Is the world ready for a smartwatch with a full physical QWERTY keyboard? Probably not but that’s the first thing that popped into our heads when we read this report from Computerworld in which John Sims, president of BlackBerry enterprise solutions, says that the company is doing research into wearable computers. However, from the sound of his comments, it seems that BlackBerry is only looking for a way to bring BBM to wearable computers such as smartwatches and smart glasses.
“We’re doing internal research on different wearables,” Sims said. “I would love to have…BBM on a wearable. It’s definitely an area of research for us.”
While some BlackBerry diehards might love the idea of a BlackBerry watch, it would probably not be wise for the company to create its own smartwatch at this time since smartwatches really haven’t proven themselves to be a desired product just yet. Although there’s been some interest in watches such as the Moto 360 and the just-announced Apple Watch, we’ve seen nothing so far to indicate that these devices will be significantly disruptive to smartphones.
That said, it’s good to see BlackBerry thinking ahead to extending its reach further into the mobile world, as BBM does sound like it would be a strong candidate to be a good smartwatch app.
