Research In Motion knows it has to do something to turn things around in the ultracompetitive smartphone market and where better to start than with its core mobile operating system software?
As Enterprise Mobile Today reports, a RIM executive is quoted as saying the company plans to migrate its smartphones to the mobile OS underpinning its new PlayBook tablet PC to improve developer interest and appease consumers looking for more a intuitive and engaging user interface.
Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIM) officials were not immediately available to comment on the reported change of heart in respect to its mobile OS strategy.
RIM garnered the QNX OS, which for now it’s calling the BlackBerry Tablet OS, when it acquired QNX Software Systems from Harman International (NYSE: HAR) for $200 million in April.
Desperate to turn around its flagging smartphone franchise in the face of intense competition from Apple and a slew of Android-powered mobile devices, Research In Motion this week appears to be on the verge of making a strategic about-face by transitioning its BlackBerry smartphones from its in-house mobile operating system to the QNX OS that’s powering its new PlayBook tablet PC.
According to an IntoMobile report coming out the company’s DevCon event this week, a RIM vice president confirmed the QNX OS will be the basis for future releases of its BlackBerry smartphones, a commitment that, if true, comes less than two months after the company released its updated BlackBerry 6 OS for devices including the BlackBerry Torch.