BlackBerry 10 first devices reported not until March then June
We’ve been documenting the progress of the new upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system that is due to be launched at an event on January 30th next year. RIM is pretty much relying on the success of BlackBerry 10 and the devices running on it to turnaround its woes and revive the company so there’s a lot of pressure to get BB10 exactly right. We had hoped the first devices launched on BB10 might come in February, right after the unveiling but it seems we’ll have to wait until March and then June for the first QWERTY handset.
When we first informed readers about the BlackBerry10 launch event at the end of January 2013 we also told how two new BlackBerry smartphones were expected to be unveiled along with release dates. Many may have expected the first phone to be released very shortly after the event, or even released simultaneously at the event, but it seems it’s not even coming in February. Instead it will not be until several weeks later in March that it will release to the waiting public.
RIM CEO Thorsten Heins had already confirmed the first devices using BlackBerry 10 would release “not too long after” the unveiling of BB10 itself. Now a brokerage firm based in Boston, Detwiler Fenton, says that the initial device to release running BB10 will come in March, followed by another device release in June, several months later, according to Forbes.
Detwiler Fenton also say in the note to clients that the first device release will be available on AT&T and T-Mobile in March followed in May by Verizon and Sprint. The second device that may not launch until June will have a full QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen. The firm also states that because the first BB10 handsets will be high-end devices they will not appeal to emerging markets and so predict shipments of around 400,000 BB10 devices in the February quarter going up to 2.2 to 2.5 million units in the May quarter.
It’s interesting to note though that BGR reports reliable sources have informed them that the QWERTY BB10 device will launch much sooner than the June timeframe that Detwiler Fenton details. Also RIM’s response to BGR when questioned about the Detwiler Fenton note was to say that the first device would arrive shortly after the BB10 unveiling while the device with the physical keyboard would arrive “shortly after that” so it really depends on how long you imagine that “shortly” signifies as to what guess you put on a release date. While we’re waiting you may also be interested in a Faceflow app coming to BB10 and also a look at a BB10 camera.
Are you waiting for BlackBerry 10 and the devices that will run it? Do you think it will be enough to revive RIM’s ailing fortunes or is that asking too much from an operating system? Send your comments to let us now.
Comments
4 thoughts on “BlackBerry 10 first devices reported not until March then June”
If you’re going to go off an analyst with no history of actually following RIM than you may as well make stuff up. An official release from RIM on this story has already been posted to about a dozen websites. Maybe you should actually do some research and not just print false headlines.
RIM is playing it safe and it can afford doing so because android with various devices and OS with iPhone are so predictable while windows 8 on HTC, Samsung and Nokia – while being a worthy sytem-is not as WOW! as first predicted. RIM appears to have done its numbers and is currently serving its markets sufficiently with existing devices. But RIM is testing the patience of existing customers looking to upgrade. These leaks about the new blackberry 10 are now becoming annoying and have lost their appeal as tasters. Personally, I believe, RIM should stop these leaks and just do what it has to do come January next year at the launch event. My contract is due for upgrade next summer so I will still stick with the BB bold 9900 which serves me very well. Hopefully the new BB10 will have been on the market long enough from January or March to see how the two devices – non physical and physical keyboard – perform in the markets. Good article.
RIM is playing it safe and it can afford doing so because android with various devices and OS with iPhone are so predictable while windows 8 on HTC, Samsung and Nokia – while being a worthy sytem-is not as WOW! as first predicted. RIM appears to have done its numbers and is currently serving its markets sufficiently with existing devices. But RIM is testing the patience of existing customers looking to upgrade. These leaks about the new blackberry 10 are now becoming annoying and have lost their appeal as tasters. Personally, I believe, RIM should stop these leaks and just do what it has to do come January next year at the launch event. My contract is due for upgrade next summer so I will still stick with the BB bold 9900 which serves me very well. Hopefully the new BB10 will have been on the market long enough from January or March to see how the two devices – non physical and physical keyboard – perform in the markets. Good article.
It is amazing how people make stuff up. Don’t believe everything that you read. The shorts just want to buy back their shorted shares, but misleading stories will not help the share price to go down, because this one is heading all the way up.