TechCrunch
BlackBerry Shipped Just 2.7M BB10 Handsets In Q1 2013
BlackBerry didn’t break out its individual BB10 device sales in its quarterly earnings report released earlier this morning, but during its conference call to discuss its performance CEO Thorsten Heins revealed that it shipped 2.7 million handsets during the quarter, which is not a great number. Nokia shipped 5.6 million Lumia devices in Q1 of 2013, for instance, and AT&T reported 4.8 million iPhone activations alone during its Q1 reporting.
BlackBerry shipped 6.8 million phones in total during the quarter, so the new BB10 devices represented just under 40 percent of total new device sales. The total number of devices shipped was already fairly unimpressive, but it’s perhaps more worrying that BB10 made up a big chunk of those sales, despite the Q10 only being available in most areas for a fraction of the quarterly period. This also marks the first full quarter of sales for the flagship Z10, so it’s really the first true barometer of the health of that device available to investors and observers.
Here, then, is the problem: The Z10 has been available for a full quarter in its primary target markets, and with a device like that, launch is generally your most successful period over the entire device life cycle, since you have the most buzz and consumer attention (perhaps barring a holiday bump). Analysts will not look kindly at 2.7 million in sales for a brand new operating system, which is probably further divided between the Z10 and the Q10.
Already, BlackBerry stock is suffering a huge hit, down 24 percent ahead of market open. That’s not likely to turn around now that we have a better idea of how RIM’s big bet on a brand new mobile operating system is faring in terms of consumer sales.
BlackBerry CEO Confirms No BB10 Update For The Aging PlayBook Tablet
Here’s a Friday morning PSA for you BlackBerry PlayBook owners: if you were feverishly clutching your tablet in hopes that BlackBerry would finally update it with a shiny new OS, you can finally put them down. BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins just confirmed during the company’s Q1 earnings call that the BlackBerry 10 won’t be coming to your aging doodad.
Tough break, folks.
Specifically, Heins said that he was “not satisfied with level of performance and user experience” of BlackBerry 10 on the PlayBook, though he quickly added that the company would continue to “support PlayBook on existing software platform and configurations.” Understandably, it just didn’t make sense for the company to continue devoting time and effort to the project (especially considering the tablet is about two years old). Going forward, Heins also noted that BlackBerry only aims to have about six products in the market at any given time, and hopefully that “more wood behind fewer arrows” approach works out. And hey, one of them may be a BB10-powered phablet, which kinda sorta jibes with Heins’ belief that tablets won’t be around for too much longer.
It’s a fair enough reason–BlackBerry has limited resources with which it’s attempting to perform the mother of all mobile turnarounds–but the company hasn’t exactly been keeping people’s expectations in check. Last month an errant tweet from a BlackBerry Mexico employee indicated that the update would be hitting devices within the next few weeks, a scenario that will (sadly) never play out. Still, for a tablet that launch in April 2011, BlackBerry is still doing a decent job at moving them — the company pointed out in today’s earnings release that it shipped 100,000 PlayBooks over the past quarter.
Drop Everything And Watch Aol's Incredible Attempts At Finding A News Anchor
Clear your calendar today. History is being made. And you can watch live. Aol, TC’s all-knowing, ever-evolving parent, is holding auditions for a news anchor for Aol.Live (which is apparently a thing now). And, well, not to belittle the candidates, some of these auditions are simply amazing in an American Idol sort of way.
This could be the best thing Aol has ever done.
Apparently they’re open auditions. Anyone can try out to be anchor of Aol.Live, a live morning news show. And after watching hours of the programming, it’s clear New York’s finest showed up.
Yesterday, the TC staff was glued to this live stream. One guy sang his audition. Another didn’t know who Nelson Mandela is. When playing the word association game, one guy associated “Princess Diana” with “hot”. All of them deserve a gold star and are totally worth wasting your day watching.
If that’s not enough, there’s a puppy cam during the breaks.
These auditions are genius and makes me wonder how TechCrunch can steal some of Aol.Live’s staff. With this sort of programming, the news network gets a huge pop at launch and sets a colorful vibe for the live programming.
Open auditions are being held right now. Apparently there was quite a line this morning outside of 770 Broadway.
Oh, and Aol.Live folks: How can we get a satellite audition for our writer Darrell Etherington? He’s Canadian, has a dumb laugh (huh huh huh), and loves to show off his chest hair. He seems your type.
Watch it live here.
Full disclosure: Aol owns TechCrunch and provides us with the funds needed to stock the office full of coconut water and gluten free snacks. That said, we wouldn’t have posted this if it wasn’t so fucking ridiculous. If Yahoo, MSN, or AskJeeves were holding the same tryouts, we would have covered in the same manner.
HandiBot Is The Robotic Carpenter Of Geppetto's Dreams
Given that I have no talent in woodworking, I suspect Handibot may – dare I say it? – come in handy. The device is a motorized CNC machine – they’re calling it a Universal Digital Power Tool (UDPT) – for wood. It can cut, machine, drill, and carve. Built by the guys who built the ShopBot, a similarly complex CNC system for woodworking.
The Handibot is basically a 3D cutter. It can create precise cuts in wood or even create complex carvings for molding or decorations. In short, it’s a pocket carpenter.
The product also uses a mobile app to allow users to create various cuts including holes and mortises. You can also download designs from the Internet, creating a sort of reverse Thingiverse.
You can get a Handibot for a $2,700 pledge and they will offer additional bits and accessories that can turn it into a fully-functional shop robot. It’s a lot of money but it’s a pretty complex bit of gadgetry and ShopBot is a solid outfit. They’re looking for a $127,000 goal with $86,000 already raised.
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