In case you missed the BlackBerry Jam Sessions that RIM hosted at this year’s SXSW Music, Film & Interactive Festival, here’s a short video I pieced together of what went down. Between Porting apps, upgrading users to BlackBerry 7, free food & drinks, handing out cool stickers – RIM definitely made a Bold statement.
At first the inclement weather had the streets of Austin isolated with showers but once the weather cleared up, people started rolling in and the fun only escalated. Developers who brought in their app ideas walked out with a free BlackBerry PlayBook and those who walked in with a pre-OS7 device walked out with a new Torch or Bold , courteous of RIM. As mentioned in the podcast, I did not see the competition upgrade its users the way RIM did. I wish RIM’s events would have lasted longer so that the nightlife could have also got a taste of some BlackBerry Jam. RIM had literally just flown in from the Game developers Conference held in San Francisco so being on a back to back event, we feel you. Perhaps next time RIM can host 1 day event and a 2nd heading into the evening. I would have much preferred hanging out at the BlackBerry Jam House rather than being at the Google Village. None the less, it was a great event and everyone had fun. Most importantly, more people got to see how attractive and commercial the BlackBerry platform is going to be moving forward as it reaches the peak of its mobile transition to BlackBerry 10 – RIM’s first unified OS.
I hope you enjoyed the video above. Keep it locked on BBE for more SXSW coverage of BlackBerry Jam Sessions and keep on the lookout for your questions answered!
