The company later decided against this and chose to focus their resources into developing BlackBerry OS 10.
This may frustrate several users who would have loved to see their favorite BlackBerry hardware get full access to the huge app ecosystem offered by Android. But through the company's viewpoint this is probably the best decision for them. While BlackBerry devices are known for their premium build quality they would have found it hard to compete against the Android OS manufacturers who build their hardware around the Android operating system. By sticking to BlackBerry OS they would have kept their promise to their users by pushing impressive productivity.
RIM switching to Android could also be compared with Nokia's decision to switch to Microsoft's Windows Phone. This move has seen Nokia's own hardware production come to a near halt after closing down their Nokia factories in Finland in order to outsource manufacturing of their Lumia devices. We have still to see Nokia gain any advantage from this decision. Some may argue that Nokia would have done much better if they had chosen Android.
Whats important to remember is that the key to iOS and Android success is the developer community. It is great for a company to have their own operating system. This does give them a unique personality. However if they cant get the developer community behind them to bring the basic apps and games to their platform they can consider their efforts a failure.
RIM seams to be extremely focused on their developers with BlackBerry 10 OS. They have handed out free developer devices and are holding several developer events around the world to get the development community behind the QNX based platform.
But will BlackBerry OS 10 strive where Symbian and Meego failed? Early signs indicate that the operating system has immense potential.
What do you our readers think? Should RIM have chosen Android ? or should they have followed Nokia and gone with Windows Phone ? Or is RIM's decision to stick with BlackBerry OS the best decision for them ?
Share your thoughts below...