Future products from RIM are a bit blurry at the moment as we are not sure what to expect exactly.  There’s a rumored roadmap showing two new Curve devices, a new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, and some BlackBerry 10 smartphones.  Here’s the details:

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We already know that RIM has BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 set to launch in February, but no specific date has been announced just yet.  Ronen from BerryReview received an insider tip which suggests a February 17 launch date, while a lot of rumors surfacing have been shooting for the week of the 15th.  So we’re about a month away from the rumored launch, but again there is no confirmation for this info to be solid 100%.  We can only hope and pray that RIM has no more delays with OS 2.0 and launches it at last!

Well this is what we know so far.  BlackBerry 10 smartphones are due in the second half of the year.  BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 is due in February.  All BlackBerry 7 devices intended to release have already made their launch.  The folks over at N4BB have some more information in regards to what’s ahead this year with RIM.  Here’s a glimpse:

• 10″ PlayBook releasing in December 2012, will be LTE enabled
• 7″ PlayBook releasing in April 2012, will be 3G+ (will not be LTE due to chipset)
• First BlackBerry 10 phone releasing in September 2012
• PlayBook OS 2.0 releasing end of February 2012
• Mobile Fusion releasing in April 2012
• PlayBook Admin Service releasing in Summer 2012
• Two new Curves for emerging markets. One Curve will be 2G only.

So that 10 inch BlackBerry PlayBook rumor has returned!  Maybe RIM really is going to do away with them.  I’m just hoping they are putting more and their primary focus on the BB10 smartphones more than anything else.

The latest from the wire is that RIM has plans to license BlackBerry 10 OS to other manufacturers.  To be clear, this means we could see BlackBerry 10 OS on other devices that are not BlackBerry branded.  Android has the same approach where it’s an operating system which many handset manufacturers use. Peter Misek, analyst from Jefferies & Co says that he thinks RIM is headed in that direction:

“We think some of this has already been started with RIM likely agreeing to license BlackBerry 10 to Samsung, HTC, and possibly others. This would help create a critical mass for the ecosystem and maintain RIM’s monthly service revenue; however, it puts more pressure on the hardware business in the short term. Longer term, it possibly gets people hooked on the RIM ecosystem and may in fact allow them to sell more BB 10 handsets (if they are able to create compelling handsets).”

If BlackBerry 10 does indeed become a likeable operating system, it could be appealing for manufacturers such as the already mentioned HTC and Samsung to put on their devices.  How do you feel about BlackBerry 10 OS on other hardware?

 

Source: MobileSyrup, Barrons

The rumored BlackBerry 10 slider smartphone going by the codename “Milan” has been cancelled according to rumors posted up by N4BB.  Maybe the form factor of it was much too large to have a portrait slide out keyboard.  In any case, RIM is waiting on new chipsets for their BlackBerry 10 smartphones this year, so it’s tough to head in a specific direction until then.  Of course it’s a bit worrying to see delayed devices get cancelled now as launch dates can continue changing at this point.  We’ll see what RIM’s next design is for BlackBerry 10 smartphones.  I’m hoping they figure out a way to keep a real QWERTY keyboard on it!  Of course the Milan remains to be a rumored device only because we haven’t seen any official statements from RIM on it, but credible sources have confirmed it was once a prototype device behind the scenes in the BlackBerry labs.

It’s no secret that Research In Motion has been facing a lot of struggles over the last year.  Stock holders were urging that the c0-CEOs should have different roles, and we really didn’t see much come out of that.  The deadline for RIM’s plan is the end of this month where we should be seeing changes happen very soon. 

Financial Post claims that RIM is going to announce Barbara Stymiest as the new single chairman.  Stymiest has been in the company since 2007.  Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie would stay as co-CEOs but Stymiest would be the only chairman of the board. 

This year is a big year for RIM as they promise the ground breaking BlackBerry 10 OS which will become the OS for both the PlayBook and smartphones.  Let’s hope for a better change this time.

Earlier this morning RIM officially announced at BlackBerry DevCon Asia 2011 that BBX is renamed BlackBerry 10.  Now the folks at CrackBerry snagged a photo of what seems to be the BlackBerry Milan.  If all rumors are true, this is going to be the first slider BlackBerry smartphone running BlackBerry 10 OS.  The first OS 10 device we’re supposed to see is allegedly all touchscreen, but who knows at this point.  It doesn’t exactly look like the Torch anymore and seems quite large as a device.  I guess that’s what society demands- bigger phones.

Apple and Android operating systems are those known to be “rooted” or “jailbroken” which gives you further access to the OS than usual.  BlackBerry has never taken part in rooting of any kind really until now.  A mobile developer Chris Wade who is responsible for iEmu and other mobile hacks/roots claims he has rooted the BlackBerry PlayBook and will be releasing an installer for it soon.  The root will work for current and 2.0 beta operating systems too.  If all comes out true, I’m pretty sure RIM isn’t too happy about it and will be getting to work on a new update pronto preventing these things from happening again.

Source: N4BB

BlackBerry App World might be due for another update soon.  It won’t be a major overhaul like 3.0, but 3.1 is supposed to offer some features you may or may not of been waiting for.  According to CrackBerry, version 3.1 should be getting WiFi support, so you won’t need that active data connection on.  The other feature ties in to what we already see with the PocketBerry Store powered by MobiHand- gifting applications.  The new update will you purchase applications and send them as a gift to others.  We should be seeing BlackBerry App World v3.1 rolling out in Beta Zone if all rumors are true.

According to rumors from Ars Technica, one of the candidates interested in purchasing WebOS from HP is Research In Motion.  It doesn’t seem like the best time for RIM to be acquiring any more companies or anything at all now as they are struggling with delays and their stocks are dropping more and more now.  Also, Amazon is supposedly another company looking into purchasing WebOS as well.  If the rumors come to be true, I’m wondering who will win the bidding war.

Source: N4BB