According to the latest rumours, the BlackBerry Colt may make it to market before the end of 2011, even though the last we heard of RIM’s first QNX smartphone was aiming for early 2012. In its current testing phase, the Colt apparently couldn’t plug into BlackBerry Enterprise Servers, and was running a single-core processor. We’ve been expecting an all-touch 4.3-inch slate, though the source of these late 2011 rumours couldn’t nail down any specs.
RIM has openly admitted that they’re working to port the QNX-based operating system from the BlackBerry PlayBook into their smartphones, but the tablet’s feature set is still largely incomplete, which casts a shadow on its future on handsets. It’s also odd to hear that the Colt is currently only running on a single core processor, since RIM’s co-CEO has said they needed to wait on dual-core before flipping the switch.
Whatever happens, RIM’s QNX smartphones will be their last shot at proving to the world that they can remain competitive. The latest batch of OS 7 handsets barely keeps them up to speed with Android and iOS alternatives currently available. With a bit of time bought, RIM’s next push needs to be fully competitive to maintain what investor and consumer confidence BlackBerry has left. What do you guys think – will the first QNX BlackBerry be enough to save RIM? Is getting it out a month or two sooner going to help them out that much, or is it already too late?