Just days after RIM unveiled the BBX platform at BlackBerry DevCon, they were served legal papers from a New Mexico-based software development company named Basis over the BBX name. News on that front has been quiet recently, but last night the U.S. Federal Court in Albuquerque forced RIM to raise their white flag and change their new OS’s name in time for DevCon Asia.
Their new choice? BlackBerry 10. Thrilling.
https://twitter.com/#!/BlackBerryDev/status/144256867919609856
RIM, I hope you know that I’d love to stop harping on you so much, but things like this whole BBX debacle just make it irresistable. BBX BlackBerry 10 is a make-it-or-break-it situation, and for what it’s worth, I’d like to see RIM stick around for a long time to come. Losing a competitive force in the marketplace usually means fewer choices for consumers and that’s never a good thing. But still, you really couldn’t have looked into this a bit further first? I mean, I get the fact that you and Basis operate in different markets (hence the Reuters quote expressing confidence), but really guys — it would’ve killed you to hedge your bets a little?
Alright, fine: in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter what name RIM chooses for their next-gen operating system. If BlackBerry 10 can’t pose a competitive threat to Android, iOS, or Windows Phone, it could be called “RIM Will Pay You To Buy This Phone OS” and it wouldn’t make a difference.
But seriously RIM, after everything you’ve been through lately, you’ve got to fight to win back the confidence of your current (and future) customers. Getting tied up in a legal kerfuffle over something as basic as your operating system’s name isn’t the way to go, but there’s still time to learn from your mistakes. Stay out of the spotlight for the next few months, and make BlackBerry 10 as amazing as possible.