If there was any doubt that RIM would hit the ground running this year with BlackBerry 10, the company has just dispelled it. The company’s CMO Frank Boulben has confirmed at CES 2013 that at least six new smartphones will be launched this year with the new OS on board.
The Canadian company will officially unveil BlackBerry 10 and most likely some new phones, on January 30th at an event in New York City. The new software is a massive deal for RIM after seeing sales and market share drop in recent years, and so the company will host simultaneous events in London, Paris, Johannesburg, Toronto and Dubai for a worldwide launch.
“We intend over time as we transition the portfolio to have a full range of devices,” the company’s CMO Frank Boulben told FierceWireless at CES 2013. The company will kickstart its new BlackBerry 10 range with two phones – a full touch device and a phone with a traditional BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard, known currently as the Z10 and X10.
The company currently has no exclusive deals with networks anywhere in the world, but according to Mr Boulben it will be looking to have a full range of devices to suit everyone’s needs. Unfortunately for now we don’t have information on any models other than the Z10 and X10, but we can envision cheaper non-touchscreen models coming out to emulate or continue the popular Curve range.
In the UK we know that O2, Vodafone, EE and Three are all on board to stock BlackBerry 10, and with 150 networks around the world currently testing RIM’s new phones and software, it looks as though BlackBerry 10 will be everywhere this year. In the US we are expecting Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T to carry new models.
RIM plans to have over 70,000 apps available in its App World at the launch of BlackBerry 10, and has been encouraging developers to create new content for the past year or so in order to ensure there’s plenty on offer for early adopters.