...to continue to lay pipe so the apps that get built for BlackBerry are context aware, that we enable them with platform elements and interfaces into our applications that position them to exploit knowledge about the user and the user's context that make a more potent and feature-dense user experience.
That's the thing about mobile. You're so constrained in terms of time and attention and input and output ability that the device has to do the work for you — where the devices are representative of the system behind it. We look at that in one way as an application problem but the more strategic way we look at it it's a platform problem, so our partners can join with us providing a more orchestrated, intelligent, context-aware experience.
I've been talking to developers and they're pretty excited; they see the promise. You're adding [Google] Gears to your platform, you're opening up areas of BlackBerry that have been locked down.
How do you balance offering more integration and more options to developers with keeping the BlackBerry secure?
It is a journey. I think we're very aware of the need to manage that balance, because our core value propositions include unmatched focus on platform and device security. Our customer base reflects that focus, so we would never do anything that would put at risk the market capital we built up around security of the platform.
A chain is as strong as the weakest link. We are quite focused on leaving no holes in the wall around the security of the product.
That said, from day one we have been extraordinarily adept at making [BlackBerry] convenient, functional, capable while being secure. Make it open enough, useful enough, convenient enough for people to get into the flow of the experience, at the same time protecting the assets of the user — that's an interesting challenge we have really worked over the years to be distinctive about.
Apart from the iPhone, every smartphone platform has a diversity of devices and capabilities. How do you make that work as you introduce your new features?
Whenever we introduce a new release, we do support updates to existing in-market product. How far back we go depends on the release. We do recognise that's a requirement to be competitive.
That said, at the same time we're growing very rapidly. Our installed base doubles every year, every 15 months or so. People keep their devices a long time, but our subscriber community is growing so rapidly that most people are carrying new devices.
What's the biggest challenge for RIM itself, and for how you work with developers?
One of the challenges we are mastering is the growth in scope. Three or four years ago, we were more or less an enterprise app company, more or less delivering our own applications — today, we serve all markets: enterprise, SMB, consumer. Three or four years ago, we were in North America — now we're global, working in 170 countries, with 500 carriers.
Those numbers speak to the growth and diversity we have to address to be a good supplier. We've had to internalise the diversity. If you look at the BlackBerry Alliance Program, how it's grown up to engage the developers — we've become the kind of company it takes to do this.
