RIM Moves Up a Notch: Highlander, and a Screenless Phone
RIM has had a few of very notable updates today, starting with the licensing of over 30,000 patents from Intellectual Ventures, a company founded by former Microsoft veterans. The deal probably comes in light of the recent tech industry court clashes over alleged copyright infringements, but it doesn’t come as a surprise considering what RIM is about to launch.
For starters, there’s the reportedly QNX-based BB OS7, codenamed “Highlander.”
“At the internal keynote, CTO David Yach said elements of 6.1 and QNX would be combined to make 7 (likely including the new goodies like augmented reality and near-field communications), and is targeting a launch in 2012, likely alongside dual-core phones.”
The operating system will also be available on the Playbook, which will make it fairly easy for developers to build apps for RIM’s the tablet as well as Smartphones. The Playbook will have a Java shell which will make it possible to run legacy BB apps.
A bit earlier Research in Motion announced the upcoming tablet will also support Honeycomb apps, which some believed is an indicator RIM is beginning to abounded its OS losing turf to Android and iOS almost by the day. Highlander obviously dismissed this rumor.
On the hardware front, ZDNet reports an even more surprising development from the Canadian phonemaker – a screenless Blackberry, due to hit stores in October 12. The Blackberry Dauntless originally codenamed the Wonder is a screenless Blackberry targeting upper management. Each keystroke is confirmed using Morse code-patterned vibrations, and the device automatically deletes regular messages while vocally reading out any urgent messages to the user.
One attraction highlighted by individual in the test groups is the ability to use the Dauntless while it’s still in one’s pocket. Nevertheless, RIM hasn’t abandoned the good old screen just yet – the company is planning to release a deluxe edition featuring a mini projector; a handy screen indeed, when there’s a wall nearby.
“We know our strengths — our strengths are email and our keyboard,” said RIM designer Elliot Pouce at the press launch for the company’s new mobile phone, the Dauntless. “This whole touchscreen thing is a fad. In fact, the whole screen thing is a fad.”
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