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RIM snubs Android, open to license BB OS instead

Despite the steep decline and continuous struggle to keep things in tow, Research in Motion CEO Thorsten Heins still has faith in reviving the once thriving Blackberry empire.

When Joshua Topolsky of The Verge asked Heins regarding his decision on not following the same path that Samsung and Nokia has taken (embracing Android and Windows Phone) Heins has made it clear that Samsung already serves a key role in the Android kingdom while the others are just desperately trailing behind, “You and I know that Samsung’s playing a very strong hardware game… on hardware innovation, and they do it well, but look at the other players. Android is starting to fragment and fork”.

He firmly stated that they don’t intend on adopting the Android platform over their very own Blackberry ecosystem due to the lack of control that handset-makers have over the platform, he wants full control of the product that he’s selling.

We were surprised when Heins has made it clear that they are indeed open to the idea of licensing the unreleased Blackberry 10 OS to OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) such as HTC. “That’s certainly part of the framework that we’re looking into,” Heins stated, Topolsky has stressed the involvement of HTC but the chief has only given him this response: “I want BlackBerry 10 to be the mobile computing platform of choice, for various segments, not just smartphones or tablets.” Heins is certainly hinting that his plans for the Blackberry 10 is not limited to just tablets and smartphones, what else could he be hiding up his sleeves?

Heins even went on to compare his company with Nokia — which is also suffering from the same fate — “I think we’re in a different position, we have roughly 80 million users today — Nokia doesn’t have that, they’re not in the service play, they have no value on top of the handsets.” -true enough, once a Nokia device is sold, the company and its customers aren’t linked in any way other than Warranty coverage and upcoming purchases. With Blackberry, RIM and its customers are closely tied up through their exclusive services, which is exactly what Heins is trying to preserve and improve.

Heins strongly believes that he can still regain the massive user base that Blackberry once had by providing better services to its current customers and attract new ones with the help of their Blackberry 10 devices which are due to hit the market by early next year.

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Avatar for Kevin Go

Kevin is a blogger, avid gamer and always keeps himself updated with the latest trends in technology. He's still a bit shy so no Twitter and Facebook link here.

16 Responses

  1. Avatar for lalaland lalaland says:

    i think its ok not to embrace WP8 or Android… stick to your own! even the smartphone world is not about the capability anymore… its all about ecosystem…lead by iOS and android…and Windows Phone is struggling…

    that’s why i hated nokia when they ditched symbian and maemo/meego (but meego was later save by ex-nokia’s employees thank goodness)and embrace WP8! i just wish that nokia didn’t kill symbian, instead put it on there lowend instead of S40….

    i hope BB and RIM can survive to the ecosystem war…if BB could just legally port android apps to BB app world.. then its solve…if devs just make there apps available for all OS.. like angry birds available to any OS… i hate that i cant have instagram on nokia lumia devices and blackberry and so is the nokia 808 pureview…

    i hate seeing all people use samsung with android… its like a samsung world… i want to see some other option…

  2. Avatar for roiji roiji says:

    i’d gladly pay for BB service if they have an app on Android XD

  3. Avatar for trending trending says:

    I think BB should come up with better specs and OS with better UI at a lower price to cope with the competition.

  4. Avatar for Gg Gg says:

    Gggggggggggg

  5. Avatar for Ice Ice says:

    Repackage? Easier said than done… I don’t think it’s easy to port apps made for android to bb os 10…

    • Avatar for BBmoy BBmoy says:

      well, if you’re an Android developer, don’t just think. you will have to try. BB users are people who has the capacity to buy Apps like those of IOS users.

    • Avatar for Ice Ice says:

      IMO, it’s not about the capacity to purchase apps. On a developer’s perspective, if the market share and user base of a certain OS is small, it would just be a waste of resources.

    • Avatar for Cocolumboy Cocolumboy says:

      @bbmoy yan ang spirit! :) go BB!

  6. Avatar for Lord Nick Lord Nick says:

    That’s not really snubing Android, when Android devs can simply repackage their app for BB10, That’s like being in control while still holding hands together and singing kumbaya.

    • Avatar for Kendra Kendra says:

      i agree with what you said but the BIG question is…why they aren’t doing it till this very moment if they trust BB’s os to expand the app consumption?

  7. Avatar for Kendra Kendra says:

    nah….i love BB but my unit lacks excitement so it serves as my backup phone lately….i hope BB can reconsider android once they realized that BB OS is no longer saleable or useful…so lack of apps…just camera, fb, twitter and that’s it…

  8. Avatar for Kendra Kendra says:

    nah….i love BB but my unit lacks excitement so it now serves like my backup phone….i hope BB can reconsider android once they realized that BB OS is no longer saleable or useful…so lack of apps…just camera, fb, twitter and that’s it…

    • Avatar for Name: Ren Name: Ren says:

      I agree, it lacks excitement and much holding back from new flagship features, only certain amount of consumers keeps theirs loyalty on bb.

    • Avatar for Kevin Go Kevin Go says:

      I couldn’t agree more, my curve 8520 serves as a back up too and I’m not going to deny this… the cheap internet plans are the only things that are making me stay.

      BB10 is very promising though.

  9. Avatar for CarlBytes CarlBytes says:

    I believe this will definitely benefit the consumers. More choices, cheaper gadgets. Besides, if RIM will adapt Android or WP8, they will loose their main advantage over the competition, enterprise security.

    • Avatar for lalaland lalaland says:

      true, but i just wish that they will make the android apps available to there blackberry app world! BB’s ecosystem is really lacking… it might be the 4th runner since WP is really growing…

      and its true that samsung is the huge android player… not even google’s motorola can catch up… but i still like motorola than samsung… they make tough phones like nokia but much tougher…

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