While the much-anticipated BlackBerry Z10 is about to hit the U.S. market, BlackBerry is considering manufacturing devices with other form factors, possibly including a tablet.
But first they must contend with the supremacy of Apple's iPad. "Tablets in my view, from a hardware perspective, is a very difficult business," BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said during the Australian launch of the Z10. "There's one company, kudos to them, that did it really well and they own the majority of the market."
Any tablet in the future will need to find a way to get around Apple's dominance, he said, which requires a focus on apps and integration with other devices and areas of life not fully utilizing technology.
"I think the profit pool is very very thin. Kudos to Apple, I think they really managed to own that space, so it doesn't make sense for me to just take this head on," Heins said. "I need to figure out, for my enterprise customers, for my consumers, for my BB10 audience, what can I do that provides them a mobile computing experience in the form factor of a tablet, which goes beyond just the puristic tablet experience."
BlackBerry has much to learn from its own past. Its PlayBook tablet foray, which was released in 2011, failed, selling fewer than 2 million units, compared to 20 million iPads sold in the last quarter.
"I wouldn't want to do it the same way again, if I do something around tablets, I want it to be really substantial and meaningful, and quite frankly it would need to be profitable as well," Heins said.
Despite Heins' apparent reluctance, it looks like a reboot for the PlayBook is in store, likely running BlackBerry 10, the revamped operating system that powers the Z10.
"We have a very clear road map. The company will launch six additional new devices in 2013," Mike Al Mefleh, director of product management at BlackBerry said at the BlackBerry User's Forum in Dubai last week.
"We are developing an all new NoteSmartly app for the Playbook, that will be released in time for the launch of the new BlackBerry PlayBook."
If BlackBerry does move ahead on plans for the PlayBook or another tablet, we'll let you know.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
