BlackBerry Chief Admits Release of New Phones in U.S. Was Flawed

But Mr. Heins, speaking at the company’s annual meeting, told investors BlackBerry just needed more time for a turnaround — and he again sought their patience.

Not everyone was biting. One shareholder, referring to one of the new phones, the BlackBerry Z10, told Mr. Heins: “My sense is that the rollout of the Z10 was a disaster.”

“Were we perfect at the launch?” Mr. Heins responded. “Probably not. Was it a disaster? I don’t think so.”

After more than two years of development, the new phones and their new operating system were supposed to give BlackBerry smartphones capabilities similar to those of phones made by Apple and Samsung, the dominant forces in the market. But hopes have vanished that the new phones would swiftly increase market share in the United States — now just 0.9 percent, according to a survey from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

Late last month, BlackBerry said that it had shipped just 2.7 million of the new models, about a million fewer than analysts expected. That disappointing news set BlackBerry’s stock sharply downward and eliminated the possibility that the annual meeting would be a turnaround celebration.

When Mr. Heins introduced the company’s new phones in New York this year, he spoke to an excited crowd, a situation that was repeated at a meeting this spring with enthusiastic developers. But on Tuesday, when he faced a crowd of shareholders and questions about the weak sales of those phones, the reception was far more muted.

And maybe that is the best he could have hoped for. A few weeks ago, when the shipment numbers were released, the company also reported an $84 million loss in the latest quarter. BlackBerry shares still have not recovered — and a chorus of harsh questions about the direction of the business have not gone away.

Mr. Heins again warned investors to expect more losses during the current quarter, while the company increases its spending on marketing and other promotions for the new BlackBerry 10 line of phones. And although the company has spent the last two years saying the phones were the centerpiece to its future, Mr. Heins repeatedly said on Tuesday that “we are not a devices-only company,” and he outlined his hopes for growth in its data services business.

He attributed the disappointing reception for BlackBerry 10 to the United States market.

“It is really a challenge in the U.S.,” Mr. Heins said at the meeting, which was webcast from the University of Waterloo in Ontario. When another shareholder asked him why the company had been unable to win over American investors, particularly ones based in New York, he said: “I would absolutely admit that this is an uphill battle.”

Richard Piasentin, the managing director of sales and marketing for the United States, left BlackBerry last month, Adam Emery, a spokesman for the company, said on Tuesday.

Some of problems with the BlackBerry 10 release seemed more related to the products than to advertising or lack of prominence in carriers’ stores, which had been cited as problems.

Some buyers of the Q10, a model that includes BlackBerry’s signature keyboard, have said they were disappointed to discover that it initially could not synchronize calendar and contact information with corporate systems that use Microsoft Outlook. Others discovered mail syncing issues that they had not had with previous BlackBerrys. And although BlackBerry continues to expand the apps offered for the phone, many important ones are missing, and assessments of their overall quality are mixed.

Among the disappointed was Mark R. McQueen, the president and chief executive of Wellington Financial in Toronto. While Mr. McQueen is a BlackBerry loyalist, his frustration with the Q10 became so great that he wrote two detailed posts enumerating its problems on his blog, which is widely followed in Canada’s financial community. He wrote that the phone’s shortcomings had prompted him to sell his BlackBerry shares at a loss.

“The sad reality is that BlackBerry management has failed to deliver on the incredibly modest expectations of someone who has held shares in the company, on and off, since the late 1990s,” Mr. McQueen wrote.

Many technology reviewers praised several features of the new phones. Mike Gikas, the senior editor for electronics at Consumer Reports, said the new phones were “pretty good but they don’t have the pizazz of top-shelf performers. No one’s dying for these phones.”

He said that whenever he was asked for his thoughts about the new BlackBerrys, “the next question is: ‘Do you think they’re going to be around?’ And that’s a consideration for people on a two-year contract.”

NBA Player Jason Collins Admits That He is Gay

Washington Wizards center Jason Collins — who’s been playing in the NBA since 2001 — has revealed he’s gay … making him the first major active American male pro athlete to come out of the closet .

Collins revealed the news in an article for Sports Illustrated … saying, “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.”

He continued, “I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation.”

Collins — and his twin brother Jarron — have been high profile athletes since high school … when they were two of the highest rated prep players in the country.

They both went on to become standouts at Stanford … and were each drafted into the NBA in 2001.

Jason says he didn’t come out to his twin until last summer.

“I’m glad I can stop hiding and refocus on my 13th NBA season.”

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2013/04/29/jason-collins-gay-nba-basketball-player-washington-wizards/#ixzz2RsDhummG
Visit the TMZ Store: http://tmzstore.com

French Montana Admits That His Music Isn’t “Lyrical”

Many people are anticipating French Montana‘s debut album, Excuse My French that is slated to be released May 21st. However, just in case you were looking for some great lyrical epiphany you may be disappointed.

In an interview with Exclusivezone.net, Montana talked about his album and what what to expect:

“Obviously I don’t be trying to get lyrical,” he told ExclusiveZone.net. “It’s not a secret.”

“I just make music out of love and feeling. I wake up feeling f—ed up, I make a f—ed up song.”

Apparently, his style is working, as he earned a gold plaque for “Pop That.” His album will feature Rick Ross, Diddy, Reakwon, Birdman, and Ace Hood.

What a way to advertise you album.

Bradley Manning Admits Providing Files to WikiLeaks

Appearing before a military judge for more than an hour, Private Manning read a statement recounting how he joined the military, became an intelligence analyst in Iraq, decided that certain files should become known to the American public to prompt a wider debate about foreign policy, downloaded them from a secure computer network and then ultimately uploaded them to WikiLeaks.

“No one associated with WLO” — an abbreviation he used to refer to the WikiLeaks organization — “pressured me into sending any more information,” Private Manning said. “I take full responsibility.”

Before reading the statement, Private Manning pleaded guilty to 10 criminal counts in connection with the huge amount of material he leaked, which included videos of airstrikes in Iraq and Afghanistan in which civilians were killed, logs of military incident reports, assessment files of detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and a quarter-million cables from American diplomats stationed around the world.

The guilty pleas exposed him to up to 20 years in prison. But the case against Private Manning, a slightly built 25-year-old who has become a folk hero among antiwar and whistle-blower advocacy groups, is not over. The military has charged him with a far more serious set of offenses, including aiding the enemy, and multiple counts of violating federal statutes, including the Espionage Act. Prosecutors now have the option of pressing forward with proving the remaining elements of those charges.

That would involve focusing only on questions like whether the information he provided counted as the sort covered by the Espionage Act — that is, whether it was not just confidential but also could be used to injure the United States or aid a foreign nation.

Private Manning described himself as thinking carefully about the kind of information he was releasing, and taking care to make sure that none of it could cause harm if disclosed.

The only material that initially gave him pause, he said, were the diplomatic cables, which he portrayed as documenting “back-room deals and seemingly criminal activity.”

But he decided to go forward after discovering that the most sensitive cables were not in the database. He was also motivated, he said, by a book about “open diplomacy” after World War I and “how the world would be a better place if states would not make secret deals with each other.”

“I believed the public release of these cables would not damage the United States,” he said. “However, I did believe the release of the cables might be embarrassing.”

Private Manning said the first set of documents he decided to release consisted of hundreds of thousands of military incident reports from Afghanistan and Iraq. He had downloaded them onto a disk because the network connection at his base in Iraq kept failing, and he and his colleagues needed regular access to them.

Those reports added up to a history of the “day-to-day reality” in both war zones that he believed showed the flaws in the counterinsurgency policy the United States was then pursuing. The military, he said, was “obsessed with capturing or killing” people on a list, while ignoring the impact of its operations on ordinary people.

Private Manning said he put the files on a digital storage card for his camera and took it home with him on a leave in early 2010. He then decided to give the files to a newspaper.

“I believed if the public — in particular the American public — had access to the information” in the reports, “this could spark a debate about foreign policy in relation to Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.

Private Manning said he first called The Washington Post and spoke to an unidentified reporter for about five minutes. He decided that the reporter did not seem particularly interested because she said The Post would have to review the material before making any commitment.

He said he then tried to reach out to The New York Times by calling a phone number for the newspaper’s public editor — an ombudsman who is not part of the newsroom — and leaving a voice mail message that was not returned.

Scott Shane contributed reporting from Washington.

Oprah Winfrey Dad Admits Oprah Paid For Divorce Because Ex-Wife Was Spending Too Much Money

Vernon Winfrey, 79, decided to break up with Barbara, his wife of 12 years, after becoming sick of her spendthrift ways, which he says almost cost him his barbershop business, and after confiding his fears to his daughter’s long-term partner Stedman Graham, Oprah stepped in to help.

Vernon said: “One day when Stedman was in town for a speaking engagement, I told him over dinner what was going on and that I didn’t know how I was going to handle it but I wanted out of my marriage.

“He asked if I needed help and I said ‘Yes I believe so’. He immediately told Oprah and she told me to hire attorneys and she would take care of it.”

Refusing to leave Vernon filed for divorce in June and claims his wife spent most of his money and is refusing to leave the $1.6m Nashville home Oprah bought for him.

He told National Enquirer magazine: “I’ve filed for divorce and moved out of the beautiful home Oprah bought me to live in but I don’t own it.

“Barbara was spending money as if I were Oprah.”

No more free rides boo!

Oprah has always looked out for her daddy Vernon despite his immature behavior, philandering and potentially outing his daughter. She is the better person for turning the other cheek. The soon to be ex step mother needs to become gainfully employed and self supporting because Oprah’s legal team will ensure her ride is over.

Nas Admits Missing Kelis and Begging For Sex

During a recent London concert Nas admitted he still reaches out to Kelis when he’s felling romantic…

Nas confided to his audience, “You know, I text her the other night. I said, ‘Can we make love one more time?’

Seriously!” “It still hurts bad. That pain is real, y’all.”