Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

news.bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 76 posts

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#11

Post by btn »

tomelders wrote: post #2

Sounds to me like he misunderstood the question and assumed the Beeb were implying there's a serous security issue with the Blackberry device itself, when the question was actually about the "security" concerns of certain countries in which Blackberrys are sold.

At the very end of the clip, Lazaridis says in closing the interview: "this [the topic being discussed] is a national security issue". He knew exactly what was being asked; and even if the phrasing was better, he'd have given the same reaction.

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#12

Post by whyleyc »

pedalpete wrote: post #7
tomelders wrote: post #2

Sounds to me like he misunderstood the question and assumed the Beeb were implying there's a serous security issue with the Blackberry device itself, when the question was actually about the "security" concerns of certain countries in which Blackberrys are sold.

I thought the way the first question was worded was intentionally misleading. The interviewers second try was better, but at that point, I think they had already soured the interview. I also think that the issue was dealt with, and the countries who had threatened to shutdown RIM, are no longer posturing, so it is kind of like bringing up old bad news for no reason, when the company is really there to promote the Pla…

In which case if it was really a "non-issue" the RIM CEO should have said as much, and issued a quick reassurance for users.

Instead by getting so defensive he's guaranteed that the InterWebs will now be talking about this and not the PlayBook.

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#13

Post by joelhaasnoot »

jasonlotito wrote: post #5
tomelders wrote: post #2

Sounds to me like he misunderstood the question and assumed the Beeb were implying there's a serous security issue with the Blackberry device itself, when the question was actually about the "security" concerns of certain countries in which Blackberrys are sold.

No. He knew exactly what the question was about, and what it was regarding. Their was no misunderstanding there. He didn't appreciate the word choice because characterizing it as a security issue implies certain things. But no, he knew exactly what he was being asked. Sure, the initial question was poorly worded, but he's not a stupid man.

He may not be stupid, but governments harass companies all the time and put them into situations they don't want to be. RIM is not special, and being in an interview you get asked questions you don't want to answer. He definately could've played along and answered it. But that may just be my Dutch/European directness.

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#14

Post by Jun8 »

At this level, i.e. CEO, this is pure idiocy, you should have a canned response for such questions, in fact deflating such questions is part of your job, for heaven's sake!

And they did have problems in India and Middle East, where governments wanted access to emails. Rather than bailing out like this, RIM can turn it into a PR victory, like Google did with China, saying (i) "see how secure our systems are, governments can't break in" and (ii) "we are standing up for freedom, democracy, etc."

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#15

Post by blinkingled »

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 think the world is being unfair to them - they think that as a problem - not the facts that they couldn't get decent, modern smartphone hardware with a competent OS (for the market) out in years. They are just like Nokia - except they believe they have no problems.

Sure Blackberry has the best security architecture, it has never had security issues until they started using WebKit, lots of people still use it. There is no denying that. What is problematic is that those things do not matter in the battle that RIM is fighting against Android and iOS. No sane Joe with a dumb phone is going to find BB compelling for his smart phone upgrade. It's just not cool.

What RIM needs is a dual OS/dual hardware strategy - let the BB folks keep doing "Pro" phones like they do today with BB OS. Let a fresh hardware and software team look at producing great consumer phones with a consumer OS. The OS part of it is a big problem - I am sure RIM could put together a great phone after trying - not so sure about the OS part. They could be better off taking Android and making it better and distinct.

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#16

Post by nikcub »

I don't know how else the BBC could ask the question

RIM have never been upfront with a response to the question[1] (unlike Google, and others) and what you saw in that response from Lazaridis was more of his cool PR trained responses at work ('we are being singled out', 'we have a lot of issues' etc. etc. blah blah balh)

[1] 'the question' is if RIM are providing backdoors to governments such as India, Russia et al to access encrypted messaging on the blackberry net

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#17

Post by asawilliams »

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 his best.

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#18

Post by omh »

gloob wrote: post #10
tomelders wrote: post #2

Sounds to me like he misunderstood the question and assumed the Beeb were implying there's a serous security issue with the Blackberry device itself, when the question was actually about the "security" concerns of certain countries in which Blackberrys are sold.

It's entirely possible I'm in the minority on this, but the following (theatrical, paraphrased, artistic-liberty-ized) conversation implies that there is a serious security issue with Blackberry devices: India: Give us access to your secure messaging service. RIM: Okay.

But to be fair to RIM, the conversation seems to have been more like:

India: Give us access to your secure messaging service RIM: Sorry, that isn't technically possible India: Give us access to your secure messaging service RIM: Sorry, that isn't technically possible India: Give us access to your secure messaging service or we'll cut you off RIM: OK, we'll do everything we can

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#19

Post by look_lookatme »

btn wrote: post #11
tomelders wrote: post #2

Sounds to me like he misunderstood the question and assumed the Beeb were implying there's a serous security issue with the Blackberry device itself, when the question was actually about the "security" concerns of certain countries in which Blackberrys are sold.

At the very end of the clip, Lazaridis says in closing the interview: "this [the topic being discussed] is a national security issue". He knew exactly what was being asked; and even if the phrasing was better, he'd have given the same reaction.

Because I'm only vaguely aware of the issue it isn't until this moment that I realize the seriousness of the question.

Re: RIM CEO terminates BBC Click interview

#20

Post by edw »

whyleyc wrote: post #12
pedalpete wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the way the first question was worded was intentionally misleading. The interviewers second try was better, but at that point, I think they had already soured the interview. I also think that the issue was dealt with, and the countries who had threatened to shutdown RIM, are no longer posturing, so it is kind of like bringing up old bad news for no reason, when the company is really there to promote the Pla…

In which case if it was really a "non-issue" the RIM CEO should have said as much, and issued a quick reassurance for users. Instead by getting so defensive he's guaranteed that the InterWebs will now be talking about this and not the PlayBook.

All things considered, does RIM actually want people talking about the PlayBook? If it's positive, I'm sure they don't mind, but given that the thing doesn't actually exist yet (right?) I dont see them gaining much ground on the PlayBook PR front until they ship.
Post reply on HN