Stephen Bates, RIM's European MD takes the BlackBerry 10 cause backwards on #R5Live #smartphone

At around 7:50 this morning Stephen Bates, RIM's European MD, was interviewed on Radio 5 Live to herald the launch of the new BlackBerry 10 platform today. He did a terrible job, taking their cause backwards. Nicky Campbell, and then the business interviewer asked him repeatedly what they had learned from Apple. He continually avoided answering and seemed to be parroting phrases from the launch press release. It's perfectly fine to not accept the premise of the question and ignore it, provided you have something relevant, strong and related to say instead. He could have talked generically about what they had learned from their customers and the current smart phone market and so explained what they've added to BlackBerry 10 in response. He had an ideal opportunity to give the BlackBerry 10 elevator pitch. He blew it completely! He did say they have 8m BB customers in the UK (really? must check that) and that customers and partners they've talked to are very excited by what they are doing. He did talk about user experience and try to explain how your business life and your personal life will be more connected on the new device. I didn't get it at all, and the vast majority of listeners will be frustrated that he just ignored the question and avoided using the word Apple for fear of that being the only sound bite from the interview. RIM turned a golden opportunity in to a disaster by not putting up a PR trained or savvy executive to do this spot. I'm one of the many ex-BlackBerry fans who have defected to the Apple iPhone. On the strength of this, I cannot see the delayed launch of BlackBerry 10 reversing the trend for a once great company and concept. If the European MD can't verbalise the new message, they're in trouble. You can hear the interview for yourself: http://bbc.in/UC5a3t

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