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RIM may license BlackBerry OS to other manufacturers

RIM may license BlackBerry OS to other manufacturers

By Surbhi Chawla | Updated: 4 August 2012 11:30 IST

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BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has been struggling to regain its position in the smartphone market for quite some time now. It is currently focusing on its new operating system dubbed as BB10 to try and make a comeback in the smartphone segment. The Canadian smartphone maker was expected to launch the first devices running on BlackBerry 10 OS by mid-2012 but it has now been pushed to 2013.

In a recent interview to Telegraph, Thorsten Heins, Chief Executive Officer of RIM indicated that the company is currently exploring opportunities to license its new operating system to other handset makers.

It's noteworthy, that though the rumours of RIM licensing its OS have surfaced in the past, the BlackBerry maker always dismissed such suggestions. This is the first time that the CEO has admitted trying out licensing options with other established handset makers in an option.

Having said that, the CEO affirmed that the organisation will remain committed towards its existing base of BlackBerry customers.

"Either we do it ourselves or we do it with a partner. But we will not abandon the subscriber base," affirmed Heins.

Licensing the BlackBerry 10 OS will definitely help the troubled smartphone maker, as not only will it open another source of cash flow, but will also help more users to sample its offering. The increased subscriber base will also help RIM in wooing more developers to develop app for the brand its new OS.

However, in the current scenario other smartphone makers such as Samsung, LG and HTC are already working with multiple partners mainly Google's Android and Microsoft Windows. The only exception in this case is Samsung, which also offers smartphones running on its own Bada operating system. If the likes of Samsung want to add yet another OS to their portfolio remains to be seen.

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Further reading: BB OS 10, BlackBerry, HTC, LG, OS 10, RIM, Reserch in Motion, Samsung