1. BB's great battery life reputation is because the data was just text.
2. Powerful processors and large memory capacities need a powerful battery
3. A Powerful battery needs power management software.
RIM's lack of experience in building truly powerful, graphics heavy devices (i.e. laptops) is probably the main reason they are slow in getting to market.
In other words, it's not just the hardware.
That or the fact that they are slow with everything. I mean look how slow they are now with things.
If what I am reading is correct, HTC will introduce a new Android phone next month called the HTC Ville. This will have the new Snapdragon S4 architecture which includes HSPA+ and LTE all in one package. If it is now available, I'm not sure that RIM's reason to wait until the latter part of the year is valid.