Many assumed—rightly so—that RIM would be using some form of OS 6.0 on its upcoming "BlackPad" tablet, but the word on the town is that they'll actually be using a completely new tablet platform, based on QNX's microkernel-based OS, which they acquired from Harman International back in April.

Added to that is the concern that the BlackPad would need to be tethered to a mobile device or Wi-Fi, as it wouldn't feature integrated 3G. While I'm very intrigued by the tablet (being a BlackBerry user), I do worry that the slated November launch might be rushed. We all saw what happened with the original Storm. [Bloomberg via Electronista]