I just kind of assumed that the upcoming tablet by BlackBerry maker Research in Motion — which the company is reportedly calling a BlackPad — might actually, you know, run some version of the BlackBerry OS. But according to Bloomberg that’s not the case.

When RIM bought QNX back in April, TechCrunch theorized that the venerable BlackBerry might be reading a play for tighter automobile integration.

Sorry Crunchies. Alec Saunders called this one dead on point -- and on the day of the announcement.

Sure, he had the advantage of having served in ONX's upper management a decade previous, but I think you have to hand it to this guy. Here's his pitch for QNX as a mobile platform:

For those who don’t know QNX, it’s a micro-kernel based operating system with a sophisticated graphical user interface, a modern POSIX-based tool-chain, and a fully distributable architecture. In layman’s terms, that means it’s more stable than LINUX, runs in less memory than any of LINUX, OS X, or Windows – even the embedded versions, pretty to look at for users, and easy to develop software for using skills that are relatively common in the industry. Oh, and did I mention that it sports a touch screen UI, and a fully integrated flash development environment?

I'm definitely reaching for this conclusion, but I honestly don't think I'm reaching too far.

Blackberry OS hasn't just fallen ill -- Version 6 is no exception -- it's about to have life support yanked. RIM is already picking out hymns, calling the funeral parlors and buying pretty dresses for wife number two.

So quarterback; Is this RIM's game-winning Hail Mary, or a desperate attempt at a two-point conversion?