Remember that time when Research in Motion’s BlackBerry operating system was considered the leader in the smartphone world? In fact, they are known as the pioneer of the movement – an unstoppable force in the market. That all changed pretty quickly with the development and introduction of withstanding brands such as Apple and Android.
Research in Motion (RIM) has been at the fringe of the continuing flourish of the smartphone, but they are ending the cold streak with announcing that BlackBerry 10 will be released January 30, 2013. This date is a little pushed back from the initial late 2012 schedule, but RIM is hoping to put the push to their advantage. According to CNet, RIM had said that they were hopeful that the other big guns in the mobile industry would wear themselves out during the holiday season rat race and allowing BlackBerry 10 to infiltrate the market. The company has plenty of reasons to be happy, as the yet-released system is already experiencing a lot of welcome and promise.
CNet also said that BlackBerry 10 is currently in the middle of testing by fifty carriers all over the world. A big part of RIM’s release strategy is to make it global – thereby bring the brand back into the minds of people all over – not just in the big markets. So what do we know about BlackBerry 10 so far? Information has been pretty steep, but some people are luckily talking to give an idea of what is happening. Does RIM have many reasons to be as confident as they are about 10? Let’s uncover the scoop thus far.
1.Apps Available:
BlackBerry 10 is believed to have roughly 100,000 apps available for its platform, according to RIM CEO Thorsten Heins. He said that the company is focusing more on quality and not so much on quantity. This is certainly a believable statement given how there are significantly less apps available from RIM as compared to bigger offering from Android and Apple. Consider the fact that there are over 700,00 apps available on their platform – the difference is quite drastic. RIM will certainly have to sell their apps as superior in performance as compared to others if they want to win over.
2.BlackBerry Keyboard:
While you might assume that the “keyboard” is simply their normal non-touch screen keyboard (which the new phones should have), Keyboard sounds to be pretty helpful for typists. According to Business Insider, Keyboard will be able to adapt to the way that a person types, and over time the device should allow them to be able to type faster. This will certainly win over the hearts of frustrated iOS users and all of the AutoCorrect scuffles there have been for years now.
3.Enterprise Focused:
RIM really seems to be pushing the branding opportunity to paint BlackBerry 10 as a platform for the serious user – keeping it geared towards enterprise measures. The company had said that BlackBerry has a history of being for people who are heavy multi-taskers, trying to meet deadlines for work and such. It could be then that BlackBerry 10 is going to trim a lot of the fat that many could see in iOS or Android development. It looks to be a “no messing around” platform. I’m not ready to say whether this could help or hurt the company, but demand will tell us soon.
