Well, with 2012 closing its doors it’s onto another new year and a host of technology to follow, and first on the list is the BlackBerry 10 release and reveal, which has just been made official thanks to RIM inviting everyone to its global launch on the 30th of January.
Not happy with just one event, RIM has actually set in motion six events spanning the globe all set for the January 30th launch day. Events will take place in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Johannesburg and Dubai, for all of which invites are being sent to press as we speak.
Many consider the BB 10 OS and phones to be RIM’s final attempt at “getting back on the horse” as the manufacturer has struggled in the past few years with a decrease in popularity and strong competition from Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android OS.
We already know that RIM will be officially launching the brand new BlackBerry 10 operating system plus two new BlackBerry smartphones; one of which is a candybar full touchscreen device and the other is a classic QWERTY keyboard sporting smartphone with a smaller touchscreen.
Developer units for both devices have been circling for some time now with RIM trying to get as many developers and app companies to make new and updated apps for the OS so that they can launch on the January 30th.
Other than the OS little is known about what the handsets will run be like come launch, but they will have to be pretty high spec to keep up with the current Android, Windows Phone and iOS devices.
A leaked internal email sent to Vodafone UK employees on Monday was intercepted (thanks to Nerdberry.net) and it states that Vodafone UK is expected to “offer the new BlackBerry 10 when it launches on 30 Jan 2013”, so that’s one of the major networks immediately on-board.
It’s going to be tough for the BlackBerry brand to claw its way back but there are still enough loyal fans to get this started and then it’s up to RIM to make the new phones more desirable.