You won't find too many cheerleaders for RIM.

And you certainly won't find many when it comes to bigging up BlackBerry's status as a gaming platform.

But one such is Michael Schade.

Significantly, the CEO of German developer Fishlabs has never owned a BlackBerry phone.

Nor has the company yet released a title on the format; Galaxy on Fire 2 HD will be out for the PlayBook tablet in May.

Ready for liftoff

Nevertheless, he has high hopes for it, and RIM's forthcoming BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

"My CTO likes the platform and tools. My CFO likes the app store and security, and I like the devices," Schade says.

"RIM listens to developers. It has all the ingredients to make this a success. I think BlackBerry 10 could provide the sexiness of iOS with added security."

And this approach makes BlackBerry an ideal platform for Fishlabs' premium high end 3D games. Galaxy on Fire 2 HD will be released at $10, the same price as on Apple's App Store.

The game's two expansions will also be released on BlackBerry App World during the summer, with the second - Supernova - planned as being as being 'a close to simultaneous release' with the iOS version.

Broken robot

Of course, Schade doesn't expect BlackBerry to outgun Apple, but a longtime critic of Android, he does think it can take a solid second place, at least in Fishlabs' heart.

"The paid model just doesn't work on Android," he argues.

"I wouldn't be surprised if BlackBerry App World did up to 50 percent of the revenue we see on App Store."

Galaxy on Fire 2 HD is available for free on Android, but only via specific deals for devices using Nvidia's Tegra chips and Sony's Xperia Play hardware.

"We've had between 500,000 - 1 million downloads on Tegra and Xperia Play, and the support costs are high," Schade reveals, and that's before you get him talking about piracy rates.

"The ratio of support requests on Android compared to iOS is at least 20:1. We couldn't release it for all Android devices," he adds.

Few pillars

In this way, Schade reckons the highly fragmented Android device market is becoming worthless, except for the occasional vertically-integrated stores such as Amazon's Appstore for Android, and potentially Samsung Apps

"An OEM running its own app store is the only way I see Android working as a paid platform," he says.

"And that's why I think there's an opportunity for either RIM, or Nokia/Microsoft, to gain Android users, who will turn their backs on the platform because of the lack of app quality and fears about security."

Tribal gathering

Indeed, given his lack of exposure to RIM, Schade is happy to admit his attendance at BlackBerry World 2012 opened his eyes.

"I've been impressed how passionate BlackBerry fans are," he comments.

"RIM has a strong brand and if only 10 percent of current BlackBerry users upgrade to BlackBerry 10 devices, that over 7 million people."

In contrast, while Windows 8 offers 'exciting PC-to-mobile distribution', Schade says that the platform will have to built its install base up from zero.

"And that's going to be a challenge," he says.