RIM Almost Switched to Android, Says CEO
RIM considered Android before moving forward with BlackBerry 10.
On Thursday RIM CEO Thorsten Heins made several revelations in an interview with The Telegraph, one of which is the possibility of letting other OEMs create BlackBerry devices so that RIM can better compete with Google's Android platform and Apple's iOS devices. He also admitted that the company thought long and hard about switching over to Android before finally deciding to move forward with its latest OS, BlackBerry 10.
"We took the conscious decision not to go Android," he said. "If you look at other suppliers’ ability to differentiate, there’s very little wiggle room. We looked at it seriously – but if you understand what the promise of BlackBerry is to its user base it’s all about getting stuff done. Games, media, we have to be good at it but we have to support those guys who are ahead of the game. Very little time to consume and enjoy content – if you stay true to that purpose you have to build on that basis. And if we want to serve that segment we can’t do it on a me-too approach."
Still, he admitted that RIM doesn't have the economy of scale to compete against competitors that can crank out 60 handsets a year. In order to better differentiate BlackBerry from Android and iOS, it needs to be a focused platform. One advantage is the company's BlackBerry Messenger which, according to Heins, delivers mobile messaging capabilities that are highly unique to the smartphone market.
"[BBM is] what attracts people to BlackBerry," he said. "This is our BlackBerry experience we can deliver -- there’s no other system out there where you can read, write, check if you’ve read my message. We want to make it as differentiated as possible. Going cross platform and opening up would be losing that advantage. I think there’s a huge difference between somebody who just provides the phone and the hardware and someone who provides services."
But to deliver BlackBerry 10, Heins said that RIM may need to look at licensing the OS to someone who can deliver devices at a better cost proposition -- OEMs like Samsung or Sony. "There’s different options we could do that we’re currently investigating," he added. "You could think about us building a reference system, and then basically licensing that reference design, have others build the hardware around it – either it’s a BlackBerry or it’s something else being built on the BlackBerry platform. We’re investigating this and it’s way too early to get into any details."
This is one of the reasons why RIM is working with financial advisers: to see if it's possible to license out BlackBerry 10 and where it would take the company. Either RIM will crank out BlackBerry 10 products in-house, or do it with a partner. Either way, RIM has no plans to abandon its subscriber base. That said, BlackBerry 10 is now make or break for RIM.
"We’ve just got to get it out there," he said.
" Blackberry almost made a good decision "
If Google is so slow with the updates, why Android OEMs can't catch up with them?
How good for RIM is the oppion of the iPhone fanboy?"
" Blackberry almost made a good decision "
They had a chance to apply vanilla OS on their otherwise great hardware, and guess what, they blew it. This could have been the Nexus experience alternative that some users are looking for something other than Samsung or HTC.
Bleah... they deserve what's coming to them.
If Google is so slow with the updates, why Android OEMs can't catch up with them?
How good for RIM is the oppion of the iPhone fanboy?"
So you are comparing Google slow updates vs what.... RIM no updates.
Or maybe RIM is so fast that in went around and it got stuck behind everybody.
They could of made a Android that was more "professional." All attempts I've seen have been lackluster.
Liscense BBOS? Really? Who would by that in numbers enough to matter? It's not liscensing revinues they need. They make exceptional hardware but an OS the casual user tends to avoid. Perhaps the ship RIM missed was the one Nokia jumped on.
Advantage to RIM and not the consumers. I prefer an open platform where several companies compete to provide the best service to their customers instead of a proprietary one that is controlled by one major player.
No; like I said, they could have released a vanilla Android phone that only requires them to keep up with Google for new releases and slap their hardware-specific drivers and their enterprise email on top of it. That, combined with the fact that their hardware is actually pretty good, would have made an excellent alternative to the current Nexus phones, for the customers that want to try something fresh and new. No carrier-specific bullshit, just plain OS like the Nexus line enjoys.
Your input here was invaluable, I don't know what we would have done without it....
/sarcasm
Yeah, maybe that Siri thingy can teach you how to spell... now go back to school.
That is funny! What user base? Its shrinking, quickly. RIM could be out of money in 12 months. When I was in an at&t store a few weeks ago, two BB owners came in to replace their BB with ANDROID. They didn't even look at the BB devices 3 feet from them! License their OS? SONY isn't at the top, Samsung is quite busy selling tons of Android devices and already have slow-selling WP7 phones (which look like their Android models). Why would they want another weak platform to support? HTC, doubt it. Nokia - they are in bed with Microsoft... for now or until they die. LG... maybe, but not top-of-the line. Is this guy drinking Crack?
The "me too" approach is fairly easy to take care of. First of all; Samsung, SONY, HTC and MC have different looking "SKINs" for their phones and I'm talking about the latest Android 4.0~4.1. The dial pads and contact lists look different from brand to brand. The task-switcher even looks different from some phones. But they all run Android Apps.
RIM could have made a very custom looking BB-Themed Android interface, install their BBM software which could be coded to only work on BB hardware. They could have released such a phone over a year ago. At the rate they are going, it will be 3 years since they bought QNX to re-engineer that OS into a modern phone OS.
RIM failed. The will most likely die before Nokia.
That is funny! What user base? Its shrinking, quickly. RIM could be out of money in 12 months. When I was in an at&t store a few weeks ago, two BB owners came in to replace their BB with ANDROID. They didn't even look at the BB devices 3 feet from them! License their OS? SONY isn't at the top, Samsung is quite busy selling tons of Android devices and already have slow-selling WP7 phones (which look like their Android models). Why would they want another weak platform to support? HTC, doubt it. Nokia - they are in bed with Microsoft... for now or until they die. LG... maybe, but not top-of-the line. Is this guy drinking Crack?
The "me too" approach is fairly easy to take care of. First of all; Samsung, SONY, HTC and MC have different looking "SKINs" for their phones and I'm talking about the latest Android 4.0~4.1. The dial pads and contact lists look different from brand to brand. The task-switcher even looks different from some phones. But they all run Android Apps.
RIM could have made a very custom looking BB-Themed Android interface, install their BBM software which could be coded to only work on BB hardware. They could have released such a phone over a year ago. At the rate they are going, it will be 3 years since they bought QNX to re-engineer that OS into a modern phone OS.
RIM failed. The will most likely die before Nokia.
Android development is faster than iOS and easily faster than RIM.
Android OS it far better than BB OS in my opinion. The Os on a blackberry is just so bad. I really mean it. The OS is so slow, and it just looks horrible. iOS and Android OS run so much smoother and look so much better.