BlackBerry plans to license BlackBerry 10 to entry-level devices
BlackBerry is considering licensing its BlackBerry 10 OS to other phone manufacturers in an attempt to get low-cost devices running its new BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system.
“We are looking into licensing [for lower-cost devices],” BlackBerry chief executive Thorsten Heins told Fairfax Media on Thursday during an international media briefing at the company’s headquarters in Waterloo, Canada.
“It’s a question of the business model and timing to trigger the decision of if and when you would do this.”
I want to see “a portfolio of BlackBerry 10 products” in the wake of the high-end Z10 touchscreen and Q10 keyboard devices.
This would include “a mid-tier device or, for certain markets, even an entry-level device”.
“The question is which price points can we achieve. The cost of the technology is pretty high at the moment for a full-fledged smartphone,”.
“If you think about the display resolution, the processors and memory you need, and then run the math, we’re probably not going to get there in the next six months.”
Thorsten dismissed reports of underwhelming sales of the Z10 on its debut in Canada and the UK earlier this month.
“I completely disagree with that. This was the best launch ever in BlackBerry history, it was beyond expectations, and we have numbers to support that,” he said.
But he cautions that
“we need to maintain that momentum, we need to ensure this is just not fireworks”.
“BlackBerry 10 basically got us the ticket to race. We were actually not yet in the race [then], and we have just started the race … what we did last year, was getting us on the court, now we have to play the championships and we have to win.”
