The smartphone race is currently being ruled by two operating systems; iOS and Android. Together they take 90% of the pie, at least in the United States. The rest 10% is made up by the likes of BlackBerry and Windows Phone. Windows Phone holds a paltry 9% market share where as BlackBerry is still at a decent 9%.
However the numbers don’t tell the whole story. While Windows Phone is struggling to gain any market share, it is still backed up by one of the richest and biggest corporations in the world, Microsoft. It also has the full backing of Nokia. BlackBerry on the other hand is struggling to make ends meet, let alone earn profits. One of the ideas that has floated around is BlackBerry jumping the Windows Phone bandwagon like Nokia did.
This mockup is what the joint venture might look like. While it’s clearly a hasty photoshop job, the reality wouldn’t be too far away. The signature BlackBerry design with the elegance of Windows Phone. It is a striking combination. But it will probably never be true, not at least in the near future.
BlackBerry still has a viable and strong operating system on their hands, unlike Nokia which were relying on the old relic known as Symbian. It’s important to know that Microsoft did make an informal offer to RIM to make Windows Phone devices, which RIM categorically refused to. RIM is looking forward to BlackBerry OS10 for next year release which they’re hoping would bring a change in their dire fortunes.
In the mean time, those dreaming of a RIM/Microsoft love affair can look at these pictures and satisfy their desires. Perhaps RIM might reconsider? Again, that depends entirely on how well the launch of OS10 goes.