A lot is riding on Blackberry 10, such the existence of RIM as a company, so they really need to hit a home run with the new OS, which is set to be unveiled this Wednesday in New York. And, as many of you know, success in today's mobile OS's is measured largely by the amount and quality of apps available on them. That's where Alec Saunders, head of RIM's developer relation team, comes in to play. According to this CNET article, Saunders was tasked with the seemingly impossible task of enticing developers to, well, develop for Blackberry 10. Sounds like he's off to a surprisingly great start:
"Indeed, RIM has a long, tough road ahead of it, but credit Saunders for connecting with the developer community. When the operating system is unveiled, it will have 70,000 applications, which the company boasts is the most apps for a mobile platform at launch. Android had a little more than 50 apps at launch, but that was before the explosion of app development."
Oh, and, equally as important, are the actual devices, which, judging from the most-recent leaked photos of the high-end Z10 , look pretty darn good.
But I want to know what you think. Can Blackberry 10 save RIM and make it relevant again in today's cutthroat mobile market?
The Comeback Kid-Can RIM become relevant again?
I think it will be a close call. The market share has dropped so far and fast, that it may be difficult to recover. They once had the position of being about the only device considered secure enough for corporate/goverment use... and while there are some misgivings about BYOD approach now being seen with Android and iOS devices and the greater security risks, I think that may end up doing more to increase the security level of those devices than reversing the trend back towards Blackberry.
It may be too late for Blackberry to become a major player again. Like DavidP noted, we will see more security services being offered for Android and iPhones. I have already recently noticed commercials for Samsung S3 touting an improved security service for business use.
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