Business
Saturday, August 03, 2013FOLLOWING a global review of its public relations support, BlackBerry has appointed Speyside Corporate Relations as its public relations agency across Latin America and the Caribbean.The appointment is part of a new integrated global PR solution, with Speyside working alongside long-time partners Text100 and APCO who will support the company across North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe Middle East & Africa.The Speyside team will provide support in all markets across Latin America & the Caribbean, working through teams on-the-ground in eight countries. The principal focus of the team will be to further enhance journalist and blogger relationships and help communicate around BlackBerry’s new products across the region.Commenting on the appointment, Speyside CEO Ian Herbison stated, “We are delighted to be part of this global team, working with BlackBerry across Latin America and the Caribbean to help the company communicate its exciting new products and its vision for mobile computing.”Headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Speyside Corporate Relations is a Latin American-focused corporate, financial and government relations consultancy operating across the region. It was founded in 2009, but the company on its website notes that its management team has over 20 years’ experience in emerging markets, having previously built the leading emerging markets corporate communications and government affairs consultancy in 21 countries across Eastern Europe.BlackBerry in June reported a first quarter loss and warned of future losses despite releasing its make-or-break new smartphones this year. Its Latin America segment saw revenue decline by six per cent, attributed to Venezuela foreign currency restrictions negatively impacting US$72 million of service revenue recognition in the first quarter.The BlackBerry, introduced in 1999, was once the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people. But it lost its cachet not long after Apple released the first iPhone in 2007. Apple’s device reset expectations for what a smartphone can do. RIM promised to catch up while developing a new software system called BlackBerry 10, which uses technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. But the company took more than two years to unveil new phones that were redesigned for the multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers now demand. During that time, RIM cut more than 5,000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth of more than US$70 billion vanish.RIM’s BlackBerry 10 operating system is critical to the company’s comeback. New phones running the BlackBerry 10 software began selling around the world this year. The BlackBerry Z10, a touch screen model, and the Q10, which sports a keyboard, have received positive reviews, but there was a delay in getting them to the market in the US.
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BlackBerry hires Speyside for regional public relations
