RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview • Hacker News Board

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#41

Post by simonsez » Wed, Apr 13, 2011, 6:31 PM UTC

chrisvale wrote: post #39

pedalpete wrote: post #3

I strangely want to give kudos to both sides. The phrasing of 'the problems you've had in terms of security' is seriously misleading and very poorly worded. I guess I've never seen the behind the scenes legal voices jump in before, but clearly, that question is baiting (unless RIM has some security issues I'm unaware of). On the other side, cool that the BBC posts this for all to see, rather than just hiding it away…

Rory asked an intentionally loaded and HuffPo-like question; "Can I move on to the problems you've had in terms of security...and your various arguments you've had with the Indian government and a number of governments in the Middle East" This is like asking Craigslist about their "issues with revenue" since it's free to post anything outside of jobs, and being free is one of the key features that defines Craigslist.…

I don't understand your analogy: in the Craigslist case Craigslist has no issues being free, but others have issues with it being free. Craiglist is not making changes to their free model to appease others.

In the RIM case the system is secure except when they are giving access to the system to governments - making it not secure (at least in many people's eyes).

How are these similar?

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#42

Post by andyking » Wed, Apr 13, 2011, 6:32 PM UTC

JonnieCache wrote: post #37

bruceboughton wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oddly, Blackberry is insanely cool amoung the teen crowd in the UK (well, London anyway). Not sure why, since they have no need for business class email. BBM seems to be the main driver, even though there are plenty of altenatives on other platforms.

>Blackberry is insanely cool amoung the teen crowd in the UK It's definitely a London thing. They became hugely popular in the summer of 2009, rapidly making their way into the constantly shifting memepool that is the grime scene. Witness "Maxwell D - Blackberry Hype": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qtShEs5LQs Believe it or not this isn't paid product placement. Hence he lists RIM's competitors in the intro. They pr…

Kiss 100's breakfast show in London is sponsored by RIM - and they give out their BBM PIN as a way of contacting the studio.

Other stations I've heard, outside London, also give out BBM PINs - Radio City 96.7's dance music programming in Liverpool is one I've noticed.

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#43

Post by JCB_K » Wed, Apr 13, 2011, 6:59 PM UTC

Stephen Fry (also BBC) on Twitter this morning: "On way to meet Mike Lazarides of Blackberry. Excited: he was an absolute pioneer. Interested to know what's in the pipeline. Playbook etc."

I don't really understand, why would Fry tag along to someone else's interview?

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#44

Post by JoachimSchipper » Wed, Apr 13, 2011, 7:10 PM UTC

rbarooah wrote: post #40

dotBen wrote: post #38

Rory Cellan-Jones, the interviewer, is a former colleague from my days at the BBC. Just to give some context, he is one of the BBC's most experienced business news journalists, in addition to being a more recent technology journalist. But in a word of sound-bites and short-quotes, I'm surprised Rory didn't consider - or at least pick up after the initial rebuttal - that if Lazaridis in any way answered the question p…

It sounds as though you are suggesting that journalists should not ask CEOs questions about issues that might affect PR or the stock price. Am I misreading you?

In general, you don't learn a lot asking people (in positions of power) questions that they will have to respond to with an uninteresting, transparent evasion or lie.

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#45

Post by adolph » Wed, Apr 13, 2011, 7:13 PM UTC

rbarooah wrote: post #40

dotBen wrote: post #38

Rory Cellan-Jones, the interviewer, is a former colleague from my days at the BBC. Just to give some context, he is one of the BBC's most experienced business news journalists, in addition to being a more recent technology journalist. But in a word of sound-bites and short-quotes, I'm surprised Rory didn't consider - or at least pick up after the initial rebuttal - that if Lazaridis in any way answered the question p…

It sounds as though you are suggesting that journalists should not ask CEOs questions about issues that might affect PR or the stock price. Am I misreading you?

I think the parent commenter is saying that it is unproductive for a journalist to ask questions that they know the CEO cannot answer because of the CEO's fiduciary responsibility to their enterprise. That isn't saying not to ask, but to pick up on cues from the interviewee that pursuing a particular line of questioning isn't going to be successful.

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#46

Post by tlear » Wed, Apr 13, 2011, 7:13 PM UTC

togasystems wrote: post #35

bruceboughton wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oddly, Blackberry is insanely cool amoung the teen crowd in the UK (well, London anyway). Not sure why, since they have no need for business class email. BBM seems to be the main driver, even though there are plenty of altenatives on other platforms.

I have always been fascinated by BBM's popularity. Whenever somebody told me that BBM was their reason for buying a Blackberry, I always countered with text messaging is available on ALL phones. They counter with that you have to pay for text messaging and my final counter is that you already have a $60/month plan to support your Blackberry, why didn't you ask your phone company to throw in free text-messaging? They…

People who use BB for BBM do not get $60 plans.. they get $25 plans that have unlimited bis traffic and very low normal data traffic. Not to mention you can pump media through it for free

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#47

Post by stumm » Wed, Apr 13, 2011, 7:17 PM UTC

You might want to update the link to the actual article rather than a BBC tech landing page. :-) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9456798.s...

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#48

Post by spinchange » Wed, Apr 13, 2011, 7:22 PM UTC

asawilliams wrote: post #17

I think the way the question was worded could have confused people that are not familiar with the current situation between RIM and those countries. The question was worded in a way that made it sound like the device were insecure, but it is the very opposite, they are too secure by these countries standards. Lazaridis should have handled the question better by clarifying the question and then answering. He was not h…

This is like text-book CEO stuff, right? I think his reaction and cutting the interview short confused the issue even more. If I didn't already know the background, I would think there really must be a security issue, not that some foreign governments are threatening RIM because it's too secure. I think he could've easily batted that one away, if he hadn't taken it like a personal insult.

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#49

Post by VB6_Foreverr » Wed, Apr 13, 2011, 7:27 PM UTC

bruceboughton wrote: post #33

blinkingled wrote: post #15

The interview showed glimpses of desperation, edginess and plain frustration which speak volumes about RIM's approach to handling the drastically altered smart phone market. Lazaridis kept using the words "singled out" - his reasoning behind it was because they were so successful. He was trying to convince that the carpet has not been pulled from below RIM's feet. It showed that RIM doesn't really "get" it. They thin…

Oddly, Blackberry is insanely cool amoung the teen crowd in the UK (well, London anyway). Not sure why, since they have no need for business class email. BBM seems to be the main driver, even though there are plenty of altenatives on other platforms.

It's not just London or not just UK either, the teens love Blackberry where I live too

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#50

Post by dotBen » Wed, Apr 13, 2011, 7:30 PM UTC

rbarooah wrote: post #40

dotBen wrote: post #38

Rory Cellan-Jones, the interviewer, is a former colleague from my days at the BBC. Just to give some context, he is one of the BBC's most experienced business news journalists, in addition to being a more recent technology journalist. But in a word of sound-bites and short-quotes, I'm surprised Rory didn't consider - or at least pick up after the initial rebuttal - that if Lazaridis in any way answered the question p…

It sounds as though you are suggesting that journalists should not ask CEOs questions about issues that might affect PR or the stock price. Am I misreading you?

I'm saying that journalists can ask whatever they want - but companies, esp CEOs, are simply unlikely to answer a significant question that could be easily miss-interpreted by the media.

Thus assuming the objective isn't to "trip the CEO up" (which I don't think it was, it isn't a BBC style) then asking/rephrasing the question differently might have helped achieve the interview Rory was looking for.

In other words, Adolph's remark is spot on.