“Research In Motion may still see software licensing as an important part of its turnaround plan, even though Samsung has denied that it might pay to use the BlackBerry maker’s technology or even buy the company,” Alastair Sharp reports Reuters.
“RIM has likely held talks with several handset makers about using its new QNX platform, said a prominent RIM shareholder, who said he was briefed by the company,” Sharp reports. “The operating system, already used in the PlayBook tablet, will power RIM’s next-generation smartphones due out later this year.”
“The shareholder, who declined to be identified because he was unauthorized to speak on the record, said he also believes Samsung is interested in a licensing deal despite its statements to the contrary,” Sharp reports. “‘I’m secure they’re talking about licensing stuff,’ the shareholder said, referring to the South Korean smartphone maker. ‘I don’t know if they’re looking to buy the company and I don’t care.'”
Sharp reports, “RIM’s existing product lineup has struggled to compete with Apple’s iPhone and iPad and the slew of large-screen and powerful devices from Samsung and other manufacturers using Google’s Android operating system… If tech precedent plays out, time may be in short supply for any seismic shift at RIM. ‘As you’ve seen with the likes of Nokia and Palm, when things go wrong they can unwind very quickly,’ Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell said in an interview.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: No entity wants beleaguered RIM’s BlackBerry more than the ash heap of history.
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Beleaguered RIM positions itself as takeover bait – January 6, 2012
Beleaguered RIM looking to replace half-chairmen Lazaridis and Balsillie, sources say – January 3, 2012
RIM is a proud company, like Apple. They’ll never consider such option.
Well, apple did that once.
yeah and look where that got them…
taking easy way out…
I still can’t use Lotus Notes (which I hate) and Same Time natively in my iphone.
RIM could sell an BlackBerry app for the iphone and make a fortune making applications for the iOS system, but they dared to ignore apple and they are now domed.
BTW: Does any of you is able to use its avaya extension in your iPhone? there are like 6 versions of Avaya softphone and ONE -X and I can’t make it work even using VPN. Any one?
I hate that too. It requires installation and configuration of Traveler Server (for email) and Sametime Proxy Server (for Sametime). My guess is that IBM earns more money by selling additional software and licenses…
RIM is domed?
Like Ballmer’s head?
It will be sad (not really) if it turnes out that RIM sells for less than Skype.
There’s nothing new about QNX – it’s been around for decades, improving as it goes.
It’s just new to RIM who bought it a few years ago.
I hope QNX survives the RIM implosion.