BlackBerry CEO expects tablets to be obsolete in 5 years

Desktop computers appear to be dying, but BlackBerry Chief Executive Thorsten Heins says he thinks tablets will die soon too.

Heins said he believes tablet computers will become obsolete in five years, and as such, BlackBerry has no plans to enter the business again.

“This is your one and only computing power that you will carry with you,” said Heins, holding up one of BlackBerry’s new smartphones.

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Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills on Monday afternoon, Heins said he recently returned his laptop to BlackBerry’s information technology department and now uses only his smartphone and tablet. However, he believes that pretty soon he’ll need only the smartphone.

As evidence, Heins said that some of his customers in parts of Africa and Asia, markets he says are responsible for keeping BlackBerry alive, already use smartphones to run micro-businesses.

“They’re actually closer to mobile computing than we are,” he said.

Heins said BlackBerry has no plans to follow up on the unsuccessful PlayBook tablet it released two years ago. Instead, he said, the company is gunning to be the “absolute leader” in the mobile market within five years.

To do that, Heins said, BlackBerry will continue to focus on the enterprise market and build secure, high-end smartphones that make it easy to type. Heins made it clear that his company is aiming to break the duopoly currently held by Apple and Samsung.

“I want to get as much market share as I can,” he said.

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