
Blackberry's Euro MD ignores iPhone questions in BBC interview - iuguy
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/blackberry-s-euro-md-bates-ignores-iphone-questioning-on-bbc-radio-5live/0110091
======
raganwald
"You know, people often ask me how to compare our new models to some of the
products that people are already using. They ask me what we've learned from
them, as you did. That's great."

"And yes we did learn from them. Not so much about manufacturing, or how to
make portable, powerful device that is the hub of your day. We have been doing
this for as long as we've been a company, that's in our DNA."

"BUT, what I think we've learned from those other products is the importance
of getting things right for the entire user experience, not just the core four
or five things you do the most. We've always had the very best messaging
platform. We've always had the best security for business. We've always had
the best devices for texting and emailing."

"Now we are committed to that excellence in being the device that browses the
web. That manages your digital wallet. That helps you navigate from where you
were to where you want to be."

"We've learned a lot from the way those other companies do a great job on
things that our customers used to tell us were not critical. The bar has been
raised, and we think we are still the very best device for messaging plus we
are now leapfrogging them to be the best in all the things people are doing
with their devices, not just the core things they do the most."

~~~
hmexx
You're hired.

~~~
leonardzen
^That.

------
EnderMB
I listened to this, and watched him on BBC Breakfast. It was as painful as the
article implies, and it is clear that he had barely even prepared for his
interview outside of preparing a few lines of bullshit to spout about "the
Blackberry experience". He was torn to spreads by several interviewers in a
fairly casual setting, and although I'm sure he's fairly competent at his job
he offered no optimism ahead of their product launch.

EDIT: Shreds, not spreads. Never comment on an empty stomach.

~~~
robotmay
I realise "torn to spreads" is probably a mistake in there, but that's now my
new favourite phrase. Especially in the context of lunch.

~~~
iuguy
My sandwich will be utterly torn to spreads. Brilliant!

------
mixmax
_we’re at the bridge of a new transformation where we see it from going from
mobile communications, there’s mobile computing.. blah blah blah .. we’ve
really driven to is delivering a new unique user experience. blah blah blah...
engaging our customers, consumers, our business customers, the developers, our
partners and we’ve been interacting about what the new BB will deliver and the
feedback’s bneen amazing around… blah blah blah..._

Total corporate newspeak from one end to the other. The only thing we learn is
that he's a businessman, but he's also a familyman.

~~~
cantos
I think we also learned that he has only ever had to work at convincing
existing bb users that the new version is worth upgrading to. He knows nothing
about the technical features which is fine because he only ever interacts with
high level people in enterprise businesses who don't care about technical
features.

I've started to think that bb management views the company like the IBM of the
mobile phone world, an old and venerable company driven by great engineering
that doesn't need to be greatly concerned with what its competitors are doing.
Them having deeply internalized this kind of view of company is the only
reason I can think of that their apparent arrogance and misunderstanding of
their place in the world makes sense.

------
AlexMuir
Direct link for the UK (not sure it's accessible elsewhere):
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p014f43k>

\--

My embarrassment at this humiliating performance is only mitigated by a slight
pride in the BBC presenters not letting him off with it.

~~~
StavrosK
Works in Greece too, thanks! Man, this is cringeworthy.

~~~
chris_wot
So he can't learn from a competitor. Blackberry is dead, dead, dead.

------
damian2000
Muppets like this guy don't do their cause any good at all. I don't understand
why BB don't talk up their new OS (QNX). From the little I know about it it
seems fairly cool ...

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QNX>

Its a microkernal based RTOS.

------
seivan
Rim/Blackberry is a joke. Sounds like a business monkey at large here, selling
shit he has no clue about. Would have been better if they had one of the
designers or engineers onboard instead buzzwording bs and making a fool out of
himself.

Kudos to the BBC guys for not letting him off the hook, regardless of how
awkward it might have been. Got a new fan now.

------
maerek
What is BB's real business value proposition?

I'm got sincere concern for the well-being of Blackberry. I doubt that having
a physical keyboard is enough of a game changer to have people switch back to
a BB from an Android/iPhone device. They've stagnated for several years while
their competitors have moved ahead, in terms of both OS polish and device
functionality. A lackluster interview performance where not a single tangible
improvement was given seems more indicative of the company as a whole than
just an inept executive.

Any speak about "business friendliness" and "security" is complete hogwash.
Apple's and Androids MDM solutions may not be perfect, but app-level
encryption is readily available on both. Data secured at rest + data secured
in transit.

------
Nux
I wonder what they've learned from Android, since this is the prevalent
smartphone OS in the UK. :-D Anyway, amazing interview. :-))

~~~
archangel_one
...Really? I mean, it's pretty prevalent right here, but I am sitting in the
Google office. I see significantly more iPhones on the Tube of a morning than
Android phones.

Do you think Android is more prevalent outside London, or have you just had a
different experience to me?

~~~
beaumartinez
The tube in the morning has a wealthier, commuting demographic that doesn't
represent the rest of the UK.

~~~
robotmay
If only more businesses realised that the London demographic is starkly
different to pretty much everywhere else.

I'm in Cardiff and I see quite a few more Android phones than I do iPhones.

~~~
andyking
I concur. The trains and trams in and out of Sheffield are very much Android
territory. Not even new Android devices (Galaxy SIII, Nexus 4 etc) - they are
generally devices a generation or two behind.

Mind you, there _is_ That Guy who sits watching Pointless on streaming TV on
his iPad on the way home each night...

------
joyinsky
Wow, this is a new low. Even for BlackBerry.

~~~
nsns
But not for a politician...[0]

[0] [http://www.mediaite.com/tv/robot-politician-in-bbc-
interview...](http://www.mediaite.com/tv/robot-politician-in-bbc-interview-
british-labor-leader-gives-same-answer-to-every-question/)

~~~
arethuza
I've never had the "uncanny valley" feeling while watching a human before!

~~~
chris_wot
You really, really need to start listening to the Australian Prime Minister,
Julia Gillard, talk.

Sorry if this sounds like a cheap political shot, as I'm normally a Labor
party supporter, but she honestly is like an overprogrammed, overcoached
politician.

------
hmexx
Here's a video of a similar performance by this guy on UK TV:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5l8bdaOMaA>

~~~
chris_wot
"Blackberry UK head, Stephen Bates sticks to his PR script. The script doesn't
help him."

I love the segue back to the compere's...

Q: "What went wrong?"

A: "The boss wants to focus on what went right..."

------
meaty
That interviewer was being an unprofessional asshat to be honest. I think the
BBC are near tabloid when it comes to technology reporting these days.

~~~
chris_wot
You're joking. Apple are wiping the floor with Blackberry. Blackberry are
about to _go out of business_ because of Apple. I think that it's a pretty
reasonable question, and given the response (or lack thereof) the interviewer
was totally within his rights to go after Stephen Bates.

The BBC is not a place for you to read out your press release. Expect to be
asked questions. Even gentle ones, like, "what have you learned from your
competitors?".

~~~
meaty
100% not joking. The questions are fine but the approach that was taken i.e.
shouting over the guy is unacceptable.

Watch Jeremy Paxman deal with someone. He'll let the person dig themselves a
hole and politely fill it in on top of them.

------
varjag
The takeaway: nobody wants to be that guy who sets up his employer to another
billion dollar lawsuit from Apple.

~~~
ludflu
That's what I was thinking. Any direct answer to that question would delight
the swarms of injunction-happy Apple lawyers.

------
kaolinite
I can completely understand him not wanting to answer the iPhone question -
that's the kind of thing that would end up in court if Apple ever sued RIM.
However later when he can't even mention a feature that BB10 has over
Android/iOS, that's just embarrassing.

------
ishansharma
So, I have asked this question many times but never got an answer. Fellow HN
users, please tell me:

>> What is the USP of BlackBerry?

I've met many people who use BB and I have no idea why. And all the answers
were like this guy's answers.

------
chris_wot
RIM seem to have form on this sort of thing...

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9456798.s...](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9456798.stm)

From one extreme to another it appears!

------
schappim
Wow, did they give him no media training!?!

~~~
arethuza
By the sounds of it I think he has had some really _bad_ media training.

------
chris_wot
_Here’s the transcript. Audio can be accessed on iPlayer._

Ouch.

------
tehwalrus
that was painful to read.

~~~
chris_wot
Whatever you do, don't listen to it then...

------
Beltiras
If you think about it thou: answering questions like this invites litigation.

~~~
chris_wot
Ridiculous. He can talk about it in generic terms. He could say the bleeding
obvious: the iPhone is very easy to use, and so they have focused on
usability. Or their app store ecosystem is excellent. So they want to be
awesome at that.

While I don't like spin, this was oh so much the easiest of questions to have
answered.

