Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) founder and former co-CEO Mike Lazaridis reflects at the two decades of telecom revolution after BlackBerry Q10 hits the market. Lazaridis talks to Bill Frezza of Forbes who first met Mike Lazaridis while working for Ericsson in 1991. Bill says Mike’s vision has always amazed him.
When asked about the evolution from “Can you hear me now?” to the incredible sound quality of calls in BlackBerry Q10, Lazaridis said that Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) made the right decision by acquiring QNX and making it an integral part of the BB10 operating system. That provided powerful voice codecs. It does require more bandwidth, but that’s not a problem with 4G LTE.
Lazaridis Prefers Keyboard Over Touchscreen
Lazaridis still defends the use of keyboards, though the world is shifting to touchscreen devices. He says that the idea behind keyboards is that users can type quickly, and without looking at the device. The same is not possible on a touchscreen. Lazaridis has been obsessed with perfecting the thumb keyboard for over two decades. Now he says Q10 has the best keyboard Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has ever made. Lazaridis said BlackBerry is a professional instrument that people can use to express themselves and capture the moment.
Mike Lazaridis isn’t nervous about moving all the controls to the touchscreen. He said touchscreen does offer the benefit of providing the whole screen as a selection point. But the problem comes when separating navigation from selection.
Research In Motion Ltd (BBRY) Loyalists
Talking about the loyalty of BlackBerry users, Lazaridis says Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) aims to satisfy the communication needs to a mobile professional. That’s a group of customers who are highly demanding about reliability, security, speed of use and administration. And these customers don’t mind paying higher prices. There are several companies that are “good enough”. But good enough doesn’t make it when it comes to security. BlackBerry loyalists are all over the world, says Mike Lazaridis. And they are most likely to stay with Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB).
What’s the vision of Mike Lazaridis for a communication device in 2033? He says by then devices will be loaded with quantum sensors and quantum processors. They will be so powerful that a user can have verbal communications with the device and it will talk back. The sensors in the future mobile phones will be aware of your bodily conditions, your surroundings and the environment around you.
If his vision turns out to be true, that will be amazing!
