RIM CEO Heins: One minute sales pitch is all that is needed to snag BlackBerry 10 buyers

Now that a date has been given for the launch of BlackBerry 10, it is up to CEO Thorsten Heins to sell the last chance BlackBerry has to the public via the media. With this in mind, the boyish looking CEO paid a visit to the New York Times. Discussing RIM's all or nothing bet on BlackBerry 10, he says that he doesn't expect "things to get much worse,"  which could be a relief for long-suffering BlackBerry fans and RIM stockholders. As expected, there is nothing different in the hardware other than the lack of a home button and the inclusion of an LED light that alerts you to notifications. There will also be a model with a physical QWERTY.

Discussing the lack of a home button on the BlackBerry 10 handsets, Heins points out that Android and iOS devices need the button because users need to switch to different apps when performing different tasks. BlackBerry 10 consolidates part of the information that separate apps carry on other operating systems. For example, BlackBerry 10's messaging center can display emails, Facebook updates, LinkedIn messages, texts and tweets. This allows BB10 users to reply to a Facebook post with a quick thumb click, without opening the Facebook app. Additionally, going through one's contacts can show off recent email sent by that person along with news about the contact's company.

While it might sound complicated to some, Heins says that the whole OS can be explained with a sales pitch of less than a minute. Also at the meeting with the Times was RIM’s chief marketing officer, Frank Boulben, who made it clear that RIM is counting on getting business from Corporate IT departments like in the old days. Bouldben said that only half of companies are allowing employees to select their own smartphone models. Bouldben also sees the trend toward returning to the old days when corporate IT departments decided on which phones a company would offer to employees. He sees this happening as a way for companies to save money on tech support costs. And whether or not RIM's CMO is just not being honest with himself, it is apparent that RIM once again is counting on corporate business.

To allow employees of a company to use the same smartphone for work and play, BlackBerry 10 will allow companies to separate personal apps and content from the company's information. This way, if some one quits or is fired, the corporate content can be wiped leaving personal pictures, contacts, etc. Heins predicts that in three to five years, no one will carry laptops as all the computing power needed will be on a smartphone, preferably a BlackBerry.

source: NewYorkTimes