RIM pinches Windows Phone's People Hub concept for BlackBerry 10's contacts list
August 19, 2012 at 15:09 GMT | By Darlington Moyo
RIM claims BlackBerry 10 is going to be an innovative and cutting edge OS yet it appears they are already doing a Google (innovating by stealing). Information revealed by RIM last week shows that the Canadian based manufacturer will be "borrowing" a concept for a unified contacts listing that is found in the Windows Phone People Hub. Contacts in BlackBerry 10 will include the name, phone number and email address, etc. Users will also be able to read the individual's latest tweets, Facebook status, blogs and more.
The new contact management feature will be available on RIM's next generation of smartphones that are set to launch early next year. "BlackBerry has always had this heritage of productivity. We are just going to make it better yet again, when we launch BB10," said T.A. McCann, who is spearheading the development of the contacts and BlackBerry Messenger applications for the new platform.
Does the "innovative" idea sound familiar? Of course it does! Windows Phone's People Hub has a similar expanded contacts listing. When you hit the People tile, you see all your contacts' latest Facebook posts, tweets and Windows Live status updates. If you go ahead to choose a particular contact, you are met with even more information pulled up from the person Facebook, Windows Live and Twitter accounts. You can even send an email, chat on Windows Live Messenger/ Facebook IM or even write on the contact's Facebook wall on the person's listing. Swiping to the right brings more information such as the particular contact's social media activity in one page, pictures and recent call/messaging history. RIM will need to do more than copy Windows Phone if they want to catch up. We aren't even sure if they are going to do a good job replicating the People Hub.
With Samsung already disclosing that they rejected RIM's advances on being a BB10 OEM and given how RIM's market share is currently plummeting, one can only say the writing is on the wall...
VIA: Phone Arena
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Darlington is a self-confessed smartphone junkie. Some are convinced he has a Microsoft tatoo hidden somewhere on his body. When he is not writing about Windows Phone, he is reading about it. Current device » Nokia Lumia 920. Xbox Gamertag » MthOmnia - Add me