BlackBerry’s CEO Thinks Tablets Will Be Dead In Five Years

By

Say what?
Say what?

BlackBerry has been going through a bit of a rough patch the last few years. The iPhone and Android stole the smartphone market from beneath their feet, and its recent product launches have been incredibly underwhelming.

Things are looking bad for BlackBerry, but it’s totally not going to let these last few years of mediocrity get to it though. In fact, BlackBerry’s CEO thinks his company just needs to weather the storm while everyone is going through this iPad-fad thing.

In a recent interview, BlackBerry’s CEO, Thorsten Heins said that he sees a limited future for tablet computers, and we’ll probably stop using them in a couple years. 

“In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore. Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business model.

In five years, I see BlackBerry to be the absolute leader in mobile computing — that’s what we’re aiming for. I want to gain as much market share as I can, but not by being a copycat.”

Pro tip: If you are not making a great tablet, you will not be the leader in mobile computing in five years. Just look at the numbers. While Samsung and Apple have captured 33% and 17% of global smartphone sales, BlackBerry’s share has shrunk to only 3.2%.

BlackBerry fans shouldn’t be worried though. Heins says he’s got some great ideas that will put the company back on its feet – great ideas like licensing the BlackBerry 10 operating system to other companies.

The idea that the same companies that are “licensing” Android for free on their smartphone, will pay to use BlackBerry’s new OS is pretty laughable, but hey, this is the company that brought us the PlayBook. So yeah, basically BlackBerry fans should be worried.

Might as well fire Heins now and let Alicia Keys run the company. They could do a lot worse.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.