The Unofficial BlackBerry Weblog
Word on the street is that Research in Motion is going to re-brand the QNX BlackBerry OS to BlackBerry X, or, BBX for short, on upcoming QNX powered BlackBerry Superphones later this month at BlackBerry DevCon.
We’ve now confirmed with multiple sources that RIM is set to unveil a new name for their QNX-based BlackBerry platform at BlackBerry DevCon this month. And the name is…BlackBerry Xor BBX for short.
[Source]
Rumors about the QNX powered BlackBerry Colt started spreading a little over a month ago and yesterday during RIM’s Q2 Fiscal 2012 earnings call, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie both confirmed that QNX powered BlackBerry smartphones will be previewed at BlackBerry DevCon 2011 next month.
The future of Research in Motion and the BlackBerry hinges on the companies ability to deliver on QNX. It will be interesting to see what RIM comes up with…
Rumors of the 1.2 GHz, single core, QNX-powered BlackBerry Colt started making the rounds last week. The first BlackBerry superphone to run the QNX BlackBerry operating system was supposed to come out in early Q1. New reports, however, have emerged indicating that the BlackBerry Colt could makes its debut at the end of 2011.
The existence of the BlackBerry Colt is just a rumor, so, the BlackBerry Colt actually coming out in 2011 is like a rumor squared. Take it with a grain of salt.
[Source Tweakers.net Translated via Engadget]
BlackBerry 7 is set to debut on the the BlackBerry Bold 9900 as early as next week. RIM’s new BlackBerry OS, however, isn’t so much a new OS as it is an update to BlackBerry 6. The real new BlackBerry operating system is QNX, and, according to BGR, the first QNX powered BlackBerry, the BlackBerry Colt, will make its debut in Q1 2012.
[Read more…] about QNX-powered BlackBerry Colt rumored to debut in Q1 2012
During Research in Motion’s annual shareholder’s meeting yesterday, RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie said that 7 new BlackBerry devices running its next generation operating system would be out in the coming months. (For clarity, ‘next generation operating system’ actually means BlackBerry 7 which is still based on RIMs old BlackBerry OS. The real next generation QNX OS currently found running on the BlackBerry PlayBook won’t be out on the BlackBerry until early 2012.)
[Read more…] about 7 New BlackBerry Devices Running BlackBerry 7 On The Way!
Research in Motion has released OS breakdown information for BlackBerry users downloading applications from BlackBerry App World, and, nearly a year after the release of BlackBerry 6, almost 1 in 5 BlackBerry users, 18% to be exact, are using the latest and greatest RIM has to offer. The data also shows that 32% of BlackBerry users are still pre-BlackBerry OS 5. Usually when we think of mobile OS fragmentation, Android is the platform that jumps to mind, but, things are just as bad for the BlackBerry OS, and, they are soon going to get worse….
Uptake of BlackBerry 6 has jumped 8% in the three months since we last talked about it, but, 82% of BlackBerry users on an operating system at least one version back. This will jump to two versions back as soon as RIM releases BlackBerry 7, expected to ship sometime in the next 2 to 3 months. The real problem for RIM is that everyone who cares knows that RIM intends to replace BlackBerry 7 with QNX in ‘early 2012’.
If it took a year for RIM to get 18% adoption on BlackBerry 6, does it really make sense for developers to focus development efforts on BlackBerry 7 when they know that QNX is coming, and, coming hard?
According to a report by TNS, the BlackBerry still dominates in the enterprise with over 81% market share in companies with over 1000 employees. The report also shows that the iPhone and other platforms are catching up in small companies where the BlackBerry’s share is only 39% compared to 28% for the iPhone and 19% for Android, however, with 69% total share of all corporate users, the BlackBerrys advantage in the enterprise compared to its competitors may just buy RIM the time it needs to bring it’s next generation handset to market and be a hit even though consumers aren’t really feeling the BlackBerry at all these days.
What RIM and the BlackBerry have going for them is that corporations are incredibly slow to adopt new technology and switch over to it. RIM is working on a QNX BlackBerry, and, although consumers may not be willing to wait for QNX to make its debut on a BlackBerry device before going with something other than the BlackBerry, corporations won’t switch en masse away from the BlackBerry before RIM makes the switch to QNX. So long as the RIM’s new Blackberry OS is comparable to iOS, Android, WP7, and webOS (BlackBerry 6 currently is not) RIM will continue to maintain millions of BlackBerry users by way of the corporate provisioned devices.
RIM may not ever enjoy the stature they once had with consumers again, however, the BlackBerry will continue to be a force in the smartphone landscape for the foreseeable future so long as QNX lives up to they hype…
One of the things that Research in Motion co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said at the All Things D: Dive Into Mobile conference last week was that we will see QNX on the BlackBerry when dual core processors became available. LG, today, has launched the LG Optimus 2X with Tegra 2, the first dual-core smartphone, so, clearly dual core processors are available. Lazaridis said also, however, when talking about BlackBerry 6 that, “It really is the foundation of us going forward on the BlackBerry“, which to me sounds like it will be some time before we see a QNX BlackBerry.
I don’t want to say that Lazaridis’ comments are conflicting, but, they definitely are confusing. All I really want to know is when can I get a dual-core, QNX running BlackBerry?
I am trying to remember the last time that there really weren’t any rumors about the “next” BlackBerry that would be coming out. There is no question that all the talk at Research in Motion these days is about the BlackBerry PlayBook and QNX, but, I would like to know what RIM has in store for the next BlackBerry.
The BlackBerry that I currently use, really as a secondary device these days, is the BlackBerry Storm 9530. My Storm is well over two years old and my two, unappealing, choices for upgrade are the Storm2 9550 which is over a year old and cannot be upgraded to BlackBerry 6, and, the 6 month old BlackBerry Bold 9650 which you will be able to upgrade to BlackBerry 6 any day now.
Usually during this time of year there would be a lot of buzz about the new BlackBerry devices that just came out and even more about the devices rumored to be coming out next year. Unfortunately, the “new” BlackBerry devices that just came out are refreshes of BlackBerry Bold, Curve, and Pearl, devices that came out years ago, and a weird looking clamshell that I have yet to see in the wild outside of stores that sell them. The rumor mill is completely closed down. We aren’t even hearing rumors about a CDMA variant of the BlackBerry Torch.
I know that RIM is focusing on the BlackBerry PlayBook right now, but, what do they have in store for us when it comes to BlackBerry devices? Inquiring minds would like to know…
Earlier today we showed you the video of Research in Motion’s founder and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis giving a live demo of the BlackBerry PlayBook at the Dive Into Mobile conference yesterday evening. What may even be of more interest, however, are some of the comments he made during his time on stage with Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg from All Things Digital…
Of particular note were Lazaridis’s comment’s on BlackBerry 6. When asked about the latest incarnation of the BlackBerry OS, Lazaridis had this to say… “It really is the foundation of us going forward on the BlackBerry”.
As the co-CEO of Research in Motion, unless RIM isn’t looking to sell another BlackBerry device between now and the time a QNX OS based BlackBerry hits the shelves, Lazaridis really couldn’t have said much else. If he had, much like when Microsoft announced Windows Phone 7 and their Win Mo 6.5 sales all but completely came to screeching halt, no one would buy a new BlackBerry device if they new RIM was putting all there efforts into a new OS.
Let’s just hope that BlackBerry 6 is the foundation of BlackBerry operating systems going forward for no longer than the time it takes a hardware manufacture to squeeze a dual core processor into a phone small enough to fit into my front pants pocket…. RIM needs a QNX powered BlackBerry ASAP…