Blackberry CEO Says Tablets Will Be Dead In 5 Years!?

I’m not sure what the CEO of BlackBerry  is smoking these days but he certainly has some interesting predictions about the future of the mobile industry that I just can’t quite wrap my head around. Stating, without a doubt that Tablets will be dead in five years time.

As many of you will know, BlackBerry haven’t got the strongest portfolio behind them as it is and their recent detachment from the Tablet business is one that comes with the ideal that they would be flogging a dead horse. Thorsten Heins believes that even while Samsung, Amazon, Google, Apple and countless others have built a significant tablet business over the last few years, that is no indication that the industry will last. Of course there is a chance that he might be right but for the time being the mobile industry is seeing steady growth as it has for quite some time now, this includes tablets.

This could of course be a case of jealousy as the BlackBerry PlayBook didn’t exactly get off to a good start in the market and an excess of unsold inventory caused a $485 million loss for BlackBerry in 2011, which is why BlackBerry have left tablets alone and are now hedging their bets on their new mobile devices and platform.

Either way it looks like BlackBerry are wanting a more focused pieces of the smartphone market and with the rise of “larger” smartphones taking up more of the market, maybe tablets could die off in popularity but on the other hand BlackBerry could be missing out on one of the best parts of the industry by dismissing what is in my opinion, the only good thing they ever made, the PlayBook.

What are your thoughts on BlackBerry, not just their business, but also their devices? They obviously have a unique product range to a certain extent, so maybe that gives them a unique perspective on the industry that giant like Samsung and Apple just don’t see.