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October 07, 2009

RIM needs more open source

Research in Motion should be utilizing R&D investments and community channels more effectively by leveraging existing open source projects

By Savio Rodrigues
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RIM should be utilizing R&D investments more effectively by leveraging existing open source projects. RIM could have built this SDK for a lower investment by starting with PhoneGap or an equivalent open source framework. Of course there might have been a feature gap between what PhoneGap offers and what RIM wants to deliver in version 1.0. However, assigning RIM developers to the PhoneGap project to add these features while leveraging all the other APIs in PhoneGap would have saved RIM the work of reinventing the wheel for those other APIs.

This was absolutely a missed opportunity for RIM to compete versus Apple, Palm, and others using open source. No, I'm not going to suggest that RIM open source the BlackBerry Enterprise Server; that would be silly. Rather, I believe RIM could have saved R&D costs, increased the value of its BlackBerry platform, and influenced developers building for the iPhone if RIM had built the Widget SDK on top of the open source project like PhoneGap.

RIM would have also benefited from new features added by the PhoneGap community. A PhoneGap community member who loves his BlackBerry and wants to "scratch an itch" could contribute a PhoneGap feature that other BlackBerry developers would find extremely useful.

Finally, RIM would be contributing to a framework that developers are already using to develop iPhone applications. RIM needs to figure out a way to entice developers to build BlackBerry applications before iPhone applications. However, RIM should also be working to get developers to port their iPhone apps to the BlackBerry platform. As a PhoneGap contributor, RIM could offer a simple and painless porting option for existing and new PhoneGap-based iPhone applications.

I could come up with additional benefits for RIM, but these three are big enough for RIM to reconsider its strategy for delivering the Widget SDK. RIM could yet contribute all or part of its Widget SDK to an established mobile framework open source community and build its Widget SDK product from the resulting open source community code.

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philosopher 7-Oct-09 11:53am
1 reply

Bill Gates blasts China for not paying for their software, and then accuses them of software piracy. It looks like Gates is claiming that by using open source (which is not necessarily free, by the way), one is a software pirate. He doesn't actually come out and say this, but he knows that the millions of brainless toadies and the greedy politicians that he owns will come to this conclusion by themselves.

RIM's Blackberry Enterprise Server and RIM's Blackberry Desktop Manager are Windows-only applications. It would seem that, either by choice or by coercion, RIM is firmly entrenched into the Microsoft camp and views the use of open source software as piracy.

I do hope that RIM wakes up and realizes that they are in bed with the Devil himself, and that they seriously listen to your advice, Mr. Rodrigues. I wish you the best of luck.

Savio Rodrigues 8-Oct-09 6:13am
@philosopher, BB Desktop Manager no supports Mac OS X. But there is no reason that RIM can't use open source more effectively then they are today. Lots of open source software runs perfectly fine on Windows or any other OS.
RejectIntelligentModels 8-Oct-09 12:33am
It is my experience that the folks a RIM are run by a conservative management team that do not understand the world of developers and Open Source. They are rightly protective of the technologies behind the handset both software and hardware. What they have forgotten is that the big market is consumers and they will need a wider range of applications than RIM will ever get onto its handsets with its current introverted view. Why were they late into the APPs Store model? Why were they late in bringing a developer program to the outside world? The middle management has the myopia to believe that they are the only ligitimate Enterprise offering in the market but they forget that Nokia, Microsoft, Google and Apple are actually driving the market far harder and with greater impact than RIM is likely to have. As for the consumer market again they have such a disjointed strategy due to the pull of multiple mobile network operators they are subject to conflicting messaging and campaigns out there in the world of the consumer. I have met many BlackBerry users who are mobile consumers and have moved to other phones. Why? Availability of applications! Because developers have an easier route with other platforms, especially Open Source i.e Google etc. Developers live for the ability to create neat and elegant software. They want the ability to influence and contribute to a community. The result of this culture is innovation and the explosion in apps that mobile users will love and use. This is where BlackBerry suffers. The guys at RIM are playing catchup and will struggle to get the wider acceptance of the platform unless they open up to the possibilities of Open Source, both from a development and a deployment perspective. By this I mean they have to look at an Open Source version of the server side as well as the developer tools and handset software. This way they will bring more people to the BlackBerry platform but I am not holding my breath.
Brendan 8-Oct-09 4:49am
1 reply
My bet is that RIM is mostly concerned with security and control. Right now the major differentiation (rightly or wrongly) between BB and iPhones is security in the enterprise. iPhones are neat but BB's are for work. If RIM wants to maintain that perception they really can not afford an embarrassement like what happened with Apple and the on-device encryption fiasco.
Savio Rodrigues 8-Oct-09 6:16am
@Brendan, completely agree about RIM's security value prop. But using open source code to build & deliver RIM products has no impact on this. For example, IBM, Oracle and others provide high security in their products, even though many of these products are built using open source pieces (i.e. Apache HTTPP or Apache Axis).
ErikKristiansen 13-Oct-09 12:54pm
I agree with @Brendan and would add that perhaps service provider influence plays a role here as well. Verizon Wireless for example has frustrated me with their app store concept. It's pretty clear that VZW has eschewed the notion of creating an ecosystem of software applications that would drive consumer interest / satisfaction in favor of short term profits on a limited set of over-priced, VZW controlled applications. To my knowledge (at least on my LG Dare), the VZW app store is the only way to install applications on VZW handsets. I don't argue with their right to profit on applications, but to the point of your article, couldn't higher VZW profits result from an open strategy that fostered an ISV developer community across handsets?

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