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+Lewis Curdie Sep. 8, 2012 at 18:00 More articles by Lewis Curdie

HTC considering a slice of BlackBerry 10 action? Big Thorsten Heins has been quite open about the possibility of BlackBerry 10 being licensed out to other OEMs. To be honest, my reaction has always been: ‘Who would bother?’

Well, finally my question has been answered, as HTC says it’s considering BlackBerry 10. Sort of.

As reported on Mobile Today, Graham Wheeler, a director of product management for HTC, says the Taiwanese manufacturer isn’t not considering BlackBerry 10. Uhm, that’s almost the same thing, I guess. Ahem.

Wheelbot tells MT: “I don’t have any knowledge but that is not to say we are not looking at it. But from my point of view we are not saying we are closed to a new operating system. We will review each one to make sure it’s the best for our customers.”

Personally, I don’t think it’s a particularly bad idea. As I observed recently, Samsung are very much the darlings of Android, while Nokia is the key Windows Phone player. Sucks to be HTC.

What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Couldn’t care less? Of course, there’s nothing to stop HTC firing out a couple of BlackBerry 10 handsets (maybe one with a keyboard, one without) and seeing what happens. Do it, do it, do it!

Read more about: Blackberry OS

19 comments

"As I observed recently, Samsung are very much the darlings of Android, while Nokia is the key Windows Phone player."
And RIM Blackberry is the key Blackberry one surely.... Not sure Nokia will win the windows phone market whatever size it is atm either.

To be honest, my reaction has always been: ‘Who would bother?

I have to booooh.
I think more than Symbian even, BB gets an undeserved large kettle of heat.
Yes, it's uncool, but it has it's uses. Once you get to grips with its many shortcuts (kinda like Mac OS/Ubuntu) it can be used more efficiently than the open door chocolate factory that is Android. It lacks style, and, yes, some apps. Desperately - photo apps, pdf, etc etc...
Universal search is still unbeaten imho; the menu is still unrivalled. Taskswitching is great. Resource efficiency is excellent - be it RAM, battery juice or, obviously, data...
Getting an OEM onboard who can churn out devices at lower prices is a good idea. As fantastic as the build quality of the Bold 9900 was, it probably wasn't sellable at iPhone rates. An other issue is RIMs inability to couple a good camera to their great phones.
Whether an iPhone or an Android device or, indeed a Symbian competitor: for top bucks you get infinitely better cameras. In the age of Farcebook, Pinterest, Instagram etc etc, you cannot put a crap shooter in a top device. Probably a better way would be to offer a low-grade version with no camera at all (or a really basic one) and a high-end version with bells and whistles. Split the cost/savings...
I'm not saying that is THE solution, but better than the nonsense on the Bold 9900, that takes marginally better pics than the 8520...

I really don't want a 2-party system. And like pondlife I'm not convinced Nokia/MS can pull it off... Microsoft should get some outfit to make budget WP devices. Fill the gap left by a disappearing Symbian before it's filled by cheap Androids aka the new Brew

Aren't they only looking for someone to churn out the budget ones, so the "top end" ones would be in house with poor cameras anyway?

Tbh I meant that I wasn't sure Nokia would be top dog in the windows phone stakes, I think ms can claim a distant third overall.

Aren't they only looking for someone to churn out the budget ones, so the "top end" ones would be in house with poor cameras anyway?

Tbh I meant that I wasn't sure Nokia would be top dog in the windows phone stakes, I think ms can claim a distant third overall.

Possibly (and sorry about misinterpreting you )

Distant 3rd? Hm... I think we'll soon see a big shift, anyways. The smartphone bubble may not burst, but the whole thing is going to change.
We are at a similar point that we already had with PCs years ago. Many features and performance minimums can be taken for granted. Whether you spent xx £££ or 50% more, you get a certain tool that'll do most things, and 3rd party apps do the rest. Then there are real turkey, and specialist machines. Gaming, graphics design, video editing etc...
With smartphones it's beginning to show, too. The SGS3 left so many 'meh' comments, because, though it's great, it's not that much greater. Some gimmicky apps/features, a huge screen... But other phones have huge screens, and really only a minority will notice the quad-core power.
There's only so fast, and not faster. Screen size is limited by people's taste, hand- and pocketsize.
I'm not sure where it is going exactly, but I reckon the BIG things have happened.
We'll see extremes like the Note, the Pureview stuff, or cloud-supported platform specific services (or indeed crossplatform - see Nokia Maps). Good for headlines, but not dealbreakers for the masses.
Hey, we may even see a better KIES one day.

Anyhoo... the point is: in a year Nokia could be gone, or they could be thriving. In 2 years?
3 years ago few Europeans used Twitter, but they couldn't see a life without MySpace and Bebo... RIM had a mini cool moment last year when cash-strapped kids discovered BBM and the 8520. A day before the first iPhone launched the VAST majority of phone folks across most forums said a touch-only device would be idiotic. "Never"! Now you can chose from a handful of models if you want a high-end phone with a proper keyboard...
And of course the iPad/tablet thing...
Putting my Microsoft/Google dislike aside: I honestly think I'd prefer WP! But I wouldn't give any more money to either of the 2. That's just me...
I'm probably not a good judge of what people will go for...swallow.
But all predictions beyond 6 months into the future are ludicrous in my opinion. We can hardly explain what happened the past 6 months.

[quote]Aren't they only looking for someone to churn out the budget ones, so the "top end" ones would be in house with poor cameras anyway?

Tbh I meant that I wasn't sure Nokia would be top dog in the windows phone stakes, I think ms can claim a distant third overall.[/quote]

Possibly (and sorry about misinterpreting you ;)  )

Distant 3rd? Hm... I think we'll soon see a big shift, anyways. The smartphone bubble may not burst, but the whole thing is going to change.
We are at a similar point that we already had with PCs years ago. Many features and performance minimums can be taken for granted. Whether you spent xx £££ or 50% more, you get a certain tool that'll do most things, and 3rd party apps do the rest. Then there are real turkey, and specialist machines. Gaming, graphics design, video editing etc... 
With smartphones it's beginning to show, too. The SGS3 left so many 'meh' comments, because, though it's great, it's not that much greater. Some gimmicky apps/features, a huge screen... But other phones have huge screens, and really only a minority will notice the quad-core power. 
There's only so fast, and not faster. Screen size is limited by people's taste, hand- and pocketsize.
I'm not sure where it is going exactly, but I reckon the BIG things have happened. 
We'll see extremes like the Note, the Pureview stuff, or cloud-supported platform specific services (or indeed crossplatform - see Nokia Maps). Good for headlines, but not dealbreakers for the masses. 
Hey, we may even see a better KIES one day. :p

Anyhoo... the point is: in a year Nokia could be gone, or they could be thriving. In 2 years? 
3 years ago few Europeans used Twitter, but they couldn't see a life without MySpace and Bebo... RIM had a mini cool moment last year when cash-strapped kids discovered BBM and the 8520. A day before the first iPhone launched the VAST majority of phone folks across most forums said a touch-only device would be idiotic. "Never"! Now you can chose from a handful of models if you want a high-end phone with a proper keyboard...
And of course the iPad/tablet thing... 
Putting my Microsoft/Google dislike aside: I honestly think I'd prefer WP! But I wouldn't give any more money to either of the 2. That's just me... 
I'm probably not a good judge of what people will go for...swallow. 
But all predictions beyond 6 months into the future are ludicrous in my opinion. We can hardly explain what happened the past 6 months.

Jan, i agree, the universal search on bb os cant be beat. i can find things so quickly. what is your primary cell phone?

Jan, i agree, the universal search on bb os cant be beat. i can find things so quickly. what is your primary cell phone?
I had a Bold 9900 until a couple of months ago. I kinda used it in conjunction with a Nokia N9.
And I regret a little bit that I got rid of the Bold. I just fancied something with a better camera.
I experimented with One X/S, SGS3, and have since given up on Android. It's just not the OS for me... It's crazy, but unless Apple pull a real surprise from their sleeves on Wednesday, I might actually get a Pureview 808... for the camera, Opera Mini (superior on Symbian), and for Gravity - the best Twitter client on any platform.
But I'm gonna keep an eye on BB10

Jan, i agree, the universal search on bb os cant be beat. i can find things so quickly. what is your primary cell phone?
I had a Bold 9900 until a couple of months ago. I kinda used it in conjunction with a Nokia N9.
And I regret a little bit that I got rid of the Bold. I just fancied something with a better camera.
I experimented with One X/S, SGS3, and have since given up on Android. It's just not the OS for me... It's crazy, but unless Apple pull a real surprise from their sleeves on Wednesday, I might actually get a Pureview 808... for the camera, Opera Mini (superior on Symbian), and for Gravity - the best Twitter client on any platform.
But I'm gonna keep an eye on BB10

the camera on the bold sucks for taking pictures of documents or anything up close and the screen is too small for web browsing. the damn keyboard just makes communicating so **** easy and the calendar app keeps me from forgetting anything. its hard to give up the bb keyboard but i want a bigger screen.

Jan, i agree, the universal search on bb os cant be beat. i can find things so quickly. what is your primary cell phone?
I had a Bold 9900 until a couple of months ago. I kinda used it in conjunction with a Nokia N9.
And I regret a little bit that I got rid of the Bold. I just fancied something with a better camera.
I experimented with One X/S, SGS3, and have since given up on Android. It's just not the OS for me... It's crazy, but unless Apple pull a real surprise from their sleeves on Wednesday, I might actually get a Pureview 808... for the camera, Opera Mini (superior on Symbian), and for Gravity - the best Twitter client on any platform.
But I'm gonna keep an eye on BB10

the camera on the bold sucks for taking pictures of documents or anything up close and the screen is too small for web browsing. the damn keyboard just makes communicating so **** easy and the calendar app keeps me from forgetting anything. its hard to give up the bb keyboard but i want a bigger screen.

Have you considered a HP Pre 3? You can find new ones for £100-ish... The 3.5inch screen is gorgeous. Search is similar to BB's. Multitasking is incredibly efficient thanks to webOS.
Downside: the camera is only marginally better than that of the Bold 9900. But the QWERTY is pretty decent, too. Apps are fewer than for BB but the ones that exist are pretty good - a bit iOS-esque. And loads of tweaks available via preware

Jan, i agree, the universal search on bb os cant be beat. i can find things so quickly. what is your primary cell phone?
I had a Bold 9900 until a couple of months ago. I kinda used it in conjunction with a Nokia N9.
And I regret a little bit that I got rid of the Bold. I just fancied something with a better camera.
I experimented with One X/S, SGS3, and have since given up on Android. It's just not the OS for me... It's crazy, but unless Apple pull a real surprise from their sleeves on Wednesday, I might actually get a Pureview 808... for the camera, Opera Mini (superior on Symbian), and for Gravity - the best Twitter client on any platform.
But I'm gonna keep an eye on BB10

the camera on the bold sucks for taking pictures of documents or anything up close and the screen is too small for web browsing. the damn keyboard just makes communicating so **** easy and the calendar app keeps me from forgetting anything. its hard to give up the bb keyboard but i want a bigger screen.

Have you considered a HP Pre 3? You can find new ones for £100-ish... The 3.5inch screen is gorgeous. Search is similar to BB's. Multitasking is incredibly efficient thanks to webOS.
Downside: the camera is only marginally better than that of the Bold 9900. But the QWERTY is pretty decent, too. Apps are fewer than for BB but the ones that exist are pretty good - a bit iOS-esque. And loads of tweaks available via preware

i have not, imma gonna check it out now, thanks for the suggestion

http://www.adverts.ie/mobile-phones/hp-pre-3-8gb/1201317
I bought one from these dudes in Dublin.

Is that the one that broke and is unfixable though?

I see what you are saying about computer market and phone market but there too there is one big os, one less popular one with a devoted following, and many with a tiny number of users...
We don't know enough about wp8 yet but Nokia's phones haven't turned out as interesting as they could have, though when they show the real low light pics they are pretty good.
I wonder why anyone bothers with twitter now tbh never mind 3 years ago, same as myspace, bebo, farcebook. Touch only devices would still be grim, I need the volume buttons, would still quite like a play/pause button tbh.

Last edited by Pondlife, Sep. 9, 2012 at 00:24

Is that the one that broke and is unfixable though?
Yes, but that was my fault, to be honest. Mostly, anyway. Bloody micro-sim adapter got stuck oops

Meh. Blackberry is just for kids.

So potentially one of the biggest markets...

Kids care about the nifty keyboard for messaging and BBM, nothing more.

If BB10 loses any of that, they're screwed...

Kids care about the nifty keyboard for messaging and BBM, nothing more.

If BB10 loses any of that, they're screwed...
Why would BB10 lose BBM? It's like saying "if Android loses the appstore and youtube" ... And there will be QWERTY barphones with BB10.

I didn't mean they will lose/drop it, just that they may decide to demand money from it...

I think pure Qwertys will be better than hybrids. Depends how fresh the line up will be.

Last edited by SpeedyG, Sep. 9, 2012 at 21:36

I didn't mean they will lose/drop it, just that they may decide to demand money from it...

I think pure Qwertys will be better than hybrids. Depends how fresh the line up will be.

Yes, good point. I rarely touched the screen on the Bold 9900. (nor on the E6, come to think of it...). Resources better used on a good camera.