RIM’s Balsillie Wanted to Open Up BBM

RIM former co-CEO Jim Balsillie who recently resigned from his post had an idea that he thought could reverse RIM’s decline in the global smartphone and tablet scene. He wanted to open up the famous BlackBerry Service, BlackBerry Messenger to Apple’s iOS. While this would have allowed for an additional plan which included a premium for BlackBerry services for iPhone (or possibly Android as well) users in order to generate more revenue for the company which has seen a sharp drop over the past 2 years or so, it is said that his colleagues high up at the company accused his idea as being wild and crazy which mirrors an attitude that could be the reason as to why BB OS is still a far distance away below iOS and Android right now.

Apparently Reuters have reported that this is the reason why Balsillie left and not because of the amazingly horrible performance of the PlayBook in markets. The veto by the other RIM execs leaves the company’s focus on a new generation of BlackBerry devices which have to be at a completely different level if they hope to bring back the glory days of BlackBerry. Now however with Balsillie out of the picture, it seems like we’ll just have to wait and see.

Pradeep Chandrasekaran
Categories: Apple, Cellphones, Web
Tags: BBM, iOS