. It might be asking too much for Heins to pull a rabbit out of his hat.

source: VentureBeat via IntoMobile