RIM banks on software revamp
By Peter Svensson |
February 3, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
IN the trend-setting North American market, BlackBerry phones have gone from must-have messaging toys to outdated clunkers - all in the space of a few years. The new CEO of Research In Motion Ltd, the company behind the phones, says it can claw its way back to the top with new software, but analysts are deeply doubtful.
The two co-CEOs of the Canadian company resigned on January 22. The new CEO is Thorsten Heins, who was the company's chief operating officer.
Even though the company is in deep trouble and has seen its stock price fall 89 percent from the all-time high it hit in 2008, Heins said his appointment means "no seismic change" for the company. He's confident in the course laid out by his predecessors, which hinges on the revamp.
The new software is called BlackBerry 10, and it's due in new smartphones late this year. For BlackBerry fans, it should be a welcome upgrade. It's based on QNX, an industrial-grade operating system that runs devices that need to be very reliable, like core internet routers.
That means it's a stable platform that can give BlackBerrys a new look and new capabilities. BlackBerry 10 will have a completely new user interface, and be "very fluid," Heins said.
But it amounts to BlackBerry tossing out its own outdated software, first introduced in 1999, and adopting a slick, touch-oriented operating system, much like Android, Google Inc's popular smartphone software, and the software on the iPhone.
Heins said BlackBerry 10 is "extremely competitive" and insisted RIM is "not in a catch-up race" with the makers of other mobile operating systems. He emphasizes that BlackBerry 10 will offer "multitasking," or the ability to run several applications at the same time. This is something Google Inc's Android software and the iPhone operating system offer in a limited fashion.
The main problem analysts see with BlackBerry 10 is that the phones are set to come out so late. They were originally slated for early this year, but pushed back to late this year.
The two co-CEOs of the Canadian company resigned on January 22. The new CEO is Thorsten Heins, who was the company's chief operating officer.
Even though the company is in deep trouble and has seen its stock price fall 89 percent from the all-time high it hit in 2008, Heins said his appointment means "no seismic change" for the company. He's confident in the course laid out by his predecessors, which hinges on the revamp.
The new software is called BlackBerry 10, and it's due in new smartphones late this year. For BlackBerry fans, it should be a welcome upgrade. It's based on QNX, an industrial-grade operating system that runs devices that need to be very reliable, like core internet routers.
That means it's a stable platform that can give BlackBerrys a new look and new capabilities. BlackBerry 10 will have a completely new user interface, and be "very fluid," Heins said.
But it amounts to BlackBerry tossing out its own outdated software, first introduced in 1999, and adopting a slick, touch-oriented operating system, much like Android, Google Inc's popular smartphone software, and the software on the iPhone.
Heins said BlackBerry 10 is "extremely competitive" and insisted RIM is "not in a catch-up race" with the makers of other mobile operating systems. He emphasizes that BlackBerry 10 will offer "multitasking," or the ability to run several applications at the same time. This is something Google Inc's Android software and the iPhone operating system offer in a limited fashion.
The main problem analysts see with BlackBerry 10 is that the phones are set to come out so late. They were originally slated for early this year, but pushed back to late this year.
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