With iPad sales continuing to roll merrily along, Apple's competitors are rallying to ride the tablet train. Canada's Reseach In Motion, who we all know and love as the briefcase toting, three-piece suit wearing RIM, is no different as they're rumored to be in the final stages of developing a tablet of their own, which could be called the "BlackPad".
Ok, we'll admit it: That's a sweet name. But what's it got going for it? Plenty, if the rumormill is correct.
Some of what's being mumured about the BlackPad makes a lot of sense. RIM's made money by focusing the development of the Blackberry platform to meet the needs of business and industry clients. Up until recently, the notion of providing consumer-friendly hardware and software combinations was an afterthought. It wasn't until the iPhone showed up to the game that RIM directed their efforts towards a more casual crowd. With the development of their upcoming tablet, RIM is said to be staying true to their business roots, and is designing the BlackPad as a companion device for business power users who rely upon Blackberry's strong email security and business appliances.
According to a number of sources, the tablet will be able to connect to WiFi should a hotspot be available, but won't come in a 3G flavor. Instead, it appears that road warriors will have to tether the BlackPad to their Blackberry in order to snag internet on-the-go.
All of this sounds reasonable--and feasible. However, its right around here that the rumors go right off the rails.
In a story filed on Bloomberg yesterday, it is alleged that RIM, hungry for innovation that could help to differentiate their BlackPad from a sea of Android slates and Windows 7 tablet solutions, has turned to some very unlikely sources for inspiration and assistance. Two of the partners RIM is said to be working with are BMW, who could be lending RIM the secret sauce behind their audio systems.
Additionally, there are speculations that RIM could also be farming out their tablet's mobile operating system to another company--a surprising option, considering the amount of time and money the company has poured into the development of their own proprietary OS. Should this rumor be correct, the OS development duties will have fallen to QNX, a company with a 30 year track record for building in vehicle electronics and computer systems purchased by RIM back in April.
As we so often see in following the development cycle of rumored Apple products, all of what's been mentioned here--or indeed, none of it--may very well prove to be true. RIM could be planning a tablet, and that tablet could turn out to be yet another of their ho-hum button down devices geared to busy business-types. On the otherhand, in reaching out to other companies, and perhaps thinking way outside of the Blackberry box, Research In Motion might just bring us something utterly awesome to play with. Let's hope so. With the lukewarm reception garnered by the release of the Blackberry Torch the company could really use a solid win.
