Looking at 6, not 2, BlackBerry 10 models

Earlier year, in discussing the future of his company, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins made a broad declaration: “We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody’s darling and all things to all people.” At the time many in the media interpreted this as RIM exiting the consumer market with BlackBerry 10, but the company was quick to say that wasn’t the case. So what exactly did they mean, then? It’s still not exactly clear — RIM says it is going to focus on “targeted consumer segments,” but that reveals little — but we can rule out one more thing it doesn’t mean. RIM won’t exactly cut down on the number of devices that run BlackBerry 10. We’ve long heard that RIM plans two devices for BlackBerry 10: a full-touchscreen device much like the Dev Alpha (or a mini PlayBook) and a traditional QWERTY keyboard device. That makes enough sense. RIM has spread itself thin in the past with so many different BlackBerry models. Perhaps focusing on two basic form factors will work to its benefit. But it won’t be just those two devices. In a recent interview with All Things D, Heins revealed that it will actually be six BlackBerry models running BlackBerry 10. Each of the two planned models will have a low-, mid-, and high-tier version. Of course, not all of those models will be released in all regions. For instance, the US and Canadian markets might not see those low-end models, only the mid- and high-end ones. That will allow RIM to continue pursuing its expansion in emerging markets. The other interesting bit in the interview/article: RIM is targeting dissatisfied Android converts. While they will target their loyal customers first, they’re going to put a secondary focus on those unconvinced Android users: “we’ve heard of some BlackBerry users going to Android and being dissatisfied. We’ll try to win them back, one by one if we have to.” Interesting that he didn’t bring Apple into the conversation, but understandable. Mostly, though, the article contained more of what we already know. It seems that RIM is keen to repeat their talking points. It makes sense. They want to stay in the news in a positive way. If that means repeating their points every time a negative one comes to light, so be it.

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.