For several months, RIM, the manufacturer of BlackBerry tough going. The brand that invented the concept of the smartphone has missed the turn of touch. Its market share plummeted in the United States and American analysts are now caught in a death spiral. However, it is the back round against both these birds of ill omen (the brand is still very present in Europe and growth in emerging markets despite the lack of new terminals) and face the blows of fate (RIM has been a failure of its infrastructure has greatly affected its European customers the same day as the release of the iPhone 5).Against all odds, the company continues its reinvention effort. It develops two years its future: BB10, a new mobile operating system that RIM wants to be very innovative, not only able to provide users with an amazing experience, but also able to open the mobile scenarios towards new horizons.
While this opens September 25, 2012 its annual developers conference "BlackBerry Jam Americas" (formerly known as DevCon), the manufacturer has unveiled some new elements of its BB10 illustrating some innovations embedded in the system. In May, the manufacturer had quickly lifted the veil demonstrating three aspects of its system.
This time, the publisher returned a little more into the details of the user interface. The home screen is not really original. It uses the principle of the current PlayBook with pages of icons in the style of the iPhone. Main difference: you can jump directly to any page without having to scroll all. But it classical menu hides much more interesting news:
- Firstly, a new BlackBerry Hub which includes all your posts and all your notifications whether from e-mail, instant messaging as BBM, social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc..) Or software generating alerts.
- Then an amazing user experience called Flow which allows users to juggle an application to another without realizing it. Typically, the password e-mail calendar and contacts without noticing. It is as if all applications have the strange ability to integrate into each other. This is exactly the case: each application BB10 is able to share content with others without having to copy / paste function with a Share which is reminiscent of the talisman Share Windows 8.
- Finally, it proves much easier to juggle applications that BB10 is a true multitasking system that takes care of your battery. When the user puts in the background an app, it is neither fully active nor fully asleep: it adopts a mode where it displays a thumbnail view that indicates the last information received or changes its state (again, this suggests a dynamic little tiles of Windows 8, but on BB10, only really launched applications display a thumbnail dynamics).
But probably the most surprising announcement is for customers original Manufacturer's businesses. With BB10, RIM finally found a real parade to the problems of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). All terminals benefit from two contexts: a context and context Custom Work. The two worlds coexist but remain isolated.
Thus it is impossible to stick to his personal e-mail information copied from the professional world. Another example, it is impossible to make screenshots work when the context is active. Another example, you can launch the browser (or any other app) from both the universe and Personnel Work. In the context Personally, the user can navigate where they want, while in the background work is limited by the policies set by the company.
So some apps can not be launched in a context and not in another. A simple gesture (a finger slipped from the top of the screen) allows the user to switch from one context to another. And it is the system itself that guarantees isolation of each universe. It should be noted that Contacts, Calendars and Hub (for messages) operate in hybrid mode. They can display elements of both the screen contexts. However each element is contextualized. Unable to track e-mail marked confidential to contact Personal example.
Unsurprisingly, RIM will not disclose its first BB10 devices during this conference. Even though we already know that both models will land in early 2013: a full touchscreen and another with a physical keyboard. They will aim to boost the image of the brand and mark its comeback on the international scene. It will not be easy in this market where manufacturers are already engaged in a bidding technology (Apple iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy SIII, Nokia Lumia 920, etc.)..
Photos that circulated on the Internet these days are actually those of a new prototype for developers and referred to as "Dev Alpha B". Nearest phone as a mini-tablet (unlike the previous prototype developer), its design is complete neutrality, history leave nothing exudes future models.
The challenge for RIM is now to prove that it is simply too late. That this market relatively unfaithful and active (users change devices every 18 months), the cards can still be redistributed. For this, the brand can count on the support of developers (as it ensures minimum income) and the operators (search for new solutions and alternatives to break the hegemony of Apple and Samsung and constraints impose these giants).
