Huh? RIM looking to hire iOS app developer
The mobile company posts a job listing on LinkedIn looking for an iOS developer with 7 years to 10 years of professional experience.
Hmm. Is Research In Motion (RIM) getting ready to dip its toes into Apple's swimming pool?
RIM posted a LinkedIn job listing seeking a "Senior iOS Mobile Developer." According to the listing, the person will "create exciting enterprise applications for distribution on the iOS platform," and must know how to build and deploy "complex applications for iPhone and iPad devices." The candidate must also come with a few apps they've developed and brought to the App Store.
There was a time when RIM wouldn't even consider bringing applications to another operating system. But as its mobile market share has slid, it has realized that in order to survive, it needs to at least start playing nice with other platforms. In November, RIM announced BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, an offering designed to provide mobile device management services to companies using iOS and Android.
RIM, which had the enterprise market cornered for years, has watched its influence in that space wane. The enterprise today is dominated by so-called consumerization, or the influx of consumer products into the office. That consumerization has helped devices like Apple's iPhone, but hurt old corporate favorites like the BlackBerry.
The big question, though, is what does RIM have planned for iOS? RIM has not made its plans public and the company did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.
(Via All Things Digital)
Update, 5:52 p.m. PT: All Things Digital said in a subsequent report that it had received the following statement from RIM, which does indeed point to Mobile Fusion: "In order for BlackBerry Mobile Fusion to perform advanced management functions for iOS devices, RIM will develop an on device client to be included as part of the overall solution."