Looking at RIM, one can’t help but point out the number of companies that its has acquired over the last two years. Companies such as QNX , The Astonishing Tribe (TAT), NewBay, Jaycut, Scoreloop, Tungle, tinyHippos, Gist, DataViz, Cellmania, Paratek Microwave inc., just to name a few. Did the Waterloo war room realize that BBOS was so outdated that a massive overhaul was needed? Perhaps they realized that QNX alone wouldn’t be sufficient alone in building their war chest? Let’s look at why some of these acquisitions puts RIM in a solid position:The QNX platform allows RIM to provide real-time multitasking. That is something we don’t see with the competition. Developing for the QNX platform is quite easy and it erases nearly all the BlackBerry OS limitations. QNX technology is the foundation for the worlds highest capacity router, which handles data, voice and video traffic for millions of Internet users every day. QNX is very well integrated with the automobile industry, which RIM is beginning to have a huge presence. They have partnered with companies like Cisco, Delphi, General Electric, Siemens and Thales. QNX is considered a very stable system and that’s why most 911 emergency units are powered with QNX software. This is the company that is powering RIM’s BlackBerry10 software. Let that sink in.RIM didn’t stop there. You now have an extremely powerful operating system, but you need to dress it up, right? Thats where the innovative UI geniuses from Sweden come into play. We are talking about The Astonishing Tribe, of course. What’s cool about these guys is the fact they now call themselves “The BlackBerry Tribe”. The TAT group has been around for 10 years and we’ve already seen some of their work on the PlayBook with the Scrapbook app. Thorsten Heins showed off the new UI at BlackBerry World 2012, which you can see demoed here.BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is what BlackBerry is currently all about. We know it’s the main reason BlackBerry has managed to stay relevant to consumers.  How do you perfect that? By adding Scoreloop to BBM!  With BlackBerry10 you will be able to play against your BBM contacts. A lot more will be shown off at the newly renamed “BlackBerry Jam Americas” as we get closer to release.Those are some notable mentions on just a few of the new companies RIM has acquired and the potential services they will bring to the Platform. What do you think? Does BlackBerry have the foundation it needs to succeed in the future?  Do you believe the “acquisition” strategy RIM has chosen is a valid one? Sound off in the comments and stay tuned for our last part of the series where we concentrate on the future of RIM and some of the grim possibilities.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
BlackBerry, The Rebirth Part 3: Acquisitions In Motion (May,2012)