Following a dismal quarter that saw BlackBerry record a US$4.4 billion loss, the company just announced that, after taking “a look at how to best meet our goals with BlackBerry events,” it will not host a BlackBerry Live conference in 2014. It will instead focus on an “engaging lineup of smaller, targeted events” that will focus on specific business, developer, and partner audiences.
First introduced as the Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES) in 2002 and most recently as BlackBerry Live, we held 12 fantastic events. Beginning as an enterprise-centric industry event, the conference grew to cover all aspects of BlackBerry and serve all audiences – one of the reasons that we’ll be focusing our efforts to a greater degree moving forward.
In a nostalgic move, BlackBerry is asking past BlackBerry Live attendees to send in their favourite memories of past events. It will also feature some “incredible conference moments” at the BlackBerry Live website.
As it tries to turn its fortunes around by focusing more on enterprise customers and services such as BBM and its enterprise mobility and mobile device management solutions, the move should not come as a surprise. The smaller events will allow it to more directly target key customers and most likely save a few dollars.
Will you miss BlackBerry Live? Let us know below.
Source : Inside BlackBerry Blog