We ended up having 13 developers present last night at the first annual BlackBerry Cool 15, but it turned out to be the lucky number. The drinks were flowing, the room was full, the applications were great and everybody seemed to have a good time. Before I get to thanking everyone who made this possible, I’ve got some announcements to make.
During the BBDC Keynote Today, Rick Segal of the BlackBerry Partners Fund announced that they had added a third Category to the BlackBerry Developer Challenge: The People’s Choice Award. The BlackBerry Partners Fund chose the People’s Choice winner based upon the winner of the BlackBerry Cool 15, Nobex’s Radio Companion for BlackBerry. I’m thrilled that we played a (small) part in helping Nobex receive a $150,000 debenture. Congrats, Nobex, you earned it!
Rick Segal also made on-the-spot offers to two other BlackBerry Cool 15 developers, BeamBerry and SmrtGuard. Way to go!
Continue reading ‘The BlackBerry Cool 15 was a huge success!’
WHERE: Session rooms California 7-9 (across from the Mobility Pavilion)
WHEN: 8pm-9:30pm (after the Welcome Reception)
It’s almost time for the BlackBerry Cool 15! We have a have a full list of developers ready to present their innovation applications and ideas to a packed audience and distinguished panel. Here’s a list of the presenters:
Evgeny Lebanidze, BeamBerry
James Shannon, DevelopIQ
Fred Potter, BerryStore
Kyle Kemper, Vayyoo
Amit Kumar, Ubiquitous Systems (Social Scope)
Robert Kao, SmrtGuard (PeeKaWho)
Arun Nagarajan, Pyxis MObile (SmartFlicks)
David McCormack, ExSafe
Jason Mace, Energy Corporation Of America
Beth Marcus, Zeemote
Michael Russo, Polar Mobile
(if I’m missing anyone please remind me!)
We also have Rick Segal and various members of the BlackBerry Partners Fund attending eager to hand out offer sheets to the right developer.
We’re also GIVING AWAY TWO BLACKBERRY STORMS! One to the winner of the BlackBerry Cool 15 and one to a lucky audience member. So make sure to attend! The BlackBerry Cool 15 starts promptly at 8pm, and there’s only enough room for 150 people!
We’re now a weekend away from the BlackBerry Developer Conference, and I couldn’t be more excited. Mike Lazaridis keynote, hands on with the BlackBerry Storm, and the BlackBerry Cool 15. Oh wait, that reminds me, we’ve been talking about the BlackBerry Cool 15 all week, and we haven’t mentioned what the prizes are. Developers take note:
RICK SEGAL OF THE BLACKBERRY PARTNERS FUND will be participating as a judge and taking a keen interest in the applications presented. He will have offer sheets in hands and he is looking to spend, spend, spend.
WE’RE GIVING AWAY TWO BLACKBERRY STORMS! That’s right, not one, but two BlackBerry Storms will be given away at the BlackBerry Cool 15! While one will obviously be going to the developer with the best application, we haven’t decided what to do with the other one yet. Maybe give it to a lucky member of the audience? We’ll see…
You now have NO REASON to miss the BlackBerry Cool 15. Meet us at the Marriott Hotel in session rooms California 7-9 at 8pm on Monday, October 20th (right after the welcome reception). We’ll see you there!
Register for the BlackBerry Cool 15
More information about the BlackBerry Cool 15
A special thanks must go out to Rick Segal, Mike Kirkup and everyone at RIM/BlackBerry Partners Fund that has turned this wishful thinking into a reality.
The fine folks at Pyxis Mobile pinged me last night to let me know that they have released a beta version of SmartFlicks for BlackBerry. SmartFlicks is a Netflix client that is impressive not only for what it does, but for how it was made. Apparently, Pyxis leveraged the same client and codebase used to service their financial services customers to build the application in a day. Also, because the application is ‘built’ on your BlackBerry when you run it, Pyxis can add features and enhancements at any time that will appear in SmartFlicks the next time you log in.
You can download the SmartFlicks for BlackBerry beta after the jump, but if you’re attending the BlackBerry Developer Conference, make sure to swing by the BlackBerry Cool 15 and watch Arun Nagarajan of Pyxis Mobile demonstrate SmartFlicks and the technology behind it in person!
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Read the rest of Pyxis Mobile releases SmartFlicks, will present at BlackBerry Cool 15
We’re less than a week away from the BlackBerry Developer Conference, which means that we’re less than a week away from THE BLACKBERRY COOL 15! Since our initial post about our first developer focused event, a lot of excitement has been floating into our inbox. We have some updates for you, so we thought now would be a good time to fuel the fire:
First off, we’ve confirmed the time and place. The BlackBerry Cool 15 will take place on Monday, October 20th, from 8pm-9pm, in breakout rooms California 7-9 of the Santa Clara Marriott. This is right after the welcome reception on the Mobility Pavilion, and we’ll be making sure to carry on the relaxed atmosphere with adult beverages and snacks.
We also have two new judges to introduce: Blogger Troy D. Brown of BlackBerryNews.com and Rick Segal of the BlackBerry Partners Fund! We’re particularly excited to have Rick joining us, as he is eager to break open the vault and cough up some term sheet love for the BlackBerry Nation. Cha-ching!
We’ve also had a lot of interest from developers who would like to demo software that doesn’t quite meet our pre-1.0 release state. We’ve thus decided to open up the BlackBerry Cool 15 to software that is still in ‘back of napkin’ state or went 1.0 as recently as September 1st. Bring your PowerPoint presentation, your napkin scribblings, a working build or a healthy dose of charisma — if you want to participate, we want you there!
Now for the fun stuff — the prizes. While we can’t make any announcements yet (sorry), in talking with Rick Segal today, it was decided that the prize had to be something “different”. Stay tuned!!
Register for the BlackBerry Cool 15
More information about the BlackBerry Cool 15
UPDATE: Just got an email from Rick Segal, member of the BlackBerry Partners fund, confirming that he can also participate as a judge! This is great news for all developers participating, as I’m sure he’s looking to break open the vault and cough up some term sheet love for the BlackBerry Nation.
We’ve had a long history of being excited about being excited for the BlackBerry Developer Conference since it was first announced back in May. Our excitement reached a high point last week, when we told you of our participation in the BlackBerry Partners Fund Developer Challenge and the What Makes a Great Mobile Application? panel. I’d now like to formally introduce another DevCon event that can’t have us any more excited: The BlackBerry Cool 15.
The BlackBerry Cool 15 is an event we’re running to give exposure to BlackBerry developers with innovative and “cool” software ideas while providing them with a relaxed forum to interact with other like-minded people. The BlackBerry Cool 15 is a celebration of the BlackBerry development community and a good excuse to have a great time! Here’s how it will happen:
* We’re looking for 15 registered DevCon developers willing to display their innovative, pre-1.0 software release in front of an audience at the BlackBerry Developer Conference.
* Each of the 15 selected developers will have 1-2 minutes to pitch their idea or application, followed by 2-3 minutes of questioning by a judges panel.
* After all the developers have made their pitch, the audience members will vote on the best BlackBerry application. The winner will receive some great prizes which will be announced shortly.
* The whole event will be filmed and eventually displayed on BlackBerry Cool for the entire BlackBerry Nation to see.
The BlackBerry Cool 15 is being sponsored by the BlackBerry Partners Fund, which will supply both the adult beverages and developer prizes (thanks guys!). Our judging panel is a ‘who’s who’ of the BlackBerry blogging world, comprised of Al Sacco from CIO.com, Kevin Michaluk from CrackBerry.com, Hayden James from Pinstack.com (unconfirmed) and yours truly.
The BlackBerry Cool 15 is going to be a great time so make sure to come. It will take place on Monday, October 20th after the DevCon opening reception (more specific details to follow). Are you a developer interested in making a pitch to a room full of VCs, RIM employees and peers? REGISTER NOW!!!