Workers apply the Apple logo the outside of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on February 28, 2011 in San Francisco, California. Apple is preparing to launch the iPad 2 at a special event to be held on March 2 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.Justin Sullivan
In consumer technology, the spring of 2011 has become the season of the tablet.
The competition begins in earnest this week as Apple Inc. releases the second generation of its wildly successful iPad tablet at an event in San Francisco. The new version comes less than a year after the first iPad hit the stores, selling millions of units and single-handedly reviving a tablet market that had been dormant for the past decade.
A few weeks from now, Research In Motion Ltd. of Waterloo, Ont., is expected to unveil its entry into one the world's fastest-growing categories. The PlayBook tablet will be a seven-inch, more enterprise-focused alternative to Apple's 10-inch, consumer-oriented device.
The PlayBook and iPad launches come as speculation grows that RIM may be preparing to make a dramatic step to gain ground in an area where it lags far behind its competitors - mobile applications. Apple's app store contains more than 400,000 applications, RIM is believed to offer about 20,000 apps for the BlackBerry.
Earlier this year, reports surfaced that RIM was working on a way to allow its PlayBook tablet to run apps originally designed for Google's Android operating system, which powers millions of mobile devices that compete directly with RIM's products.
The BlackBerry-maker has never confirmed such rumours, but speculation intensified after Shopsavvy, a firm that designs apps for Android, said its logs showed somebody had run the Shopsavvy Android app on several BlackBerry models. According to Shopsavvy, the smart phones were located in Waterloo, Ont., where RIM is headquartered.
Should RIM make Android apps accessible on its mobile devices, it would instantly increase the number of apps BlackBerry users can download by about 150,000, and mark a shift from the industry's traditional business model, where apps for one type of smart phone operating system were largely inaccessible on any other.
"As if the whole wireless world wasn't confusing enough," said Deloitte technology analyst Duncan Stewart. "At least before now it was divided into camps."
However, Mr. Stewart added that some developers may welcome such a move, because the process of building different versions of the same software for myriad operating systems can often be frustrating and time-consuming.
Should RIM allow Android apps on its devices, it will likely do so through the use of an emulator - a piece of software that essentially mimics a different operating system, allowing foreign programs to run without compromising the security of the underlying system. Keeping Android apps away from core BlackBerry systems such as encryption will be key if RIM is to retain its reputation for strong, enterprise-grade security.
The potential downside is that emulators sometimes don't run as smoothly as the operating systems they are supposed to mimic, resulting in a worse user experience.
But while RIM is poised for the most significant new product launch in company history, Apple is widely expected to play it safe with the new iteration of the iPad. Already with a commanding lead in the tablet market, Apple will likely introduce a second-generation product with relatively minor improvements, such as a camera and a higher-resolution display, according to several analysts and observers.
But Apple's competitors, including RIM, will be watching Wednesday's iPad 2 announcement closely, in part because Apple's strategy could have huge implications for the rest of the market. For example, should Apple also drop the price on the original iPad, that could put significant pressure on companies such as RIM and Motorola - the latter having just introduced an Android-powered tablet that received positive reviews for almost every feature except its $800 (U.S.) price tag. Apple's iPad 2 release date will also be of importance to RIM, as the two companies will likely manoeuvre to try to steal the public spotlight with the timing of their product launches.