ORLANDO
A touch of rain is falling outside the BlackBerry World 2012 conference, but I'm happy to report that the sky is not.
I say this because the distinction seems to have been lost on many a breathless commentator over the past year, as Waterloo-based Research In Motion has confronted considerable headwinds in its transition to the BB10 platform.
I won't bore you with the same-old, same-old refrain popularized by the Chicken Littles we've come to know in recent months. Instead, I'll relay a bit of what I've learned in just a couple of hours in Orlando today.
I learned from RIM CEO Thorsten Heins that RIM is more focused than ever on what has always been the BlackBerry's core strength: how it enables users to get things done, and done well.
Heins's enthusiastic demonstrations of just a few of BB10's key attributes - true multitasking, a camera that eliminates the problem of eye-blinks, a fantastically intuitive virtual keyboard among them - served as proof that real innovation is alive and well at RIM.
But, as Heins reminded us, good work takes time, and "we're taking our time to make sure we get this right."
It takes courage and focus to stick with a long-form narrative - one that includes ups and downs, twists and turns, nuance and uncertainty - in a world increasingly dominated by stories reduced to simplified, snackable bits. But courage and focus are the exact qualities Heins exuded during his address today.
That's not likely to surprise anyone who has really paid attention to the RIM story as it has unfolded over the past 28 years - yes, that's 28 years - in Waterloo Region.
Also not surprising to them are the stats, relayed at this morning's breakfast for Canadian attendees, that have been obscured amid all the short-term sound and fury: BlackBerry still has 77 million customers worldwide, remains in use in 90 per cent of the world's Fortune 500 companies, has $2.1 billion in the bank and has no debt.
If the Chicken Littles are still surprised after BB10 appears later this year and the sky remains in place, they will have only themselves to blame.
