NEWS - Nov 14, 2008
Robert Kao, founder, featured in November issue of Fortune Magazine
BlackBerry maker battles back
Apple's iPhone is threatening RIM's dominance in the smartphone market. In response, the Canadian company just launched three new models. Will the gambit work?
By Jessi Hempel, writer
(excerpt)
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Last month the company held its first developers' conference, in Santa Clara, Calif. With 20 million subscribers, RIM found it easy to generate interest. The company was expecting 600 attendees and got 900. At an after-hours party to show off programs, the excitement was palpable.
A 28-year-old software developer named Robert Kao jumped on a makeshift stage and plugged his BlackBerry into the overhead projector to demo a new software program. A hundred guys (and two women) chugged Coronas while Kao explained how his homing software could track lost phones, back up content, and, with the click of a button, obliterate all your e-mails and phone numbers. Think Lojak for your phone. Before he finished, a venture capitalist in the front row piped up, "I'll fund you."
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