Despite RIM CEO Thorsten Heins’ bluster yesterday afternoon about how BlackBerry needs to stick with its own — hopelessly delayed — platform, Reuters reports that the company is indeed seeking out other options. Windows 8, specifically. Which, uh, guys? Not sure how much that’s gonna help.
There are many wonderful things about Windows Phone 8, but financial success and general popularity are not among them. And while the operating system’s business-friendly leanings fit with RIM’s raison d’être, it’s unlikely that it would get folks buying Curves in droves. It’s also an odd fit for Microsoft; RIM’s strengths lie in specific features like BBM, and its proprietary, secure network. As a hardware partner, it’s much less appealing lately. Then again, Microsoft could just scoop them up for patents.
Plan B, which sounds much more sensible, would be for RIM to sell that secure network, or to open it up to other smartphones. That’s similar to the plan that got former CEO Jim Balsillie forced out, which isn’t so much a knock on it as it is on RIM’s having been hellbent on accelerating its decline as much as possible these last several years.
What’s most likely? Given RIM’s recent history of ineptitude, probably nothing more than a sustained downward spiral. But even though its options are bleak, at least has some now.