Canadian Wireless Trade ShowRIM: Thorsten Heins wants to license BB10 software to other manufacturers
In an interview with the Telegraph, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins reports BlackBerry is willing to license its BB10 software to other manufacturers.
“We don’t have the economy of scale to compete against the guys who crank out 60 handsets a year. We have to differentiate and have a focused platform.” Said Heins.
Thorsten Heins goes on to say, “To deliver BB10 we may need to look at licensing it to someone who can do this at a way better cost proposition than I can do it. There’s different options we could do that we’re currently univestigating.”
It appears that BlackBerry will look to manufacturers Sharp or Samsung to develop hardware around the new BB10 software.
BlackBerry currently is the OS preferred by 90 per cent of the Fortune 500 market, and is the leading mobile seller in the UK. RIM has also seen a 140-per cent subscriber increase in developing worlds and currently still lifts a 75-million subscriber list.
So what can manufacturers and BB10 fans look forward to?
BlackBerry devices now can potentially navigate cars, entertainment and gaming systems, integrate and easily beam file content during conference meetings to compatible tablets. RIM also plans to unveil a new 4G PlayBook tablet, and new touchscreen keyboard, arguably the best in the mobile industry in January 2013.
But how will all these innovations develop when BB10 is fragmented?
Would you buy a Samsung BB10 phone?