Rumors over a new "BlackPad" tablet from RIM are becoming intense. We don't know whether they're true, but we know that RIM will have some kind of big announcement at a developers' conference on Monday afternoon.
The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek have been tossing around details, but I don't know how many of them to trust. A better question is how any BlackBerry tablet could succeed in the market.
Facing down Apple's iPad and Samsung's
I hear gadget geeks yawning, but forget about them. There's a big enterprise market which has always been ready and looking for a workable, thin-client solution for various parts of its workforce.
Citrix stepped up to support the BlackPad yesterday, even before it exists. RIM's purchase of office software maker DataViz points to another strength. If this tablet is indeed running the QNX operating system with a Webkit based browser (as has been rumored), the pieces are starting to come together.
What we have here is a window into business. The BlackPad could be absolutely secure and completely manageable from IT departments' existing BES systems. RIM could use their developers' conference to spotlight prominent line-of-business apps that will support their pad, in tablet-friendly industries like health care, hospitality and retail. Citrix and a strong Web browser would fill in the gaps, enabling access to Web apps like Salesforce.com and NetSuite.
An integrated camera wouldn't (just) be for video calling. As our SMB analyst Samara Lynn pointed out to me, cameras are useful for taking pictures of wounds and other diagnostic information in health-care scenarios.
The Journal suggests the BlackPad won't have its own 3G connection, rather connecting through Wi-Fi or tethering to a BlackBerry. This is great for enterprises because it means no more subscriptions to manage. The BlackPad stays connected on a Wi-Fi campus, links up to a user's BlackBerry when off campus, and remains manageable all the way.
This approach plays against both Apple's and Android's weaknesses. Apple has been doing a good job convincing businesses to take up the iPad, but BES is more flexible than Exchange ActiveSync when it comes to managing and controlling gadgets, and the App Store lacks some key line-of-business apps. The iPad is also AT&T-only in the U.S. There are enterprise solutions for Android - Good comes to mind - but they tend to require a bit of thought and effort on the part of IT, as well as potentially setting up new systems and processes. Cisco touts their Cius tablet as an Android-based solution for business, but RIM could one-up them with better manageability and a wider range of apps that don't require lots of Cisco infrastructure.
In this business-centric view of the BlackPad, developers are the big missing piece, which is probably why it's being announced at a developer conference, if indeed that's happening. If the BlackPad is running a new OS, RIM has to get developers on board. If it's running some variant of BlackBerry 6, RIM still has to convince its developers to write for a new form factor. In any case, RIM hasn't been able to attract as much developer enthusiasm as Android and Apple in general, so splitting the existing enthusiasm level over two platforms seems risky.
The success of the BlackPad in business could set the stage for a consumer launch. Once more, the key is developers: deliver consumers a platform with compelling apps, and they'll come. If business-related developers make money on the BlackPad, that will prime the pump to attract the consumer-oriented programmers who could drive a consumer launch to success.
All of this is speculation, of course. We don't know if RIM is announcing a BlackPad on Monday. We don't know if it would be 7 inches, 10 inches, or three feet wide. But if the buzz is indeed correct, I hope to see a launch that will drive the business world wild.