RIM Thinking of Licensing BlackBerry 10

RIM Thinking of Licensing BlackBerry 10

Rumors about Research in Motion (RIM)'s plan to license its BlackBerry 10 (BB10) platform could turn out to be real as CEO Thorsten Heins is reportedly exploring the option, so as to keep the company running.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Heins said that he is looking at the possibility of licensing BB10 to a phone manufacturer who has the economy of scale to produce devices at a better cost proposition. 

Heins - “We don’t have the economy of scale to compete against the guys who crank out 60 handsets a year. We have to differentiate and have a focused platform. 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. There’s different options we could do that we’re currently investigating.

You could think about us building a reference system, and then basically licensing that reference design, have others build the hardware around it – either it’s a BlackBerry or it’s something else being built on the BlackBerry platform.”

RIM is currently going through a tough transition period which sees the total value of its inventory amounting to US$1.03 billion, a huge increase from US$618 million just a year ago. The Sunday Times reported earlier in June that RIM is considering to split its handset and messaging network into two separate companies, and sell off its remaining BlackBerry hardware business. Despite these troubles, Heins assured investors that BB10 remains the company's core focus and the company will deliver the first BB10 device in Q1 2013.

Source: The Telegraph via Tech Crunch