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Apr. 12, 2010

RIM (Research In Motion) said that it will acquire Kanata, Ontario-based QNX Software Systems from Harman International for an undisclosed amount, the two companies announced late Friday.

QNX Software Systems makes the Neutrino and RTOS embedded operating systems, which run on ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, x86 and other platforms, in virtually every type of embedded environment, according to the company Web site.

There’s a consensus at QNX that the acquisition is a positive thing for the company, according to spokesman Paul Leroux.

While he said he couldn’t speak for RIM – and at press time, the BlackBerry maker hadn’t returned calls requesting an interview – Leroux said it was encouraging that the company had expressed interest in opening up new markets for QNX.

QNX has a footprint in a variety of industrial markets, including locomotive control systems, power generation, nuclear reactors and wind turbines, “where you need a reliable real-time operating system,” Leroux said.

But its highest profile is in the automotive sector, where every major car brand and most Tier 1 suppliers use QNX for infotainment and telematics, according to Leroux. General Motors’s OnStar roadside assistance hardware runs on QNX, for example.

RIM has been putting considerable effort into gaining developer momentum for its own platform. And the company owes much of its success to its vertical integration of hardware, software, sales and marketing.

"In addition to our interests in expanding the opportunities for QNX in the automotive sector and other markets, we believe the planned acquisition of QNX will also bring other value to RIM in terms of supporting certain unannounced product plans for intelligent peripherals,” RIM CEO Paul Lazaridis said in a press release.

That’s led to speculation that the leaner QNX kernel could be brought into RIM handheld devices, perhaps to deliver cheaper devices for developing markets. But Kevin Restivo, senior analyst with IDC’s worldwide mobile phone tracker unit, calls that counterintuitive...

The QNX acquisition is rather unusual for RIM, which normally doesn’t acquire companies with their own operating systems, Restivo said.

However, the acquisition allows the BlackBerry to be used in an environment where it hasn’t been to date – in vehicles.

“There are a lot of potential applications for the technology,” Restivo said.

In other RIM news, a while back, the company said its new BlackBerry Storm 2 certainly isn't perfect but that it is making it better than its previous version which is already a year old now. The new Storm2 is now faster, a bit lighter and more fun to use.

The Storm2's GUI is still large and its touch screen emits a fairly bright light. The buttons that were previously below the screen have been integrated.

The new Storm2 should be more responsive and offer a better overall user experience than its predecessor. Its predecessor sometimes took quite a bit of time to change from portrait to landscape mode. On the Storm2, there's little or no delay for that function.

The Storm2 also makes it easier to scroll through various lists of contacts and messages. The Storm's new virtual keyboard has been improved as well.

For example, you can type on it more easily and make fewer typos when sending e-mails and text messages, since the keys are spaced apart a bit more than its predecessor.

When the Storm 2 is powered off or asleep, the screen doesn't click and, because they're all connected, the buttons below it don't move either.

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Source: Research In Motion.