RIM seeks to license BlackBerry 10?

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RIM seeks to license BlackBerry 10?

Analyst says the firm is in talks with Samsung and HTC, though software business would do better to focus on messaging, not OS

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 9 January, 2012

READ MORE: Research In Motion | OS | Handset

Amid all its travails, the obvious fallback plan for RIM is not to sell its patents, but to licence its software. Over the years, the firm has toyed with licensing programs for its famous email/messaging platform and engaged in various partnerships, but kept the software largely tied to its own devices. Now it is reportedly exploring near term options to create a licensing program, but not just for its enterprise server platform, but for its upcoming operating system BlackBerry 10.

According to Peter Misek at Jefferies & Co, RIM is in talks with Samsung, HTC and other Android-based rivals to share the BlackBerry 10 love. He told InformationWeek: "This would help create a critical mass for the ecosystem and maintain RIM's monthly service revenue; however, it puts more pressure on the hardware business in the short term. Longer term, it possibly gets people hooked on the RIM ecosystem and may in fact allow them to sell more BB 10 handsets (if they are able to create compelling handsets)."

However, such a plan would have a worrying echo of previous attempts by single-vendor OSs to widen their reach - notably HP/Palm's webOS. The rationale for OEMs to license the enterprise mail software - on a broader basis than is currently possibly - is clear, claiming the last real weapon RIM has for Android and other systems which are seeking better enterprise presence. The advantage for Samsung to add yet another full mobile OS - in addition to Android, bada, WP7, W8 and Tizen - to its armory is hard to spot. HTC might be different, given that it is under intense pressure in Android and has hinted at wanting its own OS, but there would be better established and less expensive routes to take, even including webOS itself.

And for RIM, a licensing model would be a huge adjustment to make - its software may be its key differentiator, but most of its revenues come from hardware. After all, some analysts are pushing Microsoft to buy Nokia on the basis that, in the open source-led mobile world, OS licensing fees alone are no longer a viable model without accompanying hardware. Even Google, which achieves huge service revenues via control of Android, is tempted by the hardware/software model with its Motorola buy and Nexus launches. Becoming a software/IP firm may prove to be RIM's only option in future, but it will be a strategy of last resort, and gaining critical mass for a new platform which has suffered from teething troubles even before its launch will be tough, and not a battle on which Samsung is likely to expend much energy.