We’ve been hearing the rumors for a while now that RIM has been working on a secret iPad killer called, wait for it, the “BlackPad.” If RIM does launch a new tablet next week it wouldn’t come as a big surprise to us, as the company needs to have a competitive gadget in the larger 7+ inch screen size category to stay viable in the increasingly crowded smartphone and tablet market space. Now before you go on a rant saying RIM is here to stay and their new Blackberry OS is superior to Android or iOS, hear me out.
RIM was caught by surprise two years ago when Apple launched the iPhone and completely flipped the smartphone segment, one that RIM had been the leader in, on its head. RIM was left flat footed and quickly had to respond with its own touch screen based device, apps store and developer eco-system. RIM has been able to do a good job on the device front and Blackberrys are still a favorite with the business types on Wall Street. However, they have largely failed when it comes to creating an eco-system where app developers want to go and build new apps. This is a big problem for RIM.
Without a vibrant app community wanting to build for your device, the fewer apps you have to put in front of customers. We know quality is important and numbers are not the be-all-end-all, but when you are comparing 10,000 apps for Blackberry to 100,000 for Android and 250,000 for iOS, the difference is just overwhelming. The longer this gap remains, the more pressure RIM will start to see as developers go where the money is made.
This gets us back to the BlackPad. The BlackPad is important to RIM because tablets are the new hot device and both developers and consumers are eagerly mulling their options. If RIM doesn’t have a horse in the race, then developers have one less platform to build new apps for and this will only help Android and iOS further their lead against RIM.
Now all is not lost. Based on earlier rumors, RIM has realized they need to be more competitive with developers and so they are contemplating switching the BlackPad away from Blackberry OS to QNX. QNX is a real time operating system RIM acquired which has a fairly large development community in the embed device space. If RIM does make the switch, it will either be a masterstroke that helps them push back into the mindset of app developers or it will further fragment their community. Only time will tell on this and the clock is ticking.
According to The Wall Street Journal, we’ll know more about RIM’s plans next week as they kick off their DevCon developers conference from September 27 – 30 in San Francisco. This is where RIM is supposedly going to take the wraps off the new BlackPad and their new apps strategy. Even RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie is excited about next week’s event and the new products to be launched.
“There’s such an interesting dynamic going on in the market because first of all, when you talk about platform and design and future aspects, I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised at DevCon in a week Monday. I can’t really give you too much here but I think you’re going to be really interested there.”
I’m certainly looking forward to next week’s event and hope that RIM throws their hat in the “tablet” ring. Competition is a good thing and keeping the Android and iOS camps on their toes will make this space even more interesting for all of us.
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