Secret space is where BlackBerry smartphones are born

The process requires passing two security guards, ditching all digital devices at the door and donning an antistatic smock as well as foot straps to avoid tracking in electricity and mistakenly frying circuit boards or other sensitive gadgetry once inside. Sounds like a pain? Even Queen Elizabeth II underwent this screening ritual when she was granted entry into the facility in 2010. But this is not a mass production plant that spits out millions of smartphones each year. It is the place where BlackBerry prototypes get perfected, including new models such as the Z10, Q10, "and other things we can't tell you about", says Siraj Memon, the centre's manufacturing manager. For months before BlackBerry unveiled its latest mobiles and software platform, BB10, few outsiders were permitted access to this secret space, particularly from the press. Back then the company was still reeling from a steep drop in sales, cutting about 5,000 employees and revamping its entire management team — and was then calling itself Research In Motion (RIM), instead of the newly rebranded BlackBerry. "A year ago I felt the universe was in disarray, like the planets were moving around pretty wildly," says Thorsten Heins, who took over at BlackBerry last year after its co-chief executives, including a co-founder, stepped down. "It was all about 'RIM is going to go bankrupt. You guys are going to run out of money and aren't even going to make it to BlackBerry 10,'" Mr Heins adds. "It was good, constructive criticism — and, as you say in boxing, below the belt. And it hurt." What stings less these days are the generally positive reviews for BlackBerry's new mobiles and software platform, which took two years to develop before being unveiled on January 30. Since then executives have gone from holding their breath to being somewhat boastful about their new BlackBerry babies. At the beginning of one meeting this month, Thad White, the company's director of hand-held product management, read aloud glowing reviews about the Z10's keyboard from well-known tech writers such as David Pogue of The New York Times and Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, who noted that "the Z10 keyboard is the best and fastest out-of-the-box virtual keyboard I've used". But it certainly took time to work out the new keyboard's kinks. Initially, "it was a problem area we were never happy with", says Todd Wood, BlackBerry's senior vice president of design. "Touching or typing on glass was never satisfying, whether a competitor's product or our own product." Designers, based around Canada and the world, ended up reverting back to the keyboard size of the BlackBerry 9900, as they considered it "best in class" and wanted customers to be able to type with two fingers. They removed some navigational buttons to expand the screen size then layered in new predictive intelligence software to anticipate the words people may use when writing emails or other text. from: thenational