[Betmen]

Silly Question.. but I wonder what it costs RIM's, Research and Devlopement, to develope an OS for a smartphone. Example:
1. Cost to develope 6.0 to 7.0, maybe that doesn't count because it a different phone
model..

2. Cost to develope a lesser project like 7.1 to another version of 7.1.

3. Cost on the undertaking of Playbook going from 1x to 2.0 ?

[mssca]

First of all, when it comes to software after RIM spend money on initial infrastructure, its all about workforce. I think 99% of all software updates money are spent on labor.

As far as I know, the OS 7.0 to 7.1 is not a big improvement in terms of software engineering. Why? The code for wifi hotspot was already written into the OS 7.0 and RIM didn't enable it. To enable, it takes less work and less manpower so it is not a huge deal. So going from OS 7.0 to 7.1 and any version of those two would be similar.

But, going from OS 5.0 to OS 6.0 should be very expensive. Same thing will go for the BB 10. I don't know how much it cost exactly, but engineers are not paid per project at RIM, but bonuses were given out for meeting target demands and due dates. I don't think people work at RIM is smart enough to earn the due date bonus anyway so RIM should have saved a lot of money.