Research In Motion will dump its
BlackBerry OS licensing plans and double down on the upcoming BlackBerry 10’s
ability to battle toe-to-toe against Apple’s iOS and Google Android, according
to a new analyst report.
“Our checks indicate RIM is likely to move
away from a proposal to the Board that RIM license BB10 to Samsung and launch a
new BBM, email, and social networking app for iOS/Android for a monthly fee,”
Peter Misek, an analyst with Jefferies & Co., wrote in a co-authored Feb. 3
research note. The new plan, he added, will center on RIM competing against
“Apple, Android, and Windows ecosystems with their own integrated
hardware/software/services ecosystem.”
Misek doesn’t profess much faith in
this plan. “We recently met with [newly minted RIM CEO Thorsten] Heins and
found him engaging, articulate, and thoughtful,” read the report. “We see no
evidence that he is under the influence of the former management in any way.
But we respectfully disagree with him.”
RIM has made no secret of its intention
to bet heavily on BlackBerry 10, reportedly due sometime in the second half of
2012. The company’s current BlackBerry devices have failed to prevent its U.S.
market share from sliding in the face of aggressive competition from Apple’s
iPhone and the growing family of Google Android smartphones. A renewed push by
Microsoft’s Windows Phone could also complicate the environment for RIM in
2012.
In a Jan. 31 posting, the BlackBerry-enthusiast
blog CrackBerry posted an image of what it called the first BlackBerry 10
device, code-named London. Black and ultra-slim and somewhat narrow, with a
wide touch-screen and rounded edges, it represents something of a deviation
from the “stereotypical” BlackBerry form factor of physical QWERTY keyboard
paired to a relatively small screen. But a deviation from the norm is perhaps
what RIM needs at this transitional moment in its history.
“We’re hearing that both TI OMAP5 and
Qualcomm chipsets are being tested (1.5GHz dual core processors),” added the
posting. “If we look ahead by looking at BlackBerry history, it could be that
Qualcomm is for the CDMA [Code Division Multiple Access] carriers.”
Misek believes that RIM should continue
to pursue the idea of licensing out BlackBerry 10, and giving Android and
iPhone users the ability to receive secure BlackBerry email is a “mistake.”
Whether he’s right, or if RIM can succeed against Apple and Google by keeping
BlackBerry firmly in-house probably won’t become clear until 2013 at the
earliest.
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