Research In Motion Ltd (BBRY): A MegaPhone Coming?

Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) has been holding its BlackBerry Live conference in central Florida this week. This has been a three-day lovefest for BlackBerry and its products and services, and this year it has seemingly taken on a whole new sense of energy with the attempted comeback by BlackBerry this year  thanks to its new BlackBerry 10 operating system and the Z10 and Q10 handsets that are making their way into markets around the world – with the Q10 slated to hit Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) sometime this summer to complete the near-blanket coverage of the U.S. market.

With much of the buzz surrounding the new, cheaper handset called the Q5 and the latest service announcement that BlackBerry Messenger would be available on iOS and Android devices in the very near future – a move that may help Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) with its loyalty by helping BlackBerry users keep in touch with their friends and colleagues who are  among the large percentage of non-BlackBerry users – there has been some buzz surrounding something that hasn’t yet been talked about publicly.

Remember when Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) CEO Thorsten Heins said a couple weeks ago – and got heavily mocked – that tablets wouldn’t be around as we know them in five years’ time? Remember when he said that during a time when tablet shipments were exploding?

Well, in the face of that talk, there have been some lingering whispers about BlackBerry upgrading its much-maligned Playbook to include the BB10 OS, or the company coming out with its own megaPhone that would run the new OS and would be comparable with the Samsung Galaxy S4.

While no one from Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) has been talking about the concept publicly – though one would think that BlackBerry Live would be the perfect opportunity – there have been rumors that Heins  talked about a megaPhone or tablet-like device being in the works, though the two anonymous analysts were bound by an NDA to mention definitively. They could only say at this point they did not expect such a device, if it exists, to hit store shelves this year. Whether a new iPhone or some other megaPhone launch will change that timetable in the meantime remains to be seen.

What do you think? Should Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) get into the megaPhone race now before the market gets clogged, or should it stay out of it until it can secure market share in the smartphone arena? Please give us your feedback in the comments below.

DISCLOSURE: None