But anyhow, the point I wanted to make was that part of the whole reason RIM switched to using Java in the late 90′s was to make it easier to switch the underlying hardware (the other reason was for better security and memory management) and they’ve already gone through the exercise of porting the BB platform to different devices… so getting BB apps to run on a QNX base isn’t nearly as difficult as some people think it would be…

I think you’ve got the whole BlackBerry Built-In confused with something else. BlackBerry Built-In was a way for device manufacturers to license the BlackBerry OS and build a device around it. Essentially they licenses the code then built their own BlackBerry devices. They would get the security, apps and capabilities found in any BlackBerry plus have the ability to do their own hardware and enhance the Device Software with their own apps. I don’t think they ever licensed it to anyone.

What you’re thinking of is the “BlackBerry Application Suite” – it was a BlackBerry runtime environment that allowed Windows Mobile users to click an icon and have the full BlackBerry OS launch within Windows Mobile. I was at RIM when this was announced and I think only one carrier (none in the US) launched it. It was interesting, but I never understood the value of it. It would allow a Windows Mobile user to have their own personal stuff on the device, then switch into the BlackBerry VM in order to do corporate stuff. The corporation gets the security, reliability and so on, while the user is able to carry around their cool, fat, heavy and buggy Windows Mobile device.