RIM CEO Thorsten Heins says that his company may need to license BlackBerry 10 in order to make the platform competitive. Heins told The Telegraph that “we don’t have the economy of scale to compete against the guys who crank out 60 handsets a year... To deliver BB10 we may need to look at licensing it to someone who can do this at a way better cost proposition than I can do it.” Though he says RIM is still just investigating its options, it’s apparently considering building and licensing a reference design, which could be called a BlackBerry or given another name while running the BlackBerry 10 OS.
RIM may need to license BlackBerry 10 to beat competition’s ‘economy of scale’
RIM CEO Thorsten Heins says that his company lacks the “economy of scale” of larger phone makers and may need to license BlackBerry 10 with a reference design.
RIM CEO Thorsten Heins says that his company lacks the “economy of scale” of larger phone makers and may need to license BlackBerry 10 with a reference design.
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
RIM has repeatedly brought up the possibility of licensing BlackBerry, especially as the company’s financial situation has worsened. But Heins has previously remained vague, saying that the team needed to “prove” BlackBerry 10 before shopping it out to other manufacturers. And back in January, he asserted that licensing was not a priority. Though Heins is still effusive about his platform, calling BlackBerry 10 a “once in a decade change,” it’s looking more and more like it will need help to get off the ground.
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