RIM Already Has Working QNX-Based BlackBerry Prototypes

Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion is moving forth with the development of the first BlackBerry smartphones that would run under the QNX platform, and already has prototype devices in engineers' hands, some of the latest reports on the matter suggest.

After unveiling its very first tablet PC, the BlackBerry PlayBook, which runs under a new operating system, based on QNX, RIM confirmed that it planned on moving to QNX on its BlackBerry smartphones as well.

“We are working on multi-core smartphones, and QNX is our multi-core platform for those devices,” RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis stated at that time.

However, no specific info on the matter was unveiled for the time being, nor details on the mobile phones that would arrive on shelves with the new platform on board.

Not until now, when Carlo Chiarello, VP of GSM/UMTS business unit at RIM, confirmed that the company already has QNX-based prototypes lying around.

He was unable to offer details on when the first QNX-based BlackBerry smartphones might be ready for prime-time, but he did confirm that they would most probably be full-touch handsets.

RIM already brought to the market touchscreen devices, the popular Storm handsets, and some of the previous rumors on the matter did suggest that the company might plan the launch of a new Storm device, powered by QNX.

The handset would offer an experience somehow similar with what the PlayBook has to offer, though it would be tailored specifically for the smaller screen.

“The reality is that our teams have done a phenomenal job in such a short period of time to do what they're doing on PlayBook,” Carlo Chiarello stated, a recent article on TechRadar notes.

“That [QNX] experience is going to start to come in to our high tier products. I can't tell you when; I'm not allowed to. But it's absolutely part and parcel of what we're working on now.

“I can tell you that it's going to come in to the higher tier value propositions first. It'll probably come into an all-touch first, more than likely… but I can't tell you timings specifically. But it looks marvellous!”

Chances are that the first QNX handset from RIM would include a multi-core application processor as well, and that it would be released before the end of the next year, though no confirmation on the matter has emerged until now.