Saunders says the BBX platform will be both backward and forward compatible, meaning that any application you develop for it will work on both previous versions of the BlackBerry OS and future versions of BBX. This could be key at a time when rival operating system Android has also started to unify its many platforms into a cohesive whole that works the same way on both tablets and smartphones.

"BBX is a next-generation mobile operating system," he says. "It's like when Apple first came out with iOS and that was the first big successful smartphone operating system. It was like the transition from Model T cars to the models that GM first brought out."

Another BBX key feature is its Cascades graphics platform that can help graphic designers improve an application's user interface without the aid of software developers. Essentially, the graphics platform takes lists of data that have already been programmed into the applications - for the sake of simplicity, let's say a group of pictures - and allows graphic designers to rearrange them in different formats and patterns without extensive knowledge of programming language.

"People who are really good designers can now program a great UI and can do it without having to get programmers involved in the same way," Saunders explains.

And finally, RIM wants developers to utilize BlackBerry Messenger more to help make their apps more interactive. Saunders notes that while there are currently only 200 apps on App World that are connected with BlackBerry Messenger, those apps represent around "10% of downloads in a given month." Saunders says the primary virtue of BlackBerry Messenger is its ability to quickly and easily send information to other users. For instance, he notes that FourSquare has happily embraced BlackBerry Messenger as a mechanism for its users to send around their location data with ease.