BlackBerry CEO seems to have a change of heart about tablets

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins seems to have backtracked on his earlier stance concerning the fate of tablets in the market...

Anujeet Majumdar|May 15, 2013, 15:19:52 IST

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins seems to have backtracked on his earlier stance concerning the fate of tablets in the market. The BlackBerry boss spoke about tablets at the BlackBerry Live conference during the Q&A session that was held during the conference, saying that “we believe in a single element of mobile computing: one on your hip.”

This is in direct opposition to what Heins said last month, when he made waves across the market by saying that he “didn't see a place for tablets in the next five years.” He followed his contradiction through by saying that BlackBerry was investing R&D dollars to explore the future of tablets.

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In order to address the contradiction created, Heins spoke about what was on his mind in an interview with CNET. “The industry got stuck on the term tablets” was the first clarification he brought across. And while his earlier statements seem to state the opposite, he still said he saw some point in tablets saying, “we want to create something that is easier to use.”

"we want to create something that is easier to use"

Keeping all this in mind, the image in Heins’ mind is clear – to transform the tablet experience by integrating it with the mobile. Essentially, his thought is to make the BlackBerry act as the main operating system in sync with the tablet, reducing it to just a larger screen without a “brain” of its own.

This clarification does not throw much light on the future of BlackBerry’s singular venture into the tablet market, the Playbook. While R&D dollars are being put into this segment, Heins does not seem too keen to launch another version of the same. Clearly, the idea of a single-point gadget that is integrated into every sphere of life is what Heins has in mind, with BlackBerry 10 being embedded into cars being one such example, which was seen at the BlackBerry Live event last night.