RIM's QNX-Based Phone May Skip BlackBerry Server (NewsFactor)

Research In Motion is getting closer to rolling out its first QNX-powered BlackBerry smartphone. Code-named Colt, news reports reveal RIM is on target for a first quarter 2012 launch. That's nothing especially new, since that RIM has previously offered that timeline.

Rumors have it the QNX-powered BlackBerry won't offer support for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Instead, it will reportedly tap into Microsoft ActiveSync e-mail software. But will QNX help RIM turn around its fortunes in North America? Or will news of an impending new mobile operating system stall sales of the new BlackBerry devices launched last week?

"This is actually problematic. People who have brand affinity and want to stay on with BlackBerry may very well decide to wait longer with this news," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. "Instead of buying one of the new BlackBerry OS 7 phones, they may wait for a QNX phone."

Short-Term Slide?

That is problematic, at least for the short term. Although RIM sales are reasonably strong outside the U.S., Greengart noted that North America BlackBerry sales have fallen off a cliff, particularly at the high end.

That, he said, is because consumers are looking for devices built from the ground up for finger-based navigation and that offer rich mobile-app platforms. As Greengart sees it, QNX has the opportunity to offer RIM those options, but whether the Canadian handset maker can capture and maximize that opportunity remains, for now, an open question.

"QNX will have a user interface presumably similar to the PlayBook. That was designed for finger-based navigation with gestures. It looks and feels somewhat similar to webOS," Greengart said. "Whether RIM can build a rich library of applications around it is not clear, especially given that even for the PlayBook, RIM is still lacking a native SDK. But it certainly gives RIM the chance to compete with a modern smartphone operating system as opposed to one designed 10 years ago that's been updated."

Good Enough?

For now, it's all speculation. No one can guess how competitive QNX will be against other operating systems. QNX-powered phones will compete against smartphones that have successfully built out ecosystems not just for apps but also for content. Some, like Google's Android, already offer rich cloud services.

"It's early because RIM hasn't announced the products specifically or reasons to purchase them. But RIM is going to have to come up with very specific reasons for consumers to purchase these products over and above something from Apple, something running Android, or something running a Microsoft operating system," Greengart said. "There is no way to beat (Apple's) iOS on number of apps. It's not possible."

RIM, then, will work to hit what Greengart calls the "good enough" mark and come up with some other reasons to buy. RIM's responses based on its existing operating system often focus on security or physical QWERTY keyboards.

"RIM definitely has its work cut out for it with QNX, but it's quite clear that, at least in North America, the existing operating system is not competitive for people looking for something that looks like an iPhone," Greengart said. "By RIM's own admission, that's an awful lot of people and they themselves are working on something along those lines for the next year."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enterprise/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20110808/tc_nf/79689

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