Crackberry back? Heins flexes muscles and shows confidence

[CANWTS]

What do you think of Heins announcing the official confirmation on BB10 licensing?

http://canadianwirelesstradeshow.com...of-crackberry/

[Mann Incognito]

I think licensing is innevitable but the latest news is that RIM is looking at licensing BB10 outside of the traditional mobile environment, I would imagine QNX would take the lead on that given their experience in the auto and other manufacturing sectors, but the opportunities are almost infinite and much less volitile than the mobile mraket. Makes sense to me.

[Tendenzi]

I'm thinking "Desperate times calls for desperate measures" and this is a no-brainer. It's expected of them to at least do this and try to balance out their sinking ship so they can continue business and revise their plans.

But I also want to see and experience their BB10 OS and see if hardware is even the key piece to the RIM puzzle anymore. With an all touch OS like what I've seen, it's possibly smarter to can all hardware design and manufacturing and just focus heavily on their software only. Hell their push email is still second to none, and they had one of the most coveted IM experiences ever. They just need to bring everything else up to par with consumer expectations.

This will definitely be interesting, I'd love to see a lot of OEM's make some come-backs utilizing RIM's software. I'd like to see the Android market share chipped away at, and make a playing field fit for 3 or 4... this stuff keeps the technology both interesting and competitive. And RIM is better left alive than dead and acquired by the highest bidder. (Even though I still think 2013 is the year for RIM to sell out)

[Heavy Fluid]

I think the whole BB10 thing is taking way too long, and they are going to run out of hype before it is actually released. It is too bad, because BB10 is what RIM needs.

[Mann Incognito]

I think the whole BB10 thing is taking way too long, and they are going to run out of hype before it is actually released. It is too bad, because BB10 is what RIM needs.

I love my PlayBook, but at launch it felt like an unfinished product. The potential was there but the execution was lacking. Then various minor updates and the OS2 made it the machine it should have been all along. RIM's sold 1.3M of them so far but it should have been 5, 6 or 10 times that amount by now. They rushed the release to satisfy critics both internally and externally.

I can't not agree with your sentiment that BB10 is taking too long, but as a consumer I want it to be complete once it's launched, I don't want what will essentially be a neutered OS if it's launched too early. It would not only be an inconvenience to me but also the final death knell for RIM as millions of potential BB users roll their eyes and text "Told you so" with their Apple and Samsung devices.

RIM needs to get this right the first time. Not just right but 200% right and if that means waiting then so be it.

[RightThere]

I love my PlayBook, but at launch it felt like an unfinished product. The potential was there but the execution was lacking. Then various minor updates and the OS2 made it the machine it should have been all along. RIM's sold 1.3M of them so far but it should have been 5, 6 or 10 times that amount by now. They rushed the release to satisfy critics both internally and externally.

I can't not agree with your sentiment that BB10 is taking too long, but as a consumer I want it to be complete once it's launched, I don't want what will essentially be a neutered OS if it's launched too early. It would not only be an inconvenience to me but also the final death knell for RIM as millions of potential BB users roll their eyes and text "Told you so" with their Apple and Samsung devices.

RIM needs to get this right the first time. Not just right but 200% right and if that means waiting then so be it.

Agreed they need to "get it right" but they are too slow in getting out their product which is basically going to be the equivalent to what will already have been available for months (Android, iOS).

Classic case of over promise, under deliver.

[DennyCrane]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry Bold 9900: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9900; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.391 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

There's discussion out there on what Heins' statements actually mean. He didn't specifially say he was going to be licencing out to other phone manufactures, so we shouldn't jump to conclusions.

http://mobile.businessweek.com/news/...-for-licensing

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) said it will soon be ready to license the company's new BlackBerry 10 operating system to other manufacturers, even as it races to release its own devices with the software by early next year.

The new platform is in the final stages of testing, and RIM is now considering how other companies may be able to use it in a range of products, Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins said today. The BlackBerry 10 lineup was built on software called QNX, which is used in cars, nuclear plants and military drones.
"QNX is already licensed across the automotive sector --we could do that with BB10 if we chose to," Heins, who has begun to carry a BB10 phone for his own use, said in an interview at Bloomberg's headquarters in New York. "The platform can be licensed."

BB10, which has an improved Web browser and the ability to jump between applications while they continue running, is the linchpin of RIM's efforts to regain market share from Apple Inc. and Google Inc. Licensing the new software to other manufacturers may help bolster investors' confidence in the operating system. RIM's stock jumped as much as 13 percent on Aug. 8 after Jefferies & Co speculated that Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) might license BB10.

After six straight days of gains, the Waterloo, Ontario- based company's shares fell 2.7 percent to $8.07 at the close in New York. The stock has lost about 95 percent of its value from its mid-2008 high.
Sales Slump

Global BlackBerry sales tumbled 43 percent last quarter as RIM's aging lineup of devices failed to match the consumer appeal of Android phones and Apple's iPhone. BB10 will change RIM's fortunes, Heins said today.

"We're here to win," he said. "We're not here to fight for third or fourth place."

The BlackBerry 10 represents a fresh start for RIM, which abandoned its old software to create the operating system. The new lineup uses technology from its 2010 acquisition of QNX Software Systems, which RIM bought from Harman International Industries Inc. (HAR) for $200 million. The underlying software has been used by companies ranging from Cisco Systems Inc. to General Electric Co. to Caterpillar Inc.

In Heins's vision for RIM, the company will expand the scope of its devices beyond BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook tablets into other areas of mobile computing and what he calls machine-to-machine communications. "Smartphones are a part of our business, but we're looking way beyond this," he said.

[Tendenzi]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry Bold 9900: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9900; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.391 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

There's discussion out there on what Heins' statements actually mean. He didn't specifially say he was going to be licencing out to other phone manufactures, so we shouldn't jump to conclusions.

http://mobile.businessweek.com/news/...-for-licensing

He's just being coy, doesn't want to look as desperate as RIM is, suggesting it can be licensed but they want to see some interest.. Which I think they'll find very little of.

[MIAJamesFan]

RIM needs to get this right the first time. Not just right but 200% right and if that means waiting then so be it.

Agreed as well. I don't mind waiting as long as I get a quality product to try. Feels like many times, RIM phones have been neutered upon release, and later get better by newer firmware revisions etc.

[RightThere]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry Bold 9900: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9900; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.391 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

There's discussion out there on what Heins' statements actually mean. He didn't specifially say he was going to be licencing out to other phone manufactures, so we shouldn't jump to conclusions.

This is Howard Forums. If we're not allowed to just to conclusions about total speculation, you may as well give me the perma-ban now.

[DennyCrane]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry Bold 9900: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9900; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.391 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

^LMAO