Research in Motion plans to use new PlayBook tablet software in future BlackBerrys
Research in Motion recently said that the software in its forthcoming tablet, the PlayBook, will be used down the line in BlackBerry smartphones.
Co-CEO of the Canadian tech titan, Mike Lazaridis, said future smartphones will run more complex, multi-core processors.
“By focusing on the tablet market, we see an opportunity to free where the smartphone can go,” he said at a conference. “When we have multi-core processors across the board, they’ll all be running the Playbook platform.”
Mike declined to say when the Playbook platform would arrive in BlackBerry smartphones, though probably not for at a couple of years, considering RIM just launched its OS 6 on the Torch and revamped Bold models, a software upgrade that keeps its neck-and-neck with competitors. But a market as fast-paced as mobile, it's good to have a plan well in advance.
RIM will launching the PlayBook early 2011. The BlackBerry maker has thus far declined to disclose sales targets for the tablet, but analysts are forecasting between 2 million and 4 million shipments next year—a fraction of how many iPads have already sold this year and will sell next year.
