Silicon Alley Insider's Dan Frommer is never afraid to speak his mind or suggest the unconventional, but he may be going too far this time.
In a Friday column, Frommer suggests that Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) should abandon its proprietary operating system, latching on to Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android itself.
He's not the only analyst who sees the smartphone market eventually being carved up by Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iOS and Google's open-source platform. Since only Apple can put out iOS handsets, the solution for everyone else -- it seems -- is to go Android.
Give up that Windows Phone 7 dream, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT). Hop off the Symbian, Nokia (NYSE: NOK).
I'm not going to argue against the inevitability of Androids and iPhones cornering the smartphone market in the coming years. I just can't see RIM throwing in the towel for a couple of different reasons.
For starters, it's not as if the BlackBerry is dead. Revenue grew 24% in its latest quarter, shipping a whopping 11.2 million BlackBerry devices during the period. Among iPhones, iPod touch media players, and iPads, Apple recently hit 100 million devices using iOS. Well, BlackBerry also crossed the same milestone during its latest quarter and had 46 million active BlackBerry subscribers.
Throw me into the camp that believes RIM will be less relevant in three to five years than it is now, but there's no point in pulling the ripcord on a popular operating system now.
It also remains to be seen what would become of RIM if it throws its hat into the "me too" ring of Android devices that seem to be outdoing one another on a weekly basis. There's nothing wrong with hardware. HTC and Motorola (NYSE: MOT) appear to be doing just fine without an in-house platform. I just don't see why RIM can't have its hardware and software, too.
Perhaps the meatier reason why RIM shouldn't go from brand name to generic is that porting over its strengths in enterprise email and mobile security isn't just some back-end server tweak. In fact, RIM should be terrified if it's even possible to easily re-create its experience through Android because it would mean that it won't be long before it finds barbarians at the gate.
There is still a premium to be paid for the proprietary. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) forked over $1.2 billion for Palm, just to get its hands on webOS with its far smaller installed base. Down the line, maybe it will make sense if RIM embraces Android for a second line of gadgetry -- perhaps with a stronger focus on the consumer market -- but it should never abandon the one thing that makes it different.
After all, RIM's grip on the smartphone market is a thicker slice than Apple when it comes to computing. Is anyone suggesting that Apple do away with its operating system and embrace Windows or any of the growing open-source alternatives?
Of course not. Frommer has gone out too far on a limb this time. He better come back before it snaps.
Would you buy a BlackBerry phone powered by Android? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
