Blackberry maker unfolds future plans

The QNX-based BlackBerry Tablet OS in the upcoming PlayBook tablet will make its way to multi-core BlackBerry smartphones and tablets in different sizes over the next ten years, said Research in Motion co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.

At the 'D: Dive Into Mobile' conference in San Francisco, Lazaridis discussed his company's plans to the website 'All Things Digital'.

According to Lazaridis, the company has plans for different sizes though he thinks the upcoming PlayBook tablet has “the perfect size”. The 7-inch PlayBook, which RIM unveiled in September, is still tracking for a first quarter launch, he said.

Lazaridis emphasized that RIM is betting heavily on the PlayBook and its BlackBerry Tablet OS.

“As RIM's smartphones begin to include multi-core processors, they'll all be running the Playbook platform, said Lazaridis. He also believed the PlayBook OS will help RIM jump into the next decade of mobile computing.

Lazaridis also claimed during the interview that the BlackBerry began appealing to its consumers directly. We didn't go out and try to make BlackBerry a consumer device. It crossed over on its own, he said.

So far as RIM and Apple’s strategies are concerned, Lazaridis said Apple is trying to upgrade a mobile phone OS for tablets, while RIM is starting with a bona-fide mobile computing platform for tablets.

Referring to iPad's lack of Adobe Flash compatibility, Lazaridis asked, Why would you limit yourself?”

In the past too, RIM had described the iPad as 'mundane' and 'boring-looking' and that its PlayBook was superior to the Apple tablet on all counts. At the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie raised the war of words with the rival and tried to show how RIM's tablet is superior to Apple's iPad.

As Apple CEO Steve Jobs asserted that many 7-inch tablets would be dead on arrival, RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie claimed that “many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple.

PlayBook, which will be introduced in North America in the first quarter of 2011, will be priced at less than $500 when the cheapest iPad costs $499 and the top model is priced at $829, said RIM.