Could RIM's “Secret Weapon” Put BlackBerry Back in the Black?
As blogger Eric Mack points out in his post today, taking pot shots at our friends to the north has practically become a national pastime, rivaling baseball -- or hockey, depending on which side of the border you’re on.
But Mack is not ready to count RIM out. In his blog titled “RIM's secret weapon is actually pretty cool,” Mack points out that the maker of BlackBerry smartphones and related software may still have a trick or two up its Canadian sleeve.
RIM’s upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system, though late, may still pack a wallop, Mack suggests, by virtue of its built-in abilities to talk securely to embedded systems in cars, and beyond. The capabilities are related to RIM’s acquisition of the embedded OS called QNX, which will form the basis of the BB 10 system.
In an editorial published Tuesday in Canada's Globe and Mail, RIM’s new CEO Thorsten Heins insisted that even though it won’t ship until 2013 now, the new OS is worth waiting for. Unlike existing mobile OS platforms, BB 10 “will connect users not just to each other, but to the embedded systems that run constantly in the background of everyday life -- from parking meters and car computers to credit card machines and ticket counters,” Heins said. It’s a thinly veiled reference to the real-time QNX OS platform, Mack says, which “can be found all over, but especially in places where security and precision is paramount, including in medical devices, public transit, air traffic control, nuclear power plants and aboard the International Space Station.”
In addition to running in some 20 million cars today, QNX has the added appeal of already supporting HTML5 and the ability to interface with iOS and Android devices. And there’s one more potential ace in the hole: It offers built-in support for near-field communications (NFC), an up-and-comer technology that has been hailed as the prime ingredient for finally turning our mobile phones into secure wireless “wallets.”
According to Mack, if RIM plays its remaining cards correctly, “and QNX phones truly do interface with the numerous other systems we encounter on a daily basis in a seamless and intuitive way, it could be a major selling point.
“Finally creating the killer digital wallet application -- one that would work easily for things like paying tolls and parking meters -- could also inject RIM with a significant amount of mojo.”
Can BB 10 provide enough mobile mojo to put BlackBerry back in the black? Share your thoughts.
A newly aquired Playbook now sits on my desk ($118 CAD :). I like it. It's a solid piece of hardware with an OK interface.
It's fantastic. And the Playbook has confirmed to me that I am GOING to get our family both an Android tablet (for me) and an iPad (for my wife). I don't regret getting the Playbook in the least but it's the OS that's holding me back.
Why am I posting this comment when I KNOW that a few Playbook fans are going to react rather harshly and irrationally? Because I would LIKE to see Playbook succeed and just maybe some RIM software engineer reads these comments?
"Too little, too late" describes the Playbook and its OS, QNX. If QNX is the killer weapon then RIM is going to languish in fourth place in the smart phone market. Android and iOS simply are too far ahead in terms of adoption, and, are catching up in terms of security. The iPhone recently received the necessary security clearances to be used by the US military. That's a pretty big feather in Apple's corporate adoption cap!!!
RIM undoubtedly lacks many of the patents that allow Apple and Google to make improvements to the gesture-based controls for their respective tablets and smartphones, but, it would help RIM if they could fix up their own gestures.
And, the BIGGEST thing that has convinced me that the Playbook WILL be replaced by two of its competitors in my house--the lack of third party apps or apps that offer inter-mobile platform functionality. It's the end of 2012 and there's still no video conferencing application! The absence of a video chat app after two years is symptomatic of the ills plaguing the Playbook/QNX.
And, even for other apps the small developer base is felt. For example, on my rather old iPhone I've got three _free_ planetarium apps, none of which have obnoxious ads. On the Playbook there's a grand total of ONE app (a port of Stellarium) vs. dozens for the iPhone, and, though What's Up is decent it certainly would help if there was some competition out there since What's Up is missing many of the features that I take for granted on my iPhone.
COMWAVE appears to have a Flash-based video chat function that can communicate for free with iOS and Android devices (and a paid desktop version) but I have yet been able to test it out. Plus, as Adobe finally realised, Flash on a mobile device sucks so ePhone isn't exactly easy to use. Another company (can't remember name) has a vapourware promise of interplatform chat coming in February.
RIM tried to play the proprietary card for too long and blew a major opportunity. Apple succeeded with being closed in iOS because the iPhone was a run away smash hit. Google's Android is starting to nip at Apple's heels as a distant second (Android phone and smart phone aren't synonymous) because it was open.
Playbook and QNX, if they're going to succeed, need to copy their competitors, and, where their competitors are going to shut them out (video chat for Skype and FaceTime) they simply need to bring their own technology to the masses. Supposedly Playbook's video chat feature is second to none.
RIM should've created Blackberry video chat clients for iOS, Android and Mac OS X/Windows/Linux desktops a long time ago. It would've allowed Playbook users to be advocates for their brand. Of course, they would've had to figure out how to manage the increased demand on their video chat servers with all those iOS users plugging in but that would've been a small price to pay for making the Playbook a contender!
Ah well, I'll just have to make sure not to spend money on apps (as tempting as it is). Apple is bound to release a retina iPad mini and the ASUS/Google Android tablet will probably drop below $150 before the summer so I'll hold off on buying my "real" tablets. But, I'll try to wait until after RIM releases BlackBerry 10 for the Playbook. If they fix some of the deficiencies and do a better job of incorporating Android apps, who knows, maybe I'll remain a BlackBerry user after all.
Until then, I expect to use and like my Playbook. After that, I'll make someone on eBay very happy :). (and, given that I paid $118 for 32 GB it's not like I'll be losing any money on the deal).
Black Berry's are secure and if you run a business that's what you want.
Iphones are incredibily easy to hack....also do another test for me. Stand over a concrete floor and drop your iphone and blackberry. See what happens.
Blackberrys are incredibily durable...they are secure. That's why business and government love them. If the Apps kick up on the new platform they will have a major homerun.
QNX + Lisp = Artificial Intelligence on steroids.
Gruff Browser = graphical, lisp-based browser interface to RDF stores of information
Lisp processing of lists and networked knowledge as stored in TheBrain AND RDF stores --> answer complex questions (eg concerning cost-effetive medical care) with alacrity, aplomb, & with "aha" using graphical display of evidence-based information in the Gruff Browser.
Use QNX based voice recognition and "concept parser" for input of information and framing question.
Use Artificial Intelligence via Lisp in QNX + Gruff Browser for graphical output of answer.
I'm waiting for the blackberry to just die already. The device is horrible - totally useless. I waiting for my company to let me start carrying an iphone so that I can actually be productive.
While there's mainstream discussion around universal payments, there's less around the concept of a universal device, made possible by NFC and, likely, other tech. As an example, a BlackBerry NFC Security Overview webcast (http://bit.ly/T1d5m2) mentions keycard management for physical locations.
Today, organizations (and individuals) use a variety of access devices for their offices, their cars and even areas that they don't realize. Each device often requires separate management, often without the use of a central identity. To some extent, that's due to multiple decision makers spanning multiple departments. It wasn't long ago that landline and mobile corporate phones were managed by facilities not IT. There's consolidation in other areas, like physical security.
New use cases = new sales channels (missed or ignored by other players) offering potential for mobile reinvention, much the same way the original BlackBerry allowed orgs to rethink email.
Secret weapon sounds like Nixon's secret to end the war in Vietnam Nam. There is none. The article does not provide anything compelling or intriguing to see BBerry salvation. And this is coming from a BBerry bigot
But if it is still the same old POS phone with no apps it is still out of here. After Apple and Android phones, I hate my BB! Might as well go back to a flip phone and pager.
I don't really know if they read this article before they stuck a folk in RIMM. QNX has the most secure and powerfull operating platform for the past 25 years. It has always been RIMMs ace in the whole. It could be the smartest aquisition they ever made. I have personall experience with it and it's a game changer.
It just requires some creative thinking on how to best use it. As hardware becomes more powerfull and embedded systems more profuse the power QNX will rise to the top dragging RIMM along with it.
I'll be honest here because honesty is the best policy. Blackberry is in TROUBLE!!! The only way I see them getting out of this JAM that they are in is by partnering up with Android and calling it a day. This story nor situation is nothing new to techs that are 30 years of age and up. If people can remember back to the "LASER DISC" when VHS & Beta were the main platforms to watch movies. If people can remember "BRICK CELLPHONES" when the Nextel iSeries were taking over and Verzion/Sprint were heavy on the smaller flip phones. If people can remember the "Nextel i1000plus" when other carriers were offering 3.2 megapixel cameras with video recording in cellphones. If you can remember all these things, than you realize Blackberries had their moment and soon they will be a Trivia question 10 years from now, "What was a Blackberry and not a fruit you pick off of a tree?" I know I sound pretty confident and cold at the same time but people will have to realize that Apple & Android have setup a system that makes it fairly simple too complex for anyone to create an app for their platforms. You have to almost be a Harvard grad to create an independent app for Blackberry because so much goes into it. Blackberry as a company will fall to the same pride the companies before them fell to and that's "Not changing with the times." When most manufacturers were crossing over to touchscreens, they should have been right there but pride & cheapness kept them with that "TOO SMALL" manual keyboard and that is now lost in the times. Now hearing that they have a new OS truly shows they are trying to hold on for dear life because when there is a championship game, it's generally between 2 teams not 3. Everyone wants to be that 3rd company but frankly I see Windows Mobile barely holding on to that spot by a fingernail. I hope this next Blackberry OS works out for the best for all the employees the company has but I would tell people, "It never hurts to check out crossing over to the other team sometimes."
And you can stillbuy a 32 Gig Playbook on sale for $118 in Winnipeg. Best dealfora good tablet anywhere.
As free terrestrial broadcast television has gone digital and high-definition (in the United States at least), RIM could quickly and easily become known as the manufacturer that put instant television in everyone's hands. While streaming over IP is subject to network conditions, 4G availability, and the long wait for stream caching, dependable access to network television could be the killer function that appeals not only to enterprise and IT wonks but also builds on the youth buzz that BBM never quite exploited.
