RIM's Alliance Partners: A Huge Asset

I’ve just returned from a whirlwind trip to Berlin to check out RIM’s BlackBerry Alliance EMEA Summit. If you recall, I popped by for last year’s event for the whole three days in Rome and found a thriving community of passionate BlackBerry businesses, many of whom I managed to catch on camera (you can still find the videos on Mobile Developer TV).

This year, there was much talk of the PlayBook and the ‘convergence’ story (between the smartphone and the tablet). There were also many new faces amongst the 230 participants. Every RIM executive I bumped into was bursting with enthusiasm at the company’s continued growth. Mike Kirkup, for example, the chap who leads the company’s developer relations took obvious pleasure highlighting all the different geographies where RIM is the #1 smartphone (and it’s a long list).

Back in San Francisco, I felt RIM jumped into overdrive with the raft of developer announcements (analytics, advertising, webworks) on top of the PlayBook announcements. All of a sudden, the company’s forward-looking strategy became clear: the 6.0 OS, QNX, Tablet vs handset and so on.

I was curious to see if the company had retained this momentum, particularly given the long stretch before the PlayBook launch. From what I saw yesterday, though, the company is most definitely in 5th gear.

For a long time, RIM has heavily invested in partner relations with developers, integrators and vendors because it made financial sense. Whilst other manufacturers were simply about flogging handsets, RIM’s recurring client license and BES revenues depend squarely on continued service demand from customers — demand that is met by the company’s army of partners.

It’s no surprise, then, to find the EMEA Alliance Partner companies in rude health (at least those that I met yesterday). Away from the keen can-do ears of the event team, I probed many partners on their relationship with RIM.

There wasn’t a hint of negativity. And that’s rather good news. Witness, for example, one company approached to go into a totally different market after a RIM sales person there suggested their service to a large conglomerate. Being a partner isn’t about getting a fancy stamp for your letterhead. RIM is clearly very serious about making sure its Alliance Partners succeed. Indeed, at last night’s innovation awards, one of the chaps on stage pointed out that although they would shortly be announcing some ‘winners’, every one of the 100+ case studies submitted was being repackaged into a briefing series for RIM’s worldwide sales force. That makes a lot of sense.

I sat down with a few Alliance Partners (old and new) and took copious notes of our conversations — I’ll be writing those up shortly. I also sat down with two key executives, Rory O’Neill and Mike Kirkup — the output of that conversation is coming soon too.

(Written at 11,000ft, North East of London, on the final approach to Heathrow)

Posted via email from MIR Live