RIM is now BlackBerry, and it has two new phones it wants you to buy. Please?
Research in Motion is now BlackBerry.
That’s the big news out of Canadian company’s announcement today. Oh, and RIM — er, BlackBerry — also showed off its new 10 series: the BlackBerry Z10, which has a touch-screen interface, and the Blackberry Q10, which combines a physical keyboard with a more minuscule touch screen (dainty, really). They were hardly a surprise, as they’ve been buzzed about for months in the industry due to earlier repeated failures to launch.
As for the phones? The company’s chief executive Thorsten Heins brandished the two handsets and crowed, like Moses on the mountaintop, “Today represents a new day in the history of BlackBerry. These BlackBerry 10 devices are absolutely the best typing experiences in the industry.” (Yes, Thor, but how are they at Angry Birds?)
There are some intriguing features in the BlackBerry’s new software, including the ability to swipe to your email from any application and something called BlackBerry Balance, which might not be a bad name for a laxative if the phones tank. Anyhow, the Balance feature allows you to keep your work info separate from your personal, which comes in handy for things like grocery lists and porn.
Once an industry leader, BlackBerry has plummeted over the years and now only holds a 4.6 percent share of the global mobile phone market. It hopes to snatch its former glory — or at least a tiny percentile of it — back from Apple and Android, who currently dominate. Can it be done? Time will tell. Still, time seems to be something BlackBerry isn’t too terribly concerned about, as we’ll have to wait until March for the handsets go on sale in the U.S. The phones will be carried by Sprint, AT&T and Verizon; none have named pricing. Let the price wars commence!
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