Are tablets just a fad? With customers queuing up to buy a new BlackBerry at Selfridges, the exclusive launch partner for the Q10 device, it was a peculiar moment for Mr Heins to say something so apparently ridiculous. Bloggers asked whether he might not be better off focusing on predicting the demise of his own troubled BlackBerry, and maybe doing something about it, rather than misjudging the industry that has powered Apple and Samsung to new heights. His theory, however, is not perhaps as outlandish as it might seem. BlackBerry's vision is to play a key role in the development of what it calls "portable computing." A small, portable device such as a phone will act as the brain for a growing number of electronic, internet-connected devices. As a phone is so small that it can always be carried with you, and provides crucial personal communication, it makes sense to predict that such a device will persist. But Mr Heins is not the first to posit that any other size of touchscreen device will become a pure screen, connected wirelessly to the internet, often via what is a supercharged smartphone. BlackBerry, of course, has made a tablet itself: The PlayBook, introduced in 2011, was panned by critics for debuting without built-in e-mail, delivering the tablet a near-fatal blow. BlackBerry took a $485 million charge later that year to write down unsold inventory after shipping as few as 150,000 PlayBooks in the third quarter of 2012. Mr Heins said in January that he would only consider a PlayBook successor if it can be profitable, and reiterated yesterday that a BlackBerry tablet has to offer a unique proposition in a crowded market. "In five years, I see BlackBerry to be the absolute leader in mobile computing - that's what we're aiming for," Heins said, empahsising the importance of phones over tablets. I want to gain as much market share as I can, but not by being a copycat. BlackBerry stock has increased 32 per cent this year on speculation that its new, reinvented products can help fuel a comeback. Over the same time, Apple's have fallen by some 40 per cent. The iPhone-maker remains the far bigger business, of course - but BlackBerry's vision may not be one to write off just because it sounds silly.