Could it be a three-in-a-row of drastic measures for BlackBerry makers Research in Motion? A report yesterday suggested co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis would be ousted as co-chairmen of the board. In addition, earlier today a rumour from unnamed sources close to Boy Genius Report suggests RIM will pull everything except for their upcoming BlackBerry 10-based phone, codenamed "London."
The next step, according to Jefferies and Company analyst Peter Misek, would see RIM licensing their software to third parties. The same third parties that, as of now, stand as their chief competitors: those that produce Android phones en masse, with a side order of Windows Phone handsets.
In statements made to Boy Genius Report, Mr. Misek believes this move, being a long-term risk, could prove to be the one that turns the company"s fortunes around. How so? He believes that if people are drawn into the BlackBerry ecosystem via third parties, in the short term:
It puts more pressure on [RIM"s] hardware business... and may in fact allow them to sell more BB 10 handsets (if they are able to create compelling handsets).
Mr. Misek believes RIM has already begun preliminary negotiations with Samsung and HTC over this manner. How they plan to use RIM"s software - in whole or selectively choosing components of the BlackBerry platform - remains to be seen.