BlackBerry Cyclone: the Apple TV competitor?

Is RIM digging deeper into its own grave? After the recent reports of the company doing not so well in the smartphone market, and the less-than-stellar sales figures of the BlackBerry PlayBook; the latest rumors that have been floating around state that the company is looking to branch out into a new market: living room entertainment.

According to NerdBerry.net, RIM has a new media box up its sleeves, codenamed the BlackBerry Cyclone. The media box will connect to your TV via HDMI, and will have WiFi capabilities for your streaming video needs. The Cyclone is said to support Netflix, YouTube and streaming content from other devices on the same WiFi network.

While the idea of a BlackBerry media hub seems nice, how is RIM supposed to gain leverage over its main competitor, the Apple TV with this product? RIM doesn’t have a store for multimedia content (Apple has iTunes), BlackBerry devices don’t have an equivalent to AirPlay (unless they release some sort of software update – provided the phones have the hardware capable to do so) so they won’t have any devices to stream content to the media box with.

Now who’s to say that RIM won’t be setting up a store for movies/music or that they won’t be including those features in their phones in the future? But judging by how they’re performing in other markets right now, the company should be spending its valuable resources in improving those aspects that RIM is known for – enterprise-level smartphones. Branching out into a new, unexplored territory for the company at this point in time will likely spell doomsday. What are your thoughts?

George Wong
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Tags: Apple TV, BlackBerry, blackberry cyclone, clone, RIM, TV