You’d have thought RIM would be entirely focused on building the next generation of BlackBerry phones and persuading the world to embrace the BlackBerry PlayBook but it is also said to be working on a media hub to go head-to-head with the Apple TV.
The latest report comes from a well-connected BlackBerry fansite and follows word of the device, apparently codenamed BlackBerry Cyclone, from a site which previously outed details on the BlackBerry PlayBook long before it became official.
Read on for the details the BlackBerry Cyclone rumour has whipped up in its wake…
N4BB first raised the prospect of an Apple-TV-like device from RIM at the end of last month. it says the same source that tipped it off about the BlackBerry PlayBook describes the BlackBerry Cyclone as similar to the firm’s BlackBerry Presenter device which plugs into a projector or monitor to run PowerPoint presentations from your mobile.
BlackBerry site, Nerdberry, picked up the baton and claims that the BlackBerry Cyclone will hook up to your TV via HDMI and grab movies and TV over your home Wi-Fi connection. It suggests it’ll come wth YouTube and Netflix as standard though, of course, we’re likely to end up with different offerings in the UK.
Like the BlackBerry PlayBook and the rumoured BlackBerry superphone, the BlackBerry Cyclone is said to run the QNX operating system. That’s perfectly plausible given that the OS has previously acted as the brain inside tanks and sports cars, it’s easily up to powering a media streamer.
Launching a media hub that works in tandem with the BlackBerry PlayBook could make sense but RIM is struggling with its core business right now. Let us know in the comments: do you think it should attempt to take on Apple TV and the Boxee Box or would the BlackBerry Cyclone end up as a crazy distraction?
