It's a matter of months since RIM was openly pitching the release of BlackBerry 6 OS as the answer to all the company's woes.

Its goal was clear: bring BlackBerry handsets in line with the kind of functionality iPhone and Android users currently enjoy.

Whether, therefore, RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis' assertion that the PlayBook bound BlackBerry Tablet OS will cross over to the firm's smartphones over the course of the next decade is a sign BlackBerry handsets are still some way behind the curve is a matter of conjecture.

What is certain, however, is that RIM is confident enough in the QNX designed platform to spread it across its entire range.

Time for tablets

"This is a complete mobile computing platform," Lazaridis said of the BlackBerry Tablet OS at the Dive Into Mobile conference.

"All of this is coming together to set up BlackBerry for the next decade."

As soon as RIM's smartphones include multi-core processors, he claims, so they'll also run the PlayBook OS.

It appears RIM's plan is to equip its phones at the bleeding edge with the tablet OS, with older handsets pitched at emerging markets running BlackBerry OS.

Switching strategies

Just when such a crossover will take place is uncertain, however.

Lazaridis' comments – detailed by All Things Digital – suggest no set strategy currently exists, the RIM man instead claiming employing the PlayBook OS in its high-end smartphones is just part of the natural evolution of the company's business.

"[BlackBerry 6] really is the foundation of us going forward on the BlackBerry," he concluded.

As for the PlayBook itself, Lazaridis confirmed that the current 7-inch model – still on track for a Q1 2011 release – will eventually form just one of an entire range, RIM working on different sized devices to reach a range of different consumers.

[source: Apple Insider]