BlackBerry 10 is a portable brain that plugs into any computer -- so you won't need a laptop. That's according to eternally optimistic BlackBerry boss Thorsten Heins, who reckons the humble laptop will be obsolete in three years.
"Whenever you enter an office, you don’t have your laptop with you, you have your mobile computer power exactly here," says Heins, brandishing a Blackberry 10 phone. Speaking to the New York Times, Heins asserts, "You will not carry a laptop within three to five years."
A bold claim, and not an unreasonable one. But if the laptop as we know it disappears in the next few years, I question how much BlackBerry will have to do with it. the laptop is ideal for more involved work not because of the extra power it packs over a phone, but because of the size and shape. If anything kills laptops, surely it'll be bigger devices like the iPad or Windows 8 hybrids.
But Heins suggests you won't need to carry larger devices to benefit from bigger screens and keyboards. Instead, your BlackBerry will be like a digital brain that you plug into workstations wherever you happen to sit down to work.
Heins also explains that BlackBerry 10 phones lack a home button because you don't need to return to a homescreen to switch apps. Instead you move directly between apps with a flick of the thumb. Messages are integrated across the system so you can see emails and texts and social updates from a contact next to their name in the address book app -- and even see the latest news associated with their company.
The next generation of BlackBerry is coming in the new year. Research in Motion will unveil the BlackBerry 10 operating system on 30 January, along with the first two phones to be powered by the new software. The new phones are expected in February -- one with a touchscreen and one with signature clicky keyboard -- at which point you can chuck out your laptop, presumably.
There's a lot riding on the success of BlackBerry 10 -- even before you consider it's going to decide the fate of the laptop. RIM has seen an astonishing 90 per cent wiped off its share price in the past four years as customers jump ship to Android and iPhone -- but Thorsten Heins is characteristically upbeat. "I don’t expect things to get much worse," he said. Ah.
Will BlackBerry 10 kill the laptop, or should RIM be thankful if it can claw back a fraction of the ground lost to Android and the iPhone? And is the laptop on its way out? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
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anonymous 20 November, 2012 09:51
good joke.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 09:53
i believe Thor is not being over optimistic. QNX, which pwers BB10 is a solid platform. currently it is being used in nuclear powerplant, military applications, cars, and other mission critical areas. This isnt just for mobiles or tablets. its more than that. 3 years is a long time in tech and what Thor claims is definitely possible with QNX. Cloud computing has also taken off well and will assist in this kind of tecch in future (Remember RIM acquired Newbay, cloud services co). RIM's NOC is also an advantage for them. ability to push updates, information to the device is huge plus specially in automotive industry.the same can be extended to hospitals, ect... we've already heard such examples from Thor in previos interviews.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 09:57
LOL Blackberry cant keep up with the competition, my guess is they wont even be around in a few years. LOOL everything they say is buulshiiit.
AkumaJack 20 November, 2012 10:06
So the future is docking stations everywhere? Plug your phone into a docking station that's linked to a mouse, keyboard and screen.....nah, the laptop is here to stay in whatever form that may be i.e. surfer, transformer pad. People are still going to have to be productive on the move, physical keys are the only way to do that at the moment and I don't think that will change in 5 years.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 10:14
A fancy display with colors gonna replace a laptop computer? Yeah, right! Then tell me why hasn't the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 replaced them already? Or any other Android device? I have never seen a blackberry, let alone held one in my hands, and yet they say in 3 years it's going to replace laptops, hah! Keep wishing.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 10:28
He should worry about Blackberry being killed not them killing the laptop.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 10:33
Do these people realise that laptops are used for more than simply web-surfing and general office applications. I like tablets, and phablets and the general smartphone, but not one of them would replace my trusty Thinkpad and HP HDX. These people need to get real, the only real contender at the moment is Surface Pro (i5 based) in theory, maybe a couple of generations of surface will show a true laptop replacement, but not until then and not until the pricing has lowered substantially.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 10:39
I'd say the Blackberry 10 certainly has potential, if the hype is true. Eventually the only people who might need a lap top could be software developers. I think I'll buy some more RIM shares :-D.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 10:54
@anonymous 20 November, 2012 10:39
are you serious?! #headsgone
anonymous 20 November, 2012 10:56
LOL what is this guy smoking? instead of concentrating on saving the business he's dreaming of killing off laptops! Mate keep up with the competition first then think about taking over the world
anonymous 20 November, 2012 11:39
Ideal device for me would be a smartphone with 2GHz Dual core processor and 2GB of RAM and 64-128 GB of Storage, High Speed Internet Connectivity, a day / night HD camera, battery that lasts for a day of power usage or supplied with an external wireless battery charger/power pack that doubles power usage, USB/Wireless connectivity ports for connecting to USB devices, External Monitor/HDTVs, maybe an external keyboard and mouse, a hard shell so that even if dropped everything does not crash, a free cloud backup storage (along with affordable internet connectivity bundled).
CaptainPicard 20 November, 2012 11:42
I agree with anonymous 20 November, 2012 10:33.
I dont think the laptop will actually disappear. It will evolve! Thanks to Windows and even Android, "Laptabs" (tablet-laptop hybrids) are the future, they will basically bridge the gap between a PC and a tablet.
As for RIM, the success of their new devices will really be down to the price. Many Android makers will unveil their flagship pones in the January to March period and they will be very competitively priced to take on the Nexus 4 and Samsung. I hope they don’t price their devices anywhere near the price of the iPhone and some Droids.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 11:43
Is it not better to reserve judgement until BB10 is released? Perhaps RIM have developed a genuinely next generation platform.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 12:37
A lot of websites like this one are working hard to give readers a bad impression of RIM before BB10 even gets announced. Lot of those readers haven't been following BB10, just reading some of the comments reveals that, just look a few posts above, poster has never even seen or held one. Anyone who has followed the developement of BB10 can't HONESTLY criticize it before its even released. So far it not only catches up to competition but appears to make the competition look boring & outdated, time will tell of course. As far as BB10 replacing laptops, I also have to ask... What is Thorsten smoking?
anonymous 20 November, 2012 13:05
If im reading this correctly Ubuntu has this on android phones. Only when you dock your phone you will have a fully functional Linux desktop.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 13:19
They might displace laptops for casual use but we are still quite a ways off of providing the level of power I need on my day to day. Compiling code would be an eternity on a low power device unless you are backed by a build farm from the phone. Not everyone has that and anything that adds to my feedback loop costs money. More than a desktop/laptop would.
For an office worker that might need to simply run some web apps, edit some documents, show some powerpoints, etc this can absolutely happen in 3-5 years.
If there was any current platform that could pull this off its the Windows8 suite.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 13:20
3-5 years? Really? Isn't that like 55 technology years? I guess no one noticed the Kindle and iPad selling a few devices....
anonymous 20 November, 2012 14:14
Personally i suggest the iPad has become a laptop killer. I know that in its current form it may be easy to disagree. But over time I think it may well get to Star Trek levels where we hand such devices around like paper. All in good time though.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 14:15
To make sure everyones clear. What Thor' meant by BlackBerry 10 replaceing computers is this. You will come into the office, sit at your desk where you have a monitor and a blue-tooth keyboard/mouse, plug your BlackBerry 10 device to the monitor via the mini-HDMI port and run on a citrix environment (which everyone runs on today anyways). Since he made this statement, tech-sites have not called him crazy - why? Because when you look at it, he's not crazy. BB10 phones are almost as powerful as current laptops, the HTML5 browser that also supports flash scores a 484 on HTML5test.com, which is higher than most current desktop browsers. Here's another thing, BB10 devices are going to get NFC chipsets - most people access their offices via NFC access cards, so essentially you're BB is going to do everything from getting you into the office and being your computer. It's not far-fetched, in fact - it's alot closer to reality than it is to concept.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 14:15
AHAHAHAHA - Thank you RIM for making me laugh at the confidence of surviving at all
anonymous 20 November, 2012 14:34
Hype is the tool of salemen. He uses his tools to their full potential. He still has a job and plans to keep it. If we are talking now, just wait for the release!
Juan Carlos Arévalos Benítez 20 November, 2012 14:56
Yeah... Sure....
anonymous 20 November, 2012 15:00
Yeah becuase I'm totally going to be Abel to render hd video and 3D.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 15:37
What they are suggesting is pretty much already available, it will be a big method of working in the future as we return to the thin client phase, using Clouds, but it will only be one method, laptop/tablets will be heavily used in stand alone situations and non-cloud based companies. Unless somebody can fold up a 17" screen onto a smartphone, or hologram projectors get built in, large screen devices (tablets, laptops and PCs) are here to stay
anonymous 20 November, 2012 17:47
Laptops will be gone in 3-5 years? Maybe old school 7 pound laptops that are already gone. Windows/Mac laptops are there because of software that people need to use at home, school, or work. If the only thing you need is to access file then you can use anything with a screen and internet connection. At the end of the day laptop will be around for awhile. Only way I can see laptops disappearing is when Windows8 tablet/phone dominates the market like pc.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 21:07
That's only if RIM survives 3 - 5 years, i mean seriously no one uses them anymore!!!
anonymous 20 November, 2012 21:56
Hates gonna hate
anonymous 20 November, 2012 22:23
Not gonna happen. By the time a BlackBerry is finished booting, I have booted my laptop, read my email, checked my stock quotes, managed my eBay auctions and answered a couple of snide comments on Facebook. And maybe I'll have also placed a call over Skype, which the BlackBerry doesn't have.
anonymous 20 November, 2012 23:30
Yup... and the playbook is the next iPad killer.
anonymous 21 November, 2012 02:02
Most people are idiots. Apple has been able to tap into this and sell down to their level. Unfortunate for RIM as it actually has products that are useful for more than just playing games and downloading fart sound apps. I have used all platforms and if microsoft can get the surface to integrate seamlessly it will be hard to beat. But, QNX has the ability to compete against it, and it is already well integrated into our lives already. Most people don't know about that.
anonymous 21 November, 2012 02:27
Are you aware rim purchased a patent for a tablet with a keyboard? That sounds a lot like a transformer tablet to me. BlackBerry will succeed I'm for sure buying a BB10 device. Do some research and check out the BlackBerry A-Series.
anonymous 21 November, 2012 04:53
Sure...and pigs will fly!
Seriously, thats a desperate man's statement. RIM should focus on basic things like hardware quality of their phones. Bought a BB once and had so many problems that I swore never to touch a BB again.
dougmet 21 November, 2012 10:32
Not quite sure why everyone seems to be revelling in hating RIM. They're just a company that makes things. Why not just see if BB10 might be interesting? The idea of plugging a phone into a screen/keyboard seems pretty cool. Sounds like the promised Ubuntu phone that I'd love to see. The laptop death claim is silly but makes a nice talking point.
anonymous 21 November, 2012 14:59
After reading the comments above, I've come to realize how ignorant people can be. From what I've read, not too many people here really know what they're talking about and have no reason to "bash" on RIM, BlackBerry 10 nor Thorsten Heins' comments, relying heavily on anti-RIM sentiments that have been circulating all over the media. Anyone with a brain, whether you're a Windows Phone fan or Android fanboy, must know that before you say ONE word that would add to the array of insults that RIM has had to face the past few months, if he/she would actually do some research on the development of BB10 then maybe that person could think twice before opening their traps. People need to remain open minded and realize that no one device/company will remain dominant forever, and to give new innovations a fighting chance. I have owned and used Android, iPhone and BlackBerry devices in the past. After 6 months with my iPhone, I've returned to BlackBerry. And BB10 will keep me there, I can tell you that much.
Marian57 21 November, 2012 16:03
BlackBerry was all the phone everyone could want until ... The Gods that said let's build a better phone! And they did. Now BlackBerry said wait we are not finished yet. So come February I will have in my hot little hands a BlackBerry 10. I still believe.
anonymous 21 November, 2012 17:17
Lol my workplace (and the majority of others too) is still stuck on Windows XP, an OS over 10 years old and he thinks every business is going to just up and switch to BB10 at the drop of a hat. Not badmouthing BB10 just saying this claim is absolutely out of touch with reality.
Max Goodman 18 December, 2012 05:53
Its not a bad call on a possible future but it would appear to be unlikely to me that it would be Blackberry that would pull this off. Of all the companies Google seems to be positioning itself best for this. By developing Chrome into an alternative desktop environment and incorporating it into mobile devices as their browser Google is probably closer to a software solution for this than anyone. Combine that with wireless monitor attachments, wireless keyboards, touchpads and mice and wireless charging and you have an all in one solution. Just not 100$ sure that is what we all want.
anonymous 29 December, 2012 16:50
dont be bloody idiot- no one prefers mobiles to computers, the only reason phones are used is when you're not at home.most people do most surfing at home. you're a moron that clearly doesnt actually use mobiles/computers regularly
Grndzro Ygtbfkm 9 January, 2013 13:30
Anyone who has been following the recent BB10 news closely would know that the new BB10 smartphones will be absolutely awesome.
All these anonymous posters are probably paid shills.
anonymous 16 January, 2013 16:48
cant wait for it to happen so I can post everywhere for the iheads to read "told you so A-holes"
now you can take your i-crap and use it for a paper weight.
anonymous 29 January, 2013 14:00
The BlackBerry 10 is an amazing piece of technology but will never replace a laptop
anonymous 24 February, 2013 14:38
In 3-5 years Heins will be selling used cars, and hyping them as "next generation" vehicles capable of replacing aircrafts in the same time frame.
By the way their handling their business and finances, if and when such integration becomes possible and gets acceptance within the corporate world, believe me it won't be accomplished by blackberry devices.
anonymous 25 February, 2013 08:54
Nobody wants to work on a tiny screen all day ! People like there keyboards and big screens !
anonymous 25 April, 2013 02:49
Now now i-phone children, to say Blackberry can't accomplish this is like saying the i-phone is no good because once you are King-of-the-Hill no one else can overtake you. By this reasoning since Blackberry was on the top of the heap then it is impossible that they are not still the top dog. Please grow up and drop the my dad can beat up your dad garbage.