RIM President and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, introduces the new Blackberry Torch at a news conference August 3, 2010 in New York City.Mario Tama/Getty Images
We're well into the first day of Research In Motion's annual developer conference here in beautiful San Francisco, and though it's early going, check this space for regular updates from RIM's developer love-in.
The conference, normally a fairly nerdy affair full of XML standards and SDK updates and other assorted geekery, will probably be no different this year. But RIM's announcements are under intense scrutiny because the company is facing stiff competition from Apple, Google and others in the consumer smart phone market. That's why there's been strong speculation that RIM will use the conference to make some blockbuster announcement, such as a tablet computer.
In reality, RIM is one of the more secretive companies out there. The company has confirmed nothing about such a product, and even if the "BlackPad" does exist, it's still a mystery how far along any such product actually is.
Here at the Marriott, the atmosphere is much like other RIM conferences: the grey beanbag chairs from this year's enterprise convention in Orlando are littered around the conference floor; the hardcore tech journalists from ultra-technical Web sites still look with disdain at the general press; and everyone walks around with chin on chest.
We're off to meet app developers. If we stumble on a sleek black tablet anywhere, we will let you know ... and possibly put it up on eBay.