 Everybody knows it's been a bad few years for RIM, but the company is coming up on a defining moment with the launch of BlackBerry 10 and all new modern smartphones. We sat down here in San Francisco with CEO Torsten Heinz to find out a little bit about what's coming on the launch and see what he thinks it'll take for RIM to get its mojo back. Well, Torsten Heinz, thanks so much for speaking with us. It's a real pleasure. We've spoken to you a few times now, and the big news most recently is you guys announced that you're launching BlackBerry 10 on January 30th? Correct. That is the announcement. You made the decision to push back the launch after Q4 and into Q1 of 2013, and so you'll be missing the holiday season. Can you talk a little bit about what made you decide to push back the launch into 2013? The major argument really was we were not just building a next update of a smartphone OS, right? We're not moving from BlackBerry 7 to BlackBerry 8. We have built a whole new platform. Nothing that's in BlackBerry 10 on the software side has anything to do with what's in BlackBerry 7. It's a huge undertaking to build a new platform. And we're really looking at this as a platform taking us into the next decade. You need time to get it right. You need time to polish it. When it's out there, I want it to be a wow experience in the user's hands. That was the first argument. The second one was that Q4 is going to be pretty crowded with launches. It's the typical holiday season. And the question we had then with our carriers when we discussed that was, you know, is it too much noise, right? If all these products launch at the same time, carriers said, you know what, Q1, why don't you go for it? They want the quality. So they supported us in that decision. And we can give you full attention in Q1. What's the 10-second pitch for BlackBerry 10 as opposed to iPhone, Android, or even Windows Phone? OK. You're a user, hyper-connected, always on multitasking, and you need to get things done. How do we do this? The best typing experience on a keypad. We have the full integrated hub. So your brain is not occupied with any in and out or which application do I have to open. And if you're connecting your device to an enterprise, we have BlackBerry balance that makes your personal part of the device full private and allows the CAO to have a fully secure corporate part on the same device. Windows Phone has a very concise pitch. We have the start screen with live tiles, and you feel like you can get in, get out, get out of your day, whatever they call it. Do you think that you've got that's a compelling enough reason for someone to choose BlackBerry over another platform? I think it's the user experience that will finally make that decision. And with the hub and all of the integration of all your communication channels, all your notifications into one central hub, which is not an application. It always runs on that device. It's always at your fingertips. And it's always just one swipe away. Wherever you are on this device, you just do this one gesture and you're in your activity center. And you take activities on all your channels, be it Facebook, Twitter, email, BBM, whatever you have, notifications, out of the hub. So there's no need to say back Facebook, back LinkedIn, back BBM. And I think that is so compelling because right now people are really getting overwhelmed by all the different channels they have to deal with. They're hyper connected. And we just make this so easy and comfortable to them. I think that's going to just speak for itself. The big question, of course, is apps. And you recently said that you're aiming for 100,000 apps at launch. How are you going to get to that number? That's a pretty big number. Oh, we have pretty good line of sight to get there. You heard about the 30 jam conferences that we did globally. And the way we look at this is, and we learned this from our presence in Asia, PEC, and Middle East, and South Africa, applications are also local. So the first attempt is, in every of our major countries, get to the 200 to 600 most important local apps. So really work with the local app developer community. This is why we did this in 30 countries. And then the generic applications like games, content, video, music, books, we are deeply integrated with Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. It's not just an application. It's really deeply integrated into the device. That's one thing. Second is we have built a Blackboard 10 platform with various software developer toolkits on it, Flash, Air, HTML5, C, C++ Native, and then we have an Android player. With Android apps, the way that you executed that on the Playbook OS is relatively interesting. Developers still need to submit them directly to the Blackberry store. Yeah, because we want this to be part of the Blackberry app world, the Blackberry world. But they don't have to do a lot of coding or anything. They submit it. It gets converted into the Blackberry app world file format. They need to agree on the commercials and sign up for that. We test it for quality, for sure. So we take a look at that. And then it's there. I'd like to go back and talk about the competition a little bit. Microsoft, it seems, has really gone after you guys with Windows Phone 8. They've got the whole new kernel and platform that's tightly integrated with a whole bunch of their Windows services, and especially their enterprise services for device management. How are you guys going to counter Microsoft to ensure that Windows Phone doesn't eat your lunch? I have a lot of respect for all companies working in this space, because they all have good engineers, they all have creative people. So I think it's about the smartphone market in the US is a very mature market, 60% penetration by now, whereas in other regions we sit at 20%. So if you are in a mature market, you need to segment it. You need to find your bull's-eyes segment. We have identified this for the Blackberry user with those three criteria. And it's not us putting this on paper academically. We did an intense user study about this for weeks and months, which is your hyperconnector, you're multitasking, and you need to get things done. So you're probably not using the device to game or to watch TV shows. Now we've got to be good at that, because that's the consumer decision element. But the hub, the flow, the peak, the balance, that is all geared towards this segment that roughly is about 50% of the smartphone users. And that's what we're aiming at, and that's where we compete. The second thing is I truly believe in mobile computing. I predict that over time, laptops really will disappear. Go into a meeting today and see what people carry into a meeting. So sometimes when you have discussions with your financial teams in a company, they are the Excel spreadsheet gurus and they come with a big laptop. But in general, I think we are up to mobilize the enterprise. And in my view, a smartphone and or a tablet is going to be good enough for 50%, 60% of all mobile workers, of all employees in a corporate enterprise. And that's also what we're shooting at. What is your metric of success for BlackBerry 10? If we talk again in six months, what will be the thing that says, yes, we're on the right path, this is going well, or no, this isn't going well? I think it is clearly making a mark in the market. So being attractive to consumers and to enterprises, selling the device in certain quantities is a measure of success, no doubt. Successful global launches, a good sound marketing campaign around it that attracts consumers, and then we will ramp it up. So that to me is the next six months. And then BB10 will proliferate into the portfolio. So there will be new products we probably can talk about in a few months from now that BlackBerry 10 will be. And it is, again, it is also for me the exploration of the mobile computing domain. So I have several projects, innovation projects running right now in the company where we want to start building this mobile computing experience. Well, thank you very much. Good luck with the launch. Oh, thank you, Peter. Appreciate it. And it's been great talking with you. Yeah. Good luck.
 Everybody knows it's been a bad few years for RIM, but the company is coming up on a
 defining moment with the launch of BlackBerry 10 and all new modern smartphones.
 We sat down here in San Francisco with CEO Torsten Heinz to find out a little bit about
 what's coming on the launch and see what he thinks it'll take for RIM to get its mojo
 back.
 Well, Torsten Heinz, thanks so much for speaking with us.
 It's a real pleasure.
 We've spoken to you a few times now, and the big news most recently is you guys announced
 that you're launching BlackBerry 10 on January 30th?
 Correct.
 That is the announcement.
 You made the decision to push back the launch after Q4 and into Q1 of 2013, and so you'll
 be missing the holiday season.
 Can you talk a little bit about what made you decide to push back the launch into 2013?
 The major argument really was we were not just building a next update of a smartphone
 OS, right?
 We're not moving from BlackBerry 7 to BlackBerry 8.
 We have built a whole new platform.
 Nothing that's in BlackBerry 10 on the software side has anything to do with what's in BlackBerry
 7.
 It's a huge undertaking to build a new platform.
 And we're really looking at this as a platform taking us into the next decade.
 You need time to get it right.
 You need time to polish it.
 When it's out there, I want it to be a wow experience in the user's hands.
 That was the first argument.
 The second one was that Q4 is going to be pretty crowded with launches.
 It's the typical holiday season.
 And the question we had then with our carriers when we discussed that was, you know, is it
 too much noise, right?
 If all these products launch at the same time, carriers said, you know what, Q1, why don't
 you go for it?
 They want the quality.
 So they supported us in that decision.
 And we can give you full attention in Q1.
 What's the 10-second pitch for BlackBerry 10 as opposed to iPhone, Android, or even
 Windows Phone?
 OK.
 You're a user, hyper-connected, always on multitasking, and you need to get things done.
 How do we do this?
 The best typing experience on a keypad.
 We have the full integrated hub.
 So your brain is not occupied with any in and out or which application do I have to
 open.
 And if you're connecting your device to an enterprise, we have BlackBerry balance that
 makes your personal part of the device full private and allows the CAO to have a fully
 secure corporate part on the same device.
 Windows Phone has a very concise pitch.
 We have the start screen with live tiles, and you feel like you can get in, get out,
 get out of your day, whatever they call it.
 Do you think that you've got that's a compelling enough reason for someone to choose BlackBerry
 over another platform?
 I think it's the user experience that will finally make that decision.
 And with the hub and all of the integration of all your communication channels, all your
 notifications into one central hub, which is not an application.
 It always runs on that device.
 It's always at your fingertips.
 And it's always just one swipe away.
 Wherever you are on this device, you just do this one gesture and you're in your activity
 center.
 And you take activities on all your channels, be it Facebook, Twitter, email, BBM, whatever
 you have, notifications, out of the hub.
 So there's no need to say back Facebook, back LinkedIn, back BBM.
 And I think that is so compelling because right now people are really getting overwhelmed
 by all the different channels they have to deal with.
 They're hyper connected.
 And we just make this so easy and comfortable to them.
 I think that's going to just speak for itself.
 The big question, of course, is apps.
 And you recently said that you're aiming for 100,000 apps at launch.
 How are you going to get to that number?
 That's a pretty big number.
 Oh, we have pretty good line of sight to get there.
 You heard about the 30 jam conferences that we did globally.
 And the way we look at this is, and we learned this from our presence in Asia, PEC, and Middle
 East, and South Africa, applications are also local.
 So the first attempt is, in every of our major countries, get to the 200 to 600 most important
 local apps.
 So really work with the local app developer community.
 This is why we did this in 30 countries.
 And then the generic applications like games, content, video, music, books, we are deeply
 integrated with Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
 It's not just an application.
 It's really deeply integrated into the device.
 That's one thing.
 Second is we have built a Blackboard 10 platform with various software developer toolkits on
 it, Flash, Air, HTML5, C, C++ Native, and then we have an Android player.
 With Android apps, the way that you executed that on the Playbook OS is relatively interesting.
 Developers still need to submit them directly to the Blackberry store.
 Yeah, because we want this to be part of the Blackberry app world, the Blackberry world.
 But they don't have to do a lot of coding or anything.
 They submit it.
 It gets converted into the Blackberry app world file format.
 They need to agree on the commercials and sign up for that.
 We test it for quality, for sure.
 So we take a look at that.
 And then it's there.
 I'd like to go back and talk about the competition a little bit.
 Microsoft, it seems, has really gone after you guys with Windows Phone 8.
 They've got the whole new kernel and platform that's tightly integrated with a whole bunch
 of their Windows services, and especially their enterprise services for device management.
 How are you guys going to counter Microsoft to ensure that Windows Phone doesn't eat your
 lunch?
 I have a lot of respect for all companies working in this space, because they all have
 good engineers, they all have creative people.
 So I think it's about the smartphone market in the US is a very mature market, 60% penetration
 by now, whereas in other regions we sit at 20%.
 So if you are in a mature market, you need to segment it.
 You need to find your bull's-eyes segment.
 We have identified this for the Blackberry user with those three criteria.
 And it's not us putting this on paper academically.
 We did an intense user study about this for weeks and months, which is your hyperconnector,
 you're multitasking, and you need to get things done.
 So you're probably not using the device to game or to watch TV shows.
 Now we've got to be good at that, because that's the consumer decision element.
 But the hub, the flow, the peak, the balance, that is all geared towards this segment that
 roughly is about 50% of the smartphone users.
 And that's what we're aiming at, and that's where we compete.
 The second thing is I truly believe in mobile computing.
 I predict that over time, laptops really will disappear.
 Go into a meeting today and see what people carry into a meeting.
 So sometimes when you have discussions with your financial teams in a company, they are
 the Excel spreadsheet gurus and they come with a big laptop.
 But in general, I think we are up to mobilize the enterprise.
 And in my view, a smartphone and or a tablet is going to be good enough for 50%, 60% of
 all mobile workers, of all employees in a corporate enterprise.
 And that's also what we're shooting at.
 What is your metric of success for BlackBerry 10?
 If we talk again in six months, what will be the thing that says, yes, we're on the
 right path, this is going well, or no, this isn't going well?
 I think it is clearly making a mark in the market.
 So being attractive to consumers and to enterprises, selling the device in certain quantities is
 a measure of success, no doubt.
 Successful global launches, a good sound marketing campaign around it that attracts consumers,
 and then we will ramp it up.
 So that to me is the next six months.
 And then BB10 will proliferate into the portfolio.
 So there will be new products we probably can talk about in a few months from now that
 BlackBerry 10 will be.
 And it is, again, it is also for me the exploration of the mobile computing domain.
 So I have several projects, innovation projects running right now in the company where we
 want to start building this mobile computing experience.
 Well, thank you very much.
 Good luck with the launch.
 Oh, thank you, Peter.
 Appreciate it.
 And it's been great talking with you.
 Yeah.
 Good luck.