On paper, an arrangement like this would make a lot of sense for BlackBerry. As Microsoft has proven, there is an awful lot of money in software licensing, with very few costs and risks compared to hardware development. BlackBerry already has a similar arrangement for its QNX-based software. QNX has low hardware requirements compared to other operating systems, making it suited for infotainment systems and other embedded systems that typically use older hardware. BlackBerry builds and manages the lower parts of the operating system, while vendors control the user interface. This gives vendors a distinct brand identity while also making sure the system is viable and secure. When we get robust theming control built-in to Android, it's not hard to manage a similar arrangement could work for smartphones that use Blackberry Secure.