Blackberry 10 To Hand Out Licensing Rights In The ‘Near Future’

Research in Motion CEO Thorsten Heins is preparing his company’s Blackberry 10 mobile OS for licensing rights.

The CEO say down with Bloomberg on Tuesday and revealed the company’s plans to license the current version of the systems backbone known as QNX. That platform features the architecture behind BlackBerry 10 and has been used by the automotive industry, nuclear plants and even in military drones.

Based on its extensive licensing agreements for QNX Thorsten says the company can easily make the system available to developers and manufacturers as it sees fit.

Even if Blackberry’s new mobile OS is not directly licensed it could lead to new manufacturing partnerships. For example RIM could partner with Samsung to create its next generation BlackBerry device. RIM devices have traditionally been bulky with less than stellar features, by handing the manufacturing process and design aspects over to other device manufacturers the company could turn from a hardware manufacturer into a competent mobile software developer with an impressive line of devices running its systems.

RIM could also benefit by licensing its technology to mobile handset manufacturers in developing markets. Instead of focusing on enterprise based smartphones those company’s tend to offer less expensive models.

RIM stock jumped 13% on Tuesday following speculation that Samsung may license the mobile OS.

The mobile manufacturer pushed back the BB10 platform into early 2013 and it is believed they are currently testing the final stages of the mobile OS.

When asked if RIM can compete against the likes of Apple’s iOS platform and Google Android he told Bloomberg:

“We’re here to win. We’re not here to fight for third or fourth place.”

Do you think licensing Blackberry 10 is a smart move on Research in Motions part?