If using both a phone and a tablet together is a hot tech trend this year, April’s BlackBerry Fan of the Month is ON TREND.
Meet Sergio – a lean, mean, BlackBerry PlayBook-ing-machine. Sergio knows how to work hard and play hard and he uses his BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to make the best of both worlds. In his personal life, Sergio’s BlackBerry PlayBook helps him stay in touch with his loved ones – his wife, in particular (say it with us – ‘awwww!’)! And in his professional life as a successful business owner, Sergio can’t live without his tablet. It allows him to remotely manage inventory for his robotic pool cleaning company and print invoices on demand for customers. The Evernote app on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is perfect for taking notes and pictures while on the job. And, best of all, he can use it as a phone whenever he needs to. Sergio is one of the original Super Users in the BlackBerry Support Community Forums. He is extremely helpful and passionate about the BlackBerry PlayBook with impressive stats in the community:
- Total Posts: 3,704
- Total Kudos: 215
- Total Accepted Solutions: 107
Like we said, lean, mean, BlackBerry-PlayBook-ing MACHINE. Ladies and gents, I present to you, our April FOTM, Sergio(@icemanswimmer):
- How many years have you been on Team BlackBerry?
I have proudly been part of Team BlackBerry since 2010. Honestly, I have to tell you that it has been a great experience. I never imagined my passion for BlackBerry would lead me here to be part of FOTM.
- How many BlackBerry devices have you had in total? Could you list them all out for us?
I have had four – BlackBerry Storm 9530, BlackBerry Bold 9700, BlackBerry PlayBook tablet (I really love this one) and now I’m getting a super sexy BlackBerry Z10!
- How many BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) contacts do you currently have?
On my BBM, I only have a select group of people, 24 right now. But I’m sure BlackBerry 10 will put me back in touch with all those that I miss.
- What is your favorite BBM emoticon?
Definitely the laughing one. Haha.
- What is the best BBM you ever received?
One from a customer saying that the deal was closed in our favor, definitely the best!
- Sergio, if you could BBM your BlackBerry, what would you say? How do you think your BlackBerry would respond?
Sincerely? Please don’t tell my wife, though. I would say, I love you and I can’t live without you.
Of course the BlackBerry would answer: Me too!!
- Sergio, we know you own your own company, selling pool products. Tell us more about how and when you started this company!
Sure, it’s a long story but I will try to be brief.
My pool business started about six years ago, I never imagined that I would be doing this. Six years ago, I was selling VoiP solutions. One day my partner met some guys that were involved in the Robotic Pool Cleaning business. They showed him all the beautiful things that robots could do, it was awesome and a really great business opportunity in a market that was not existent in Mexico at the time.
We weren’t sure where to start, but, lucky for me, I’m a swimmer and I knew people that own swimming schools or are Coaches in Acapulco or Cuernavaca, so I used that network to start selling this technology and give the business a shot!
But wait, the story doesn’t end there. Customers didn’t just want the robots to clean their pools. That was just the beginning, later they wanted more from us – they wanted chemicals, equipment, accessories, services etc, so this business has been growing as a result. Now we have more customers than we could have expected and work on some of the main pools in Mexico City.
I need to say that BlackBerry has been part of that story. These devices have been so useful for my business. Thank you guys.
- Sergio, how does BlackBerry keep you organized with your work? (Especially since you’re one busy man!)
Well, my BlackBerry and my BlackBerry PlayBook are really my main computing devices, but the BlackBerry PlayBook has sort of won me over because I can do so many things with it.
On the PlayBook, when I’m not at the office I use remote access to check inventory or create invoices. Sometimes I also access email and Docs To Go using my BlackBerry PlayBook.
I use Evernote on the PlayBook for updating the notes I take at each customer visit. This also involves taking pictures so I have a record of water clearness or turbidity, chemical parameters, etc. These notes can be shared immediately with the customers or my suppliers when there are product issues.
Of course, presentations are part of this business, too. I edit my presentations on the PlayBook using an Office app. Sometimes I display these presentations on a LCD or LED TV and use my BlackBerry smartphone as my remote control with BlackBerry Bridge. It is so cool and it looks so profesional that customers are amazed each time I do this. In fact, when I finish the presentation, they often want to take a look at the BlackBerry PlayBook and play with the remote control feature. Haha.
Check this, one of the coolest things I do on the PlayBook is placing calls through VoiP, this turns my tablet into a ‘phablet’ but also helps me reduce my phone costs as much as 40% on local calls and 80% on international calls. I do this when I’m at my customer’s facilities, coffee shops, restaurants or when I’m traveling. The phone function even works through the internet using a modem, but the voice quality isn’t always the best.
Of course, e-mail is one of the things I use most during the day. I probably split by time on e-mail between my two devices evenly.
Getting access to web sites related to the business are part of every day tasks and I mainly do this on the PlayBook.
Those are some of the areas in which BlackBerry helps me a lot.
- What did you think about the launch of BlackBerry 10? Did any announcement in particular stand out?
More than seeing this as BlackBerry deserving another opportunity, I thought you guys did this once, why can’t you do it again? BlackBerry 10 has all everything you need to succeed. I’m so sure of that. I believe!
About announcements, yes, of course, there were some that stood out – those about the apps that customers could expect to see and use. There are so many! Congrats to your Developer Relations Team, they are doing a great job!
- And finally, we just have to ask: Are you prepared to handle the fame that comes with being our Fans of the Month?
Hahaha, I hope to enjoy it! Bring it on!
Be sure to check out the other awesome members of the BlackBerry Fan of the Month (FOTM) club:
February – Ivan (@IvanSHarris)
March – Jane (@photosfromabb)
April – Josh (@BBbrodyBB)
May – Mark (@AllAboutMyBB)
June – JT (@jt_teran)
July – Kimberly (@kmcooley)
August – Mike (@flash0p)
September – Jon (@nerdologist_jon)
October – Guido (@FuriousGuido)
November – Ange (@Afl2277)
December – Zalman (@Zalman5K)
January 2013 – Arisham (@arisham2003)
February 2013 – Julie and Andrew
March 2013 – Sergio(@icemanswimmer)
Keep sharing your FOTM suggestions with us, either by leaving a comment below, tweeting to us @BlackBerry on Twitter, or posting on our Facebook page. Stay tuned – our April FOTM could be YOU!
