BlackBerry Presenter does exactly that; it presents, but only PowerPoint

By on Jan 8, 2010 at 9:18 AM
CES January 8, 2010

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We swung by the BlackBerry booth at CES to scoop out what RIM had up its sleeves. For now, it seems the focus is on apps and BlackBerry App World. There are several kiosks set up strictly to demonstrate individual apps. Of course, there was a display of an array of BlackBerrys there, but nothing you couldn’t see at your local carrier store. BlackBerry did have something new for us, however, and that’s the recently announced BlackBerry Presenter. Click for more info and some snapshots of the device.

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The device itself is small and very lightweight, which is always good when you’re carrying accessories around often. The only real downside is that all this thing does is present PowerPoint documents. We asked the nice PR peeps if RIM plans on supporting things like photos, video and other documents in the future, but other features in the future are still in consideration. This device is simple enough in terms of connecting to your projector or TV and then you can present your PowerPoint slides wirelessly from your BlackBerry over Bluetooth. It’s pretty nifty if you’re an executive who thrives on board meetings, but otherwise it’s pretty useless at $199.99.

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  • WEAKSAUCE

    Good job at being INNOVATIVE RIM.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Drummer85 NDAMUKONG SUH

    IM IN UR BOOTHS MAIKROWSOFTENG UR PREZENTASHUN

    • …

      are you sad you didn’t win the heisman?

  • don’t hate

    This is a very useful product. When are you guys gonna stop hating on RIM?

    • Chris

      This was done 4 years ago by a company called Impatica. Their ShowMate product does this and more. apparently now at even at a lower cost. RIM is basically stealing 4 year old technology and putting it in a shiny box.

  • Dara

    I read the start and thought RIM had done something innovative.

    Then I read “hook up to your TV or projector” and realized that RIM is charging $200 to implement TV out.

    Maybe by 2012 I’ll stop seeing “new and innovative features” that came with my 2007 Nokia.

    • Don

      your 2007 Nokia does bluetooth wireless visual presentations to a projector?!?!

      • http://www.applebythehour.com jarrett

        Maybe not exactly what was mean.

      • http://www.applebythehour.com jarrett

        Maybe not exactly what was meant.

      • Marek

        Nor does this. It transfers ppt presentations wirelessly to a custom adapter, that is hooked to a projector. The N97 (as much as I don’t like the device) comes with a tv out adapter, I think.

        When I first saw this, I thouth it was one of those tiny projectors – that would be cool. This is somewhat disappointing, but still useful, I guess.

      • Don

        with the N97 tv out adaptor, you need to plug your device to the projector.

        I would prefer to have this BB unit along with my BB. you get a ppt emailed to you, you hook up your BB Presenter to the projector or display in the meeting room, connect your BB via bluetooth, and wander the room while you do your presentation. no laptop, no wireless remote.

        granted, it would be great if they could enable support for videos and photos. oh, and integrate audio, too (although they have the BB music gateway to handle audio).

      • Dara

        Well I guess the usefulness depends on how much you need to wander in meetings.

        I’ve been giving presentations off my N95 for years now. I use a Wiimote (with Mobipad software) for remote control but I think that goes over better with engineers than it would with a bunch of suits.

        It’s not the same method, but its the same capability.

      • will

        you said no wireless remote, but yet, your using the bb as a wireless remote….

      • Jack

        Exactly what i thought! A projector…yawn just an adapter. Looks pretty though.

  • Michael Scott

    Damn you RIM, you may as well be selling laser disc layers or beta max.
    Please get it together or you will go the way of the dinosaur.

  • Laz

    This may very well be a good business tool which is keeping with RIM’s roots. If they want to continue to grow the noncorporate market they will have to push out more handheld choices and not just applications or lose these customers to other phones…

  • ron

    I’ll stick to ‘Keynote’ thanks.

    • http://www.applebythehour.com jarrett

      @ ron,

      So will most of the creative world.

  • chris

    Cant you just use a power point remote? Those things are $20. $200? Nah, just not worth it.

  • ChuckBarris

    RIM, Please contact me. The people who developed this would be great for a TV show I have.

  • attguy

    way too expensive! I’m sure that thing doesn’t cost but maybe 75 bucks at most to produce.

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).

  • a1by

    Most of you are clueless, the point is I don’t have to have to carry a laptop bag, and make sure I have a VGA or dvi out to a projector, make sure I brought the power adaptor for my laptop or that there’s even a power plug for the laptop. I carry my BlackBerry and this tiny device hook it up to a projector input which could be anywhere in the room and then provide the presentation. While it may retail at $199, I’m sure vendors like amazon et al will sell it likely around $100

    • logan2k

      I hate to inform you, but it appears you are the clueless one. This is far from an innovative product, or even a useful one for that matter since it only works with blackberries and can only show powerpoints. For the same amount of $$$ you can get a pico projector that does infinitely more. Or, if you want to see what really innovative manufacturers are doing, check this out:

      http://www.notebooks.com/2010/01/07/ces-dueling-cell-phone-projectors-at-dlp/

      • ljp

        Yes, that’s much better. “Everyone crowd around and gaze at this two foot image!”

      • Don

        “and don’t mind the shake. I’ve had a few coffees already and my hands are a little shaky…”

      • will

        respectfully, is it not better then… “everyone crowd around and gaze at this 2.0″-4.3″ image!”?

      • Alex

        Haha, If I showed up at one of the training sessions I run with a crappy pico projector I’d be unemployed in a snap.

        Anyone know if the BB thing affects resolution? This would make life a lot easier for me, not having to lug a laptop around to clients.

  • ercas

    This has been done already, it is a rip off of a product by a company called Impatica. The product is called Showmate, it handles powerpoint like the Blackberry device but it also allows you to display whatever is on the blackberry screen. It sells for $249, which is more expensive but all the bugs have been worked out of their product since it has been around for several years. How about adding a pico projector to a Blackberry instead? I am not asking RIM to be bleeding edge but it would be nice if they were at least on the cutting edge sometimes.

  • badchad

    Isn’t carrying a USB key infinitely easier?

    “Oh crap, I was presenting these important slides today, and lo and behold, the only copy I have is on my phone. Well even though I did forget a laptop…thank goodness I have this trusty adapter”.

    • pron starr

      Lol.

      You have a good point. You will not forget this 200$ adapter :)

  • ItsMichaelNotMike

    Pardon my ignorance, but how is this anything close to being unique, interesting or newsworthy? As a former BB user for about five years, in addition to Windows Mobile devices, this little gizmo is a day late and dollar short.

    On my T-Mobile Touch Pro2 I installed a custom (cooked) ROM that included WinMo’s TV out. I bought an HTC TV Out cable on eBay for $12.

    When I was teaching a class, one day I connected my TP2 to the classroom’s projector. From there whatever was on my TP2 display showed on the huge screen at the front of the classroom.

    I accessed the Net to go to the students’ personal web page. I then opened a Word document, PDF document and even played some videos relevant to the class topic that day.

    One of the options was to use WinMo’s Powerpoint presentation program, but I did not have an interest in using boring PP stuff. That would be the same as going over the textbook in class. No faster way to put students to sleep, that is, with PowerPoint nonsense.

    And one day because I forgot the power adapter for a notebook I used to play DVD movies for the class, I connected my TP2 and played the movie from my cell phone (because as a backup I had converted the DVD movie into an MP4 file and put it on the phone’s microSD chip. At a 1GB file size the movie looked great on the projector screen.

    I did all that for the cost of a $12 USB TV Out cable.

    So am I missing something? Was this device the extent of what RIM was showing off at CES 2010? To rip off that SNL skit, “What up with that? What up with that?”

  • http://www.twitter.com/jazzyl jazzyl

    I like it I’m definitely going to get one please people stop Hating on RIM.

    Sent via BlackBerry

  • cellguy

    id rather buy a bluetooth usb adapter for 20 bucks and plug that into my laptop conected to my projector. then i could just bluetooth the pp file to my laptop and use my regular remote for powerpoint slides. not to mention the lg expo has an actual projector attachment!!!! even if it is win mo its still more innovative than this product!

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