RIM Unveils New OS Based On QNX 262
New submitter HommeDeJava writes "Research In Motion unveiled a new operating system for its tablet and smartphones at the company's BlackBerry developer conference in San Francisco. Called BlackBerry BBX, the new OS combines features of the existing BlackBerry OS and its recently acquired real-time QNX OS. Could BBX attract software developers and spur interest from consumers?"
As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ball (Score:5, Insightful)
I already know the future. Fail, of the epic kind.
good enough for nuclear reactors (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ba (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree. Too little, too late. It'll take years for them to turn things around, and they just don't have the time.
Re:If it's not as closed as iOS/(locked down)Andro (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple pays 70%.
Suppose RIM were ultra generous and paid 100%.
So long as I sell 43% more on the Apple platform, I'm still making more money.
Put it another way, I'd have to sell 70% of my iPhone sales on the RIM before I made as much.
Ain't going to happen.
Re:As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ba (Score:3, Insightful)
Given the legal challenges to Android right now, I would imagine they don't want to put all of their eggs in one basket. I can't blame them. It could turn into a win if the OS is well accepted. The game isn't over till it's over. If anyone in recent history has taught us that, it's Apple.
Android popped up in a smartphone market ruled by iOS and is now a huge player. RIM could pull the same move, although the OS won't be available for free, it could gain them needed traction in a market that is quickly slipping away. RIM still has a sizable corporate advantage that isn't completely burned yet.
Should be interesting to see how things develop over the next few months.
Re:As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ba (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't get ahead of yourselves.
Let's not forget that Apple came back from a far worse shape than this in the late 90s. It is way too early to say that "they just don't have time".
They better put a move on it, pronto, would be a much more accurate statement.
Re:As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ba (Score:4, Insightful)
Key measures are a) profit share and b) share of web browsing c) number of app downloads and total number of (quality?) apps availble; in other words, what matters is how much the user use and can use their phones. Android will overtake Apple in these measures but it is taking much longer [wikipedia.org]. If you think like this Apple is still ahead so far (and only just, and only if you include the iPod touch!).
Incidentally, this shows that WP7 has almost no hope. If you are an app developer you will do an iPhone app and some will do an Android app to show you support "alternative" people. Soon it will be the other way round (in fact I'd say that it's already the other way round in some markets). The inertia you need to overcome the leader is too much. The only reason that Android is succeeding is that Apple left a low end in the market available for them to develop in. Now the market has to be analysed as the 1990's PC market. Apple is Apple. Android is Windows and Windows is OS2, a late entry by an an over-arrogant computing incumbent.