CrackBerry talks to Thorsten Heins

Part III of CrackBerry's Interview with RIM's New CEO

Continuing along in our interview series with RIM's new CEO Thorsten Heins, we asked the question that so many smartphone users have been asking for a long time now. Will we ever see BlackBerry Messenger on other Platforms? The BlackBerry Chief said "you should never rule this out" adding "there is a time where this might make sense".

The topic of cross-platform BBM has been debated often on CrackBerry. Our last poll on the subject put the community at 71% in favor of RIM putting BlackBerry Messenger onto other mobile operating systems, but with BBM being such a strong hook keeping users tied to BlackBerry it's definitely not a clear cut business case. At least we now know this is something RIM is definitely looking into.

On the hot topic of licensing out the BlackBerry OS, Heins says people should not put this into a black or white category. Heins is "open for licensing if it makes sense". Heins made it clear that he "was not hired to build a licensing company" but rather was "hired to take BlackBerry to new heights" and plans to do just that with his team.

Listen to the audio above, read the Q&A below and let us know in the comments where you weigh in on this one!

Interview Part III - Licensing and Cross Platform BBM

Kevin: There have been a lot of questions this week about whether RIM will ever license out the BlackBerry platform, and your answer has been that "we're open to discussions". Will we ever see BlackBerry Messenger on other platforms? We've have seen RIM put an Android app player onto the PlayBook. Would we ever see it go the other way? Maybe not full out licensing, but maybe pieces of BlackBerry services showing up on other platforms?

Thorsten: You should never rule this out; business is very very dynamic. It's dynamic on the device side as well as on the software side. So never say no to anything. We're constantly exploring our room to maneuver and our room to explore other businesses so I wouldn't say categorically no to it. There is a time where this might make sense, and I have a team looking into this. I'm not saying I won't license. People are again putting this in a black and white spot. I'm open for licensing if it makes sense. But it's not what I was hired for; I was not hired to build a licensing company. I was hired to take BlackBerry to new heights. And that's what I will do with my team.


Keep it locked to CrackBerry... more from RIM's new CEO will be hitting the blogs soon!

Read CrackBerry's 1st Interview with RIM's CEO

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