[SunshineStateFlyer]

According to TechRadar, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei is working on their own OS dubbed Kirin in order to deviate from Google's official Android released.

The article also mentions Samsung's Tizen and OnePlus's OxygenOS an an exemplification for the rising supply of home-grown operating systems.

What do CrackBerry readers think, would it be beneficial to BlackBerry when more diversification is set to arise?

Personally I do think that it might indeed be a chance for BlackBerry, as long as they manage to take strategic advantage of it. BlackBerry has quite some experience with the challenges attached to being an underdog in the mobile OS market and they have managed to build a mature system around a working corporate MDM solution.
What BlackBerry is lacking currently is consumer and developer support which is mainly due to a weak app ecosystem.
Here's where I see more diversification as a clear opportunity. BlackBerry could build on their experience and their partnerships while developers would be forced to reconsider their approaches once Google and Apple do not provide full consumer reach anymore.

Source:
Huawei said to be working on a Mate 8-style Nexus and its own OS | TechRadar

Posted via CB10

[birdman_38]

All these OEM's creating their own OS seems to be a play to break away from Google. But it's likely more to prepare themselves for the Internet of Things. Samsung's Tizen already has a presence in more than one genre... Smart TVs, smartwatches, smartphones. Others are following suit.

Huawei's move is to better position themselves in the market.

[birdman_38]

Which begs the question: if BlackBerry is so involved in IoT, why is BB10 on only one platform?

[SunshineStateFlyer]

That's a good paint concerning the Internet of Things. I think BlackBerry might be working on it with their QNX platform, however I have no idea when we could see any results or in what form.

Still, I would say the reality of more different platforms being pushed into the market by manufacturers, be it for whatever strategic reason, might help BlackBerry attracting more developer interest.

Posted via CB10

[birdman_38]

I would say the reality of more different platforms being pushed into the market by manufacturers, be it for whatever strategic reason, might help BlackBerry attracting more developer interest.

Perhaps, but only if they work directly with those other operating systems. There will be a lot of vendors vying for the attention of the developer community if that trend continues.

[TgeekB]

That's a good paint concerning the Internet of Things. I think BlackBerry might be working on it with their QNX platform, however I have no idea when we could see any results or in what form.

Still, I would say the reality of more different platforms being pushed into the market by manufacturers, be it for whatever strategic reason, might help BlackBerry attracting more developer interest.

Posted via CB10

I think that's the issue from a consumer standpoint, BlackBerry is always "working on something" but we have yet to see the fruits of their labor. Until we do, sales will continue to decline.

Be classically hip with the BlackBerry Classic

[birdman_38]

I think that's the issue from a consumer standpoint, BlackBerry is always "working on something" but we have yet to see the fruits of their labor.

They either choose not to divulge anything for competitive reasons, or don't have anything to divulge.

[SunshineStateFlyer]

Perhaps, but only if they work directly with those other operating systems. There will be a lot of vendors vying for the attention of the developer community if that trend continues.

This could certainly be an approach. Other platforms, as long as they are still rather irrelevant, might want to cooperate with BlackBerry in order to exchange know-how, especially in the corporate target markets. Partnerships might in turn help both to get developers on board.


Posted via CB10

[ljfong]

So far BlackBerry's implementation of IoT is limited to architectural diagrams and some kind of invitation only preview. Maybe they are cooking up something really cool who knows. The only thing for sure is that their non enterprise marketing and customer support has been on auto pilot for a while.

Posted via CB10

[Prem WatsApp]

With regard to the users, if we get a more diversified spectrum of user interfaces, my hope (and it's only a hope!) is that users will finally start to try and discover menus and various UIs again, and familiarize themselves with them instead of complaining that something "is different", "unfamiliar" or "hard to use"...

:-D

(edit/addition: Yes, I believe BlackBerry would benefit from that, if it ever happens... Tizen, LG WebOS, Android variants, Ubuntu Touch/TV, Sailfish, etc. ...)

�   Passposted while waiting for the Z-lider....   �

[SunshineStateFlyer]

With regard to the users, if we get a more diversified spectrum of user interfaces, my hope (and it's only a hope!) is that users will finally start to try and discover menus and various UIs again, and familiarize themselves with them instead of complaining that something "is different", "unfamiliar" or "hard to use"...

:-D

(edit/addition: Yes, I believe BlackBerry would benefit from that, if it ever happens... Tizen, LG WebOS, Android variants, Ubuntu Touch/TV, Sailfish, etc. ...)

�   Passposted while waiting for the Z-lider....   �

This is an incredibly valid point in my opinion. The whole smartphone world has become so boring anyway. The overwhelming majority of devices out there are either iOS or Android. From the hardware side it's not better, within iOS we can expect to see a slightly modified device iteration once a year and within the Android world it's more or less about maximum specs packed into a rectangle shaped brick. Samsung is the only manufacturer being somewhat adventurous with the Edge right now.
BlackBerry phones are refreshingly different from that point of view.

Posted via CB10

[jimlockhead]

In my opinion, Oxygen OS and the New Huawei OS are derived from Android. Basically they are Android skins and they run Android apps.

Posted by the Last Man Standing

[Billy Bob Jimmy Joe]

In my opinion, Oxygen OS and the New Huawei OS are derived from Android. Basically they are Android skins and they run Android apps

Don't forget about Cyanogen. That "OS" runs on Android, too. I can't stand all these Android skins claiming to be their own original OS.



Posted via BlackBerry Classic

[SunshineStateFlyer]

I'd say Cyanogen is obviously not an own OS and I'm not entirely sure how far away the others are from Android in technical terms.

But does it matter how close they are to Android? I think any innovation or diversification can bring chances in this market and manufacturers steering away from an entirely Google defined ecosystem seems to be not too bad. And concerning the vicinity to Android, how independent is BB10 with the continuously increasing emphasis on the Android runtime environment?

Posted via CB10

[Soulstream]

I don't think most of these OSs will find any kind of success. If we look at the matured desktop OS market, one OS is dominating (Windows), with Apple doing their own thing (MacOS) and a plethora of small Linux distributions. While Linux distribution are efficient and more secure, they meet very specific needs and demands and are also a victim of the "app gap".

What I want to say is that the desktop market, once it was dominated by Windows, it never "broke free" from it. And Android is the Windows of mobile (more so than Windows Phone).

[sentimentGX4]

A lot of these home grown OSes work because East Asian countries are extremely nationalistic.

In the case of China, the government is also extremely protectionist and all things Google is largely banned. American (as well as much other foreign) technology is heavily blacklisted in all levels of government use.

Since China is still somewhat on the state corporation economic model, this is a much broader ban than what would be comparable for a Western government.

Blackberry's home turf is Canada. Unfortunately, that's not that great of an asset.

[nomloj]

I think it would benefit BlackBerry. If enough diversity occurs and people move over, developers would have to start looking for common standards to develop their apps for instead of just following a specific group's directives. Possibly apps will be more browser friendly. If an app can go on all devices and not be tied to a platform, why not do that instead of developing for specific platforms. Anyway, just my thoughts.

[birdman_38]

I think it would benefit BlackBerry. If enough diversity occurs and people move over, developers would have to start looking for common standards to develop their apps for instead of just following a specific group's directives. Possibly apps will be more browser friendly. If an app can go on all devices and not be tied to a platform, why not do that instead of developing for specific platforms. Anyway, just my thoughts.

That could possibly work if all but the Big 2 go by that standard.