July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

BlackBerry has always been primarily known as a smartphone for the workplace, but it has lost that status in recent years as iPhone and Android have steadily gained ground in enterprises. But that doesn’t mean BlackBerry won’t keep vying for attention in the workplace.

And so today it has launched Enterprise Service 10.1, which updates its flagship enterprise software that smartly secures BlackBerry, iOS, and Android devices.

“We have been doing it longer and better than anyone else in the industry,” BlackBerry COO Kristian Tear (pictured) said on stage today at the BlackBerry Live conference. “BlackBerry has security baked in from the ground up. We start thinking about it all the way back to our supply chain.”

Enterprise Service 10.1 will add better security, more IT policy options, a simplified deployment process, a new dashboard with more info on all devices in the fleet, and no cost BlackBerry support. The update will be free for all customers who already use the BlackBerry Enterprise Service.

Tear also emphasized the inclusion of BlackBerry Balance software — which creates separate profiles for business and personal — inside the BlackBerry 10 OS.

“How many people carry two devices?” Tear asked the audience. When many people raised their hands, he responded, “That is simply not needed with BlackBerry 10.”

BlackBerry also used its time on stage today to introduce the budget Q5 smartphone, which includes a keyboard and is targeting emerging markets.

Screenshot via Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

It’s been five months since BlackBerry changed its name and launched its first BlackBerry 10 smartphones, the Z10 and Q10. Today the company is holding its annual BlackBerry Live conference (formerly called BlackBerry World) in Orlando (yes, the day before Google’s I/O developer conference begins).

Proving that BlackBerry is targeting all markets, Heins announced the company’s first budget BlackBerry 10 device, the Q5. It’ll come in red, white, black, and pink, and Heins describes it as a device “built for emerging markets.” It looks like a colorful version of the company’s previous BlackBerry Curve line.

The Q5 will launch globally this summer, but no pricing was announced. (Expect it to be cheap, obviously.)

“Some of you said last year would be the last conference for BlackBerry. I’m happy to say, they were wrong,” said BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins on stage at the event. “We are not only still here, we are firing on all cylinders as a company… We’re definitely in the race. In one year, we’ve brought this company to a profitable quarter.”

BlackBerry needs all the help it can get. I loathed the Z10, which was so half-baked it felt like a device the company should have released two years ago. The keyboard equipped Q10 seemed like a better fit for the company’s audience, but it wasn’t released until several months after the Z10.

“We will show the world that Blackberry understands mobile better than anyone else … it is in our DNA,” Heins said. “BlackBerry 10 as a platform is built for mobile.”

BlackBerry now has more than 120,000 apps in its app store, and it’s getting popular apps like Skype with the recent BlackBerry 10.1 update. The company also lets developers easily run Android apps on BlackBerry 10, so it’ll be interesting to see just how many of those apps are actually from Google’s platform.

Taking the term “mobile computing” a bit literally, BlackBerry also showed off a concept Bentley vehicle powered entirely by QNX, the operating system at the core of BlackBerry 10. Heins showed off two-way video calling with full stereo sound, which also took advantage of the car’s large touchscreen display.

For a more real-world view of what QNX can do, Heins was join on stage by Johann Jungwirth, the CEO of Mercedes Benz’s North American R&D group. Jungwirth pointed out that QNX is already being used in some Mercedes cars. “All of the cars we are bringing to market now are connected and have the ability to be ‘always on,’” he said.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

It’s too soon to write off the company formerly known as Research In Motion completely: BlackBerry chief executive Thorsten Heins said the company expects to sell “tens of millions” of its new BlackBerry Q10, according to Bloomberg.

Heins spoke with Bloomberg Television during the Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles. His sales prediction is pretty ambitious given than the Q10 — the first major smartphone in recent memory to have a physical keyboard — only started shipping a few days ago.

The BlackBerry Q10 received pretty good reviews, although its BlackBerry 10 operating system is a bit of a gamble for the company, since it’s brand new and there’s still a very small number of apps available for it. In our review, the BlackBerry Z10, which shipped in February and which also runs BlackBerry 10, looked promising, but its charms faded quickly thanks to the new OS.

“We have very, very good first signs already after the launch in the U.K.,” Heins told Bloomberg. “This is going into the installed base of more than 70 million BlackBerry users, so we have quite some expectations. We expect several tens of million of units.”

Confidence is all that Wall Street needed to send BlackBerry stock up nearly 4 percent to close the day at $15.61, its highest level since March 21.

Photo credit (with Q10 on the right, Z10 on the left): Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

That’s an 11 percent increase in downloads from the end of 2012, according to Canalys’s latest App Interrogator Report, and a 9 percent jump in revenues. Which makes sense, given that we spend 80 percent of our time on mobile phones in apps. And while North America is seeing fairly healthy growth, with an 8 percent increase in downloads and an 6 percent increase in revenue, it’s not the most happening place for mobile.

“Some of the strongest growth was seen in emerging markets, such as South Africa, Brazil and Indonesia, helped not least by the growing base of smart device users in those countries,” the company said in a statement.

Asia, of course, is a mobile powerhouse, with China purchasing more new smartphones than the U.S., but Indonesia has a fast-growing population of 250 million and is seeing increasing smartphone penetration.

So what about non-Google and non-Apple apps markets?

‘The Apple-Google duopoly creates certain challenges for app publishers, carriers, investors, and device vendors, so there is intense interest in the possible emergence of a third ecosystem,’ said Adam Daum, Canalys’s chief analyst in a very tactfully worded statement.

BlackBerry has now hit 100,000 apps for its latest operating system, and Windows Phone has made good progress as well, Canalys says. But both are still challenged by a relative lack of market penetration that will drive the kind of developer interesting that has resulted in “there’s an app for that” being true on both Android and iOS.

“Apple’s App Store and Google Play remain the heavyweights in the app store world. In comparison, BlackBerry World and the Windows Phone Store remain distant challengers today, though they still should not be ignored,” said Tim Shepherd, Canalys Senior Analyst.

photo credit: Rick McCharles via photopin cc

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Have you been considering the new BlackBerry Z10 but aren’t sure what to think about the still-fresh BlackBerry 10 operating system? If you’re an iPhone or Android owner, now you can try out BB 10 in your mobile browser.

It’s a relatively simple demo that gives you a chance to try out the interface, predictive keyboard, BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry Hub, and other programs inside BB 10. The demo isn’t fluid, but it does at least give you a sense of what it’s like to use the Z10.

In our own review of the BlackBerry Z10, we didn’t give the phone high marks because it features a crummy app selection, limited functionality, and instability. But perhaps you’ll have a different opinion?

To access the demo on your iPhone or Android phone, just point your mobile browser to BlackBerry.com/glimpse.

Screenshots via Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Well look at that, BlackBerry is on the rebound.

BlackBerry shipped 6 million smartphones during the fourth quarter of 2013, 1 million of which were newer BlackBerry 10 devices, the company announced this morning. Those shipments are slightly lower than what analysts expected (7 million units overall, 1.1 million of which were BB10), but they were enough to help BlackBerry generate a healthy profit of $94 million on revenues of $2.7 billion.

That’s a big leap from the mere $19 million profit the company made last quarter (and even that was mostly due to a hefty tax settlement).

Despite the good news, BlackBerry also revealed that it has 76 million subscribers, down from 79 million last quarter. That’s to be expected — BlackBerry 10 only launched a few months ago, and the company’s Q4 ended on March 2, so it didn’t include the U.S. BB10 release.

The BlackBerry 10 sales aren’t phenomenal, but they show that people actually want RIM’s new phones. I found the BlackBerry Z10 to be pretty darn boring in my review, but I’ve pretty much given up on trying to understand the BlackBerry faithful (people who’d buy anything this company produces). Now that it’s making a decent profit again, BlackBerry says it will step up its marketing spend by 50 percent. It’ll be interesting to see how the company’s fans react to the upcoming BlackBerry Q10, which combines BB10 with the company’s traditional hardware keyboard.

“It’s the next 1-2 quarters that will really tell the story of how well the devices are being received in the US,” said Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates. “The big challenge for BlackBerry is to up the marketing and get people interested in the devices.”

BlackBerry also noted that it shipped 370,000 PlayBook tablets in Q4 (not that anyone’s really paying attention to that device anymore).

Additionally, BlackBerry announced that co-founder Mike Lazaridis, who now serves as vice-chairman and director after stepping down from his co-CEO role last year, will retire on May 1. He’ll be focusing on his massive new Quantum Valley Investment fund for quantum computing.

Given Lazaridis’ dramatically diminished role at the company he helped found in 1984, it’s not surprising to see him leave. His former co-CEO partner, Jim Balsillie, left the company after reportedly trying to reinvent it.

“Mike revolutionized the mobile communications industry and is widely recognized as one of Canada’s greatest innovators,” said BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins during the company’s earnings call today. “I deeply respect his desire to devote his full-time efforts to his new venture.”

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

If there’s someone who can talk with authority about the importance of innovation, it’s the CEO of BlackBerry, right?

Probably not — but that didn’t prevent BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins from giving his take on the current state of smartphone interfaces. The gist: While the iPhone was the bee’s knees of innovation years ago, the smartphone market is leaving it behind.

Source: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

So innovative!

“The rate of innovation is so high in our industry that if you don’t innovate at that speed you can be replaced pretty quickly. The user interface on the iPhone, with all due respect for what this invention was all about, is now five years old,” Heins said in an interview with the Australian Financial Review.

It’s easy to zing Heins with a cheeky retort to his comments, but maybe he’s right. Maybe the iPhone and iOS are outdated and maybe we’re all stuck in the silver age of smartphones and haven’t realized it yet. But if that’s the case, why would BlackBerry model its newest OS after that very same allegedly outdated design paradigm? And why would it even bother with something like the BlackBerry Q10, which is at this point the very definition of outdated? Heins’ comments don’t quite hold up in that context.

The answer to the “why” question is, of course, money. The iPhone still looks the way it does because that’s what smartphone buyers are into — at least until a competitor comes along and convinces them to be into something else. Right now, it doesn’t look like BlackBerry is that competitor, so it’s a bit tough to take Heins seriously.

Rightful skepticism aside, it seems as if Heins himself has learned how quickly the innovator’s dilemma can tank a successful company. “The point is that you can never stand still. It is true for us as well,” he said.

Amen to that.

Photos: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Perhaps BlackBerry is finally paying attention: The company’s first major update for BlackBerry 10 on its Z10 smartphone fixes some of the most common complaints from reviewers and its users.

Announced this morning, the BlackBerry 10.0.10.85 update (BlackBerry really needs a simpler way of naming updates) offers 60 percent better battery life; fixes around the phone, calendar, and contacts (specifically around Google Calendar support); low-light performance improvements for the camera; better browser and media performance; and faster speeds for third-party apps.

The latter update could make BlackBerry 10 more enticing to developers. The company announced last week that the popular messaging client WhatsApp is coming to its platform — today it revealed that performance improvements was one of the reasons WhatsApp came aboard.

The update fixes some of the issues I pointed out in my BlackBerry Z10 review, but it’s still not enough to change my overall opinion. The BlackBerry Z10 still has an identity problem, and the company still hasn’t figured out who its new devices are meant for. Until BlackBerry offers some compelling features that are significantly better than the competition, it’s going to have a tough time competing against the iPhone and Android.

BlackBerry says the 150 megabyte update is already available on some carriers, and it’s working with other carriers to roll it out soon. You’ll get a notification when it’s available, and you can apply the update directly on your phone.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

It took about two hours for my initial excitement over the BlackBerry Z10 to disappear.

At first, I was impressed by how comfortable the Z10 felt in my hand and the ease with which it juggled multiple tasks at once. But it didn’t take too long before the BlackBerry 10’s crummy apps, limited functionality, and instability sent me running back to the iPhone and Android (yes, I always have two devices on me).

The phone feels like a beta product, not something that BlackBerry (formerly Research in Motion) has been toiling away at for years. After several delays, BlackBerry simply has no excuse — especially when this is the device that must save the troubled company.

An even bigger problem became clear the more I used the Z10: Who is this thing for? It’s not going to win over gadget geeks with its minuscule app selection (70,000 at launch, but few that you’d actually want to use), and the BlackBerry faithful will likely be better served by the upcoming Q10, which features a traditional physical keyboard. And I can’t imagine that anyone would latch on to its fairly boring interface and lack of personality.

It’s a phone built out of desperation and hubris — not for anyone, or any specific need, in particular.

The good: Classy design, great feel caters to business folk

The BlackBerry Z10 isn’t a complete failure, as it manages to impress at first glance (hence my enthusiastic first look at the phone). From afar it looks a lot like the iPhone 5. Up close it bears a simplicity that’s exceedingly rare as smartphone makers obsess with screen size and design bling. It looks like an expensive device that only business people should be using — which is great for maintaining BlackBerry’s image but somewhat damning when attracting typical smartphone buyers.

With its rounded corners and soft-touch rear cover, the BlackBerry Z10 feels more like an expensive leather briefcase than your typical smartphone. It’s also comfortable to hold and navigate with one hand thanks to a reasonably-sized 4.2-inch screen. BlackBerry could have tried to spar with big-screen Android phone makers, but the smaller screen size shows a certain amount of restraint that I can’t help but appreciate. (It’s also slightly bigger than the 4-inch iPhone 5, so BlackBerry can still hold that over Apple.)

The BlackBerry 10 has a few other things to like as well, though it still has a long way to go. It relies on a gesture-based interface that quickly becomes intuitive — swipe up from the bottom of the screen to show your running apps, swipe from the left edge go backward, and swipe down to reveal more options. A helpful gesture — swiping up, then right — sends you to the BlackBerry Hub, which puts all of your e-mail, texts, Twitter updates, and other communication alerts into a single interface.

Few apps stood out on the Z10 (more on that below), but its browser is worth mentioning. It’s fast, renders web pages accurately, and it even supports Adobe Flash. BlackBerry clearly put a lot of thought into the browser’s rendering engine, which feels as zippy as Chrome on Android and the latest version of the iOS browser.

The phone also sports BlackBerry Messenger, which for some fans may be the only reason they’ll need a new BlackBerry device. At this point, modern messaging apps and services like iMessage and Kik are far more useful than BlackBerry Messenger. But for business people who’ve lived with BlackBerry phones over the past year, it’ll be tough to give up BBM.

Just like the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, which runs an operating system that serves as the core of BlackBerry 10, moving between multiple applications on the Z10 is fast and seamless. It’s powered by a fast 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and 2GB RAM, so it’s certainly no hardware slouch either.

Call quality and reception was impressive, though that’s something BlackBerry should have mastered by now. Its touchscreen keyboard is fashioned after the physical BlackBerry keyboard, and it’s also helped by some impressive predictive text technology (though BlackBerry hasn’t confirmed this, I believe it’s powered by SnapKeys, the folks behind the excellent Android keyboard).

But despite those few positives, the Z10’s problems make it impossible to recommend.

The bad: No compelling features or apps

For a device that should remind us why BlackBerry is a smartphone brand that matters, the Z10 is surprisingly average.

It has 70,000 apps, but few that you’ll actually want to use. Apps for popular services like Twitter work, but these are riddled with bugs and errors. Twitter would often just stop refreshing my timeline and mentions, and sometimes I had to reboot the app to get it working again. It’s also still missing popular apps like Spotify and Instagram. Don’t expect to keep up with the cool kids with this phone.

Core applications are surprisingly lacking as well. For maps, the Z10 relies on a modified version of Microsoft’s Bing Maps, which doesn’t have nearly as much location data as Google Maps. Simply using the maps application was a pain — it would often take forever to load, and it had issues finding my location. It’s inexcusable for a modern smartphone platform to have unreliable mapping — just look at the backlash against Apple Maps.

The Z10 is all about productivity, except it doesn’t always work properly. My Gmail account stopped updating for days on end, apps crashed frequently, and the phone often got stuck in landscape orientation. All of this led to me completely rebooting the Z10 far more often than I would have liked.

Battery life is somewhat disappointing as well. Sometimes the Z10 would last for a typical workday, and sometimes I had to charge it in the middle of the afternoon. I was never able to figure out what was draining the battery on certain days. At least the battery is removable — it’s an increasingly uncommon feature in smartphones, but something that BlackBerry road warriors should appreciate.

Boring and soulless

What bothered me the most about the Z10 was perhaps more aesthetic than functional. It’s simply boring. The home screen is uninspired (down to generic-looking icons), BlackBerry Hub feels like a messy block of text, and I’ve yet to find an app that truly felt interesting.

I’ve always felt that one of Android’s biggest problems over its first few years was that it didn’t really have a soul. It wasn’t until former WebOS designer Matias Duarte joined up as Android’s director of user experience that Google’s mobile OS finally got a swift dose of personality.

The BlackBerry Z10 doesn’t have that problem. It definitely has a soul, but it’s one of a buttoned-up and humorless corporate drone. Forget about attracting new users: With an image like this, BlackBerry will have trouble holding onto its 80 million users.

I have a feeling BlackBerry knows just how boring BlackBerry 10 currently is, otherwise it wouldn’t have named Grammy-winner Alicia Keys its global creative director. Right now it’s unclear if Keys will have any actual creative input or if she’s just a celebrity name to make younger buyers pay attention. But hopefully her mere presence will be enough to inspire the company.

BlackBerry already has a strong hardware lead in Todd Wood, its VP of design, but the company needs a strong software designer like Duarte to give BlackBerry 10 some character. Judging from some of the most popular apps on iOS and Android, consumers are beginning to recognize the importance of good design. It’s not something that BlackBerry can avoid for too long in its software.

The verdict: This phone isn’t meant for you — or anyone

The BlackBerry Z10 isn’t the worst phone I’ve come across, but I can’t in good conscience recommend it to anyone. BlackBerry still has a lot of work ahead of it in terms of software updates and attracting developers. And maybe along the way, it can also figure out who the heck needs this phone.

BlackBerry-faithful should keep an eye out for the keyboard-equipped Q10. Pricing and availability of that model still hasn’t been announced.

The Z10 won’t be the phone that saves BlackBerry, but at least the company has finally gotten the ball rolling on its next-generation devices.

Hopefully by the next round BlackBerry will figure out who it’s actually serving.

Former Research in Motion CEO and cofounder Jim Balsillie has sold every single share of RIM — now BBRY — stock he owns, according to an SEC filing posted this morning.

Balsillie’s 26.8 million shares of common stock amounted to a 5.1 percent stake in the company. At one point — literally in the days right after the first iPhone launched — that much stock was worth around $6 billion.

But, oh, how the mighty have fallen. In 2012, when share prices for the company formerly known as RIM dropped into the single digits, a 26 million share stake amounted to less than five percent of what it was worth a few years before.

Check out this chart we made for the visual learners among you:

For comparison, here’s how other smartphone OS makers have done, stock-price-wise, between 2007 and today:

GOOG data by YCharts

As the fella said, you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. And the wind for BlackBerry seems to be blowing in a decidedly southerly direction.

Clearly, the company is hoping to slow this momentum (we doubt anyone seriously thinks a fortune so colossally and complete lost can ever be totally recovered) by the launch of BlackBerry 10. While our own reviewer said the units aren’t half bad, he also noted it might be way, way too late to turn the ship around.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Why bother starting a race you have no chance of winning?

That’s BlackBerry’s thinking when it comes to Japan, which may never see BlackBerry’s new phones.

“Japan is not a major market for BlackBerry and we have no plans to launch BlackBerry 10 devices there at this time,” a BlackBerry spokesperson said in a statement to AllThingsD. 

The confirmation comes as the BlackBerry’s Japanese market share has shrunk from 5 percent to 0.3 percent — a woefully bad piece of the pie. BlackBerry, it seems, doesn’t have much faith that it can fix the situation, so it’s giving up on Japan entirely — at least for now.

Besides sales, the other concern is the cost of translating BlackBerry 10, which are too high for BlackBerry to justify investing in, reports Japan’s Nikkei. I don’t particularly buy that explanation and something tells me BlackBerry would feel a bit different had its new phones actually stood a chance in Japan to begin with.

Fortunately, BlackBerry says that it will continue to offer support to existing BlackBerry owners, which certainly means a lot to the three or so Japanese people who still use BlackBerrys. 

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

If you are concerned that BlackBerry’s latest smartphone attempt is going to fail miserably, BlackBerry really wants to convince you otherwise.

The company said today the Canadian debut of its Z10 smartphone was its best product launch in its history.

“In fact, it was more than 50 percent better than any other launch day in our history in Canada. In the U.K., we have seen close to three times our best performance ever for the first week of sales for a BlackBerry smartphone,” BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said in a statement to VentureBeat.

Hein’s statement should make you roll your eyes a bit because in it he says quite a lot while also saying not much at all, at least mathematically. The reality is that there’s not much to talk about here without any actual sales numbers (not that BlackBerry is particularly likely to announce them).

But while early sales of the Z10 may be looking good, the real challenge for BlackBerry will be keeping them that way. The odds right now seem in the company’s favor, but perhaps we should wait until the Z10 makes it to the U.S. next month before we make any real predictions.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

If good things come to those who wait, the BlackBerry Q10 must be spectacular.

BlackBerry is hinting once again that it may be a while before its new keyboard-equipped smartphone makes it to the U.S.

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins told the Associated Press that “rigid” carrier testing could delay the Q10′s release by up to ten weeks after the release of the Z10, which is expected in mid-March.. Translation? Americans may not see the Q10 until June — and even that’s not a sure thing.

That wait time is bad news for consumers, but it’s certainly worse for BlackBerry, which has had to delay BlackBerry 10 multiple times already.

While it’s going to be a while before the new BlackBerry phones make to the U.S., there’s reason to believe that they’ll be pretty successful when they do arrive. According to Heins, early sales of the Z10 in the UK are looking pretty good. “[Sales are] beyond expectations,” he told the AP while declining to give exact numbers.

That’s promising news for BlackBerry, whose biggest enemy right now is the ticking of the clock.

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

Smartphone ecosystems live and die by apps, and BlackBerry wants to make sure its latest one survives.

At its developer event in Amsterdam today, the company announced that it plans to update the BlackBerry 10′s Android runtime to support Jelly Bean apps, Engadget reports.

That’s big news, seeing as how the BlackBerry 10 Android runtime is still running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which is at this point two years old.

In non-l33t speak, with the update developers can easily port their Jelly Bean-based Android apps to BlackBerry 10. This means more apps, more revenue, and potentially, fewer people running away from BlackBerry 10 because of an undeveloped app ecosystem.

So far, the only problem with the update is that BlackBerry hasn’t pegged an arrival for it. That’s usually not a great sign, but we’ll know sooner or later when BlackBerry plans to release it.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The smartphone world may have moved away from the hardware keyboard, but BlackBerry refuses to let it go.

At at developer event in Amsterdam today, BlackBerry unveiled the BlackBerry Dev Alpha C, its latest developer-only phone. A combination of the Z10 and the Q10, the Alpha C has both a physical keyboard in a fairly sizable screen.

That combination is an important one for BlackBerry, which has been trying to bridge the gap between touch- and- hardware-based input.

As BlackBerry development manager Ken Wallis noted in a blog post today, BlackBerry’s new WebWorks development kit treats software and hardware keyboards as if they were the same thing. Developers should appreciate that, and this should make it easier for them to design their apps for devices with varying sizes and configurations.

The Alpha C announcement comes as analysts are reporting some pretty good early numbers for the BlackBerry Z10, which launched in the U.K. last week.

“Initial feedback we have received from distributors on the first days of sales is particularly positive,” Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said in a research note today.

Perhaps the return of the BlackBerry isn’t so farfetched after all.

Image: Gian Paolo Vernini

Making games for the BlackBerry makes a little sense, but it’s more of a diversion, not a long-term occupation. If you’re doing it, you have to ask why. Do you have nothing better to do with your time?

That is not a disrespectful question, but a practical one. Opportunity cost is a hurdle for BlackBerry. It has to convince developers that making games for its platform will pay off, when they can make more money developing for other platforms. It’s a hard sell, but BlackBerry, formerly known as Research in Motion, is doing what it can.

Yesterday, the company debuted its new BlackBerry 10 phones and apps in an attempt to save the business. For the most part, observers say that the new stuff doesn’t suck, which is a prerequisite for game developers to pay attention. BlackBerry’s curse has been the status quo of loyal users who don’t mind using a BlackBerry, even though more interesting smartphones and tablets are available. BlackBerry’s business has seemed doomed ever since Apple debuted the iPhone in 2007 and consumers began to favor touchscreens over BlackBerry keyboards. But BlackBerry fans didn’t see to notice, and 18 million of them are still out there.

BlackBerry has come out swinging with its own touchscreen mobile devices now (the Z10) and a faster operating system. But it seems terribly late. After all, Microsoft has been trying for months to steal away the developers and consumers who aren’t already in the Android or Apple camps.

The new devices are compatible with past BlackBerry apps, so 70,000 are already apps available. That sounds like a lot, but Apple has 10 times more apps. To bolster its app store, the Canadian company has turned to game companies in an attempt to bring in new audiences beyond the core demographic of executives who check their emails. That makes sense. If you look at Google Play, about 95 percent of revenues generated by apps in South Korea come from games. In the U.S., the percentage is 76 percent, according to market analyst firm App Annie.

Gameloft and Electronic Arts’ mobile division have said they will support the platform with games. EA is putting eight games on the BlackBerry 10, including Plants vs. Zombies and The Sims FreePlay, while Gameloft is publishing 11 games, including Six Guns and Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour.

Sam Shperling, a senior account manager for BlackBerry at Gameloft, told me in an interview that his teams have worked with BlackBerry for years making Java games.

“They still have a huge and loyal customer base who could migrate to the BlackBerry 10,” he said. “We think this is a great opportunity to show those users there is a new frontier for BlackBerry.”

But the Gameloft guys never met a game platform they didn’t like. It has a huge mobile game businesses already and teams that are able to quickly adapt games to run on any platform. Doing the extra work to port to BlackBerry 10 isn’t that difficult for it. Gameloft is also more experimental in nature. Because it benefits from the spread of new platforms, it’s more willing to expand to the new platforms. So it’s doing games for Microsoft’s platforms at the same time it’s doing games for BlackBerry.

If you think about how the big game publishers are willing to take risks while the little ones aren’t, it makes sense. If your games are on 10 platforms, adding No. 11 isn’t so hard. But if you are a small indie game developer only has the staff and money to adapt to maybe three platforms, BlackBerry isn’t on your list. Sure, it has 18 million users, but that is actually a small number in the overall mobile market.

Other game supporters include Disney, Sega, Rovio (the publisher of Angry Birds), Fishlabs, Funkoi, Halfbrick, JoyBits, Square One Games, and ZeptoLab. But if you really wanted to play games from these companies, wouldn’t you really want to do it on the 10 platforms that are already out there? The presence of these companies and their me-too games will not help BlackBerry sell any new devices. What BlackBerry needs is some content that nobody else has.

BlackBerry is also enticing indie developers by offering them $100 per approved application. Cash bribes could actually work with developers who are starting out and currently don’t have any apps out. For these developers, making money on the BlackBerry could finance efforts on bigger platforms. The problem here is that BlackBerry has no idea if it is getting shovelware or quality stuff from these developers.

The new BlackBerry models, the Z10 and the Q10, don’t suck, according to VentureBeat’s Devindra Hardawar. The Z10 has a 4.2-inch touchscreen with 720p resolution. The Q10 has a 3.1-inch screen with a keyboard. The technology isn’t bad, with a dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, 2GB of main memory, and 16GB of storage.

But the devices seem terribly late. Will they devices go the way of the ill-fated BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, which debuted in the spring 2011 and sold maybe 2 million units by the end of last year. That’s a horrible record compared to the sales of competitors. Against the iPad and Android tablets, this device had no chance. Gameloft’s Shperling said that the PlayBook was a first step where the company got its feet wet making and recruiting apps.

“I think what matters here is that there is another alternative platform out there that developers can go to,” Shperling said.

BlackBerry is late again, compared to the launch of another challenge, Microsoft’s Windows 8, which got started in the market last fall. Game developers and publishers aren’t lacking for yet another mobile contender. They didn’t make unique content for the PlayBook, and it isn’t clear to me why many game developers would make unique content for the BlackBerry now.

BlackBerry has a chance for survival if consumers decide they don’t need these extra choices the other guys offer. Perhaps the only way that it could survive is if it provides enough of the basics to cover the field. If consumers only want about 70,000 apps and BlackBerry delivers the right ones, then it could survive. And BlackBerry can always hope to strike gold, seeding enough money to hungry developers who might come up with some exclusive content that could give people a reason to buy a BlackBerry.

But that’s going to be so hard to do. Lots of platforms are spreading money around, and they may very well have more users than BlackBerry does. Developers who make games for a small platform face that opportunity cost. BlackBerry, at least, has made it easy to adapt game. Shperling said there is still some risk to what it’s doing. For a company with Gameloft’s resources, making games for the BlackBerry is an acceptable risk. But if you’re betting the company on making games for the BlackBerry, don’t do it.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Okay, I’ll admit I was wrong. I didn’t expect many surprises from the BlackBerry 10 launch event today, but it was actually full of them, including RIM officially changing its name to BlackBerry and bringing on singer Alicia Keys as its first global creative director.

But perhaps most surprising of all, the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 smartphones don’t suck. In many ways, they’re honestly more enjoyable than plenty of Android phones I’ve tested over the years.

First, the specs: The Z10 is a 4.2-inch touchscreen phone with a 720p resolution, while the Q10 has a 3.1-inch screen with a traditional BlackBerry keyboard. Beyond those surface differences, both phones feature a dual-core 1.5 gigahertz processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM, and 16 gigabytes of storage. You can upgrade the Z10 with a 32GB SD card, while the Q10 supports up to a 64GB card.

Both phones were fast and responsive, and they also both feel comfortable in your hand. Obviously, the Q10 is targeted at hardcore BlackBerry users who can’t live without a physical keyboard. It feels like a next-generation BlackBerry Bold — as it should. I didn’t have much time to type on the Q10, but based on my initial impressions, it feels just as comfortable as RIM’s past keyboards.

I spent much more time with the Z10 because there were far more of them available for testing, and I received a test unit from BlackBerry. (BlackBerry has been fairly vague about when the Q10 will be available, and given the dearth of units available today, I’d wager the company is still working on finalizing the phone.)

Unlike BlackBerry’s past attempts at touchscreen smartphones, the Z10 feels thoroughly modern. BlackBerry 10 shows no trace of the archaic BlackBerry 7 interface, and that’s evident from the moment you wake up the phone (there’s no visible unlock swipe, you simply swipe up from the bottom bezel). BB10 takes some getting used to, but its combination of easy multitasking and helpful gestures makes it a completely different experience than iOS or Android. I also appreciated the fact that the Z10 isn’t as hefty as many Android and Windows Phones (the benefits of sticking with a sensible screen size).

Check back next week for a full review of the Z10.

More BlackBerry 10 news:

• BlackBerry 10 kicks off with Z10, Q10 smartphones
• Alicia Keys named BlackBerry’s global creative director
• Research in Motion renames itself just ‘BlackBerry’
• BlackBerry isn’t giving up on the PlayBook yet — tablet-focused services in the works
• BlackBerry 10 launches with a ton of big apps, including Skype, Kindle, Facebook, & more
• BlackBerry’s popular BBM app adds video calling & screen sharing
• BlackBerry’s web store finally gets music, TV shows & movies

While its new smartphones are the stars of today’s BlackBerry 10 launch event, BlackBerry isn’t forgetting about the PlayBook tablets already on the market.

BlackBerry chief executive Thorstein Heins confirmed that all existing PlayBooks will receive the BlackBerry 10 update, but he also noted that the tablet business is still difficult for the company. But that’s not stopping it from trying to crack into the tablet market.

“The way I look at the tablet business right now, providing profits to shareholders only in that segment is rather difficult,” Hein said. “We’ll continue with tablets, looking at specific services and volume of services to think of mobile computing on a tablet.” Heins pointed to industries like finance and health care where he wants to “provide a value proposition that’s not just hardware but also has a software and services component.”

Basically, it sounds like BlackBerry isn’t going to be focusing on delivering a new tablet anytime soon. But when we finally see new hardware, there will likely be some useful new services around them.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The company formerly known as RIM launched its new BlackBerry 10 platform for mobile devices today with an impressive list of applications.

BlackBerry (RIM’s new name) said it has over 70,000 apps for the platform (although most of those might have been available already), including a ton that are already available on rival platforms. This is essential because BlackBerry devices have undoubtedly declined in popularity among consumers.

BlackBerry also touted BB10 support for mobile games from companies such as EA, Disney, Rovio, Sega, and Gameloft.

And in addition to the big-name apps, BlackBerry also tried to entice developers to submit apps to the platform by offering them $100 per approved application.

We’ve compiled a short list of BB10 apps mentioned in today’s BlackBerry World event below.

List of BlackBerry 10 apps:

• Box
• Reuters
• Evernote
• Whatsapp Messenger
• Kindle
• Skype
• Facebook
• Twitter
• ESPN ScoreCenter
• Foursquare
• LinkedIn
• Rdio
• NYT
• TuneIn
• SoundHound
• Slacker Radio
• The Economist
• Songza
• The Weather Channel
• Angry Birds
• Flickster
• Dropbox
• WSJ
• WebEx
• USA Today

More BlackBerry 10 news:

• BlackBerry 10 kicks off with Z10, Q10 smartphones
• Alicia Keys named BlackBerry’s global creative director
• Research in Motion renames itself just ‘BlackBerry’
• BlackBerry investors unimpressed with BB10, stock down 8%
• BlackBerry isn’t giving up on the PlayBook yet — tablet-focused services in the works
• BlackBerry’s popular BBM app adds video calling & screen sharing
• BlackBerry’s web store finally gets music, TV shows & movies

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

BlackBerry has been full of surprises today, and the latest one is a doozy.

The company has named singer/songwriter Alicia Keys as its global creative director, a new position for the company. By taking the job, Keys will become the creative face for BlackBerry 10.

In one project, dubbed “Keep Moving,” Keys is working with creatives like director Robert Rodriguez and author Neil Gaiman, who will show how BlackBerry 10 fits into their workflows.

“We wanted someone at the top of her field, well-respected and immensely creative, someone who incorporates tech and creativity into her day-to-day work,” BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said.

“I wanted to do something where I could grow professionally and personally,” Keys said.

Keys didn’t waste any time tweeting about the news.

Excited2jump right in2my new role as Global Creative Director of@Blackberry! #BlackBerry10 #keepmoving #forwardthinking bit.ly/VWrnYZ

— Alicia Keys (@aliciakeys) Jan, 30

With her new gig, Keys is filling a similar role to that of pop star will.i.am, who joined Intel as its director of creative innovation in 2011.

Like Intel’s hire, BlackBerry’s move is meant to add a level of pop relevancy to what the company is working on. Simply put, Keys is trying to help the BlackBerry become cool again.

More BlackBerry 10 news:

• BlackBerry 10 kicks off with Z10, Q10 smartphones
• Research in Motion renames itself just ‘BlackBerry’
• BlackBerry investors unimpressed with BB10, stock down 8%
• BlackBerry isn’t giving up on the PlayBook yet — tablet-focused services in the works
• BlackBerry 10 launches with a ton of big apps, including Skype, Kindle, Facebook, & more
• BlackBerry’s popular BBM app adds video calling & screen sharing
• BlackBerry’s web store finally gets music, TV shows & movies

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The future of  the BlackBerry is here, and it comes in two varieties.

The company formerly known as RIM has announced the Z10 and Q10, the first devices running its spanking-new BlackBerry 10 operating system. 

Longtime BlackBerry fans should be most excited with the Q 10, as it comes with the brand’s trademark physical keyboard.

“We know there are a lot of physical keyboard lovers out there,” RIM BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said.

While BlackBerry didn’t divulge much in the way of the Q10′s specs, it did note that the device comes with what’s called a “glass weave cover.” “You won’t find it on any other device. It is thinner, lighter, and stronger than plastic,” Heins said.

Slightly more standard is the Z10, an all-touch device that features a 4.2-inch screen, 1.5GHz processor, and 16GB of internal storage.

We’ll have more information about the devices as BlackBerry announces it.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

As far as press events go, RIM seems to be sparing no expense with its massive BlackBerry 10 launch event in Manhattan. It’s taking place among Manhattan’s southern piers, filled with RIM’s trademark colors, and it’s jam-packed with press, analysts, and plenty of RIM employees. Heck, even the Wi-Fi works properly.

Strutting out on stage, with the most confidence I’ve seen in a RIM executive in some time, chief executive Thorsten Heins kicked off the event. “We have definitely been on a journey of transformation … not only to transform a company brand … but also a journey to transfer mobile communications into true mobile computing,” he said.

Heins noted that the company was forced to make a tough choice a few years ago, between adopting someone elses mobile platform, or building something new from the ground up. “We made the call to go it alone,” Heins said. He thanked the people who made BlackBerry 10 possible, including the people who developed the QNX operating system, and former co-CEO Jim Balsillie for nabbing plenty of carrier partnerships.

Out of nowhere, Heins dropped a bombshell: RIM will now simply be known as BlackBerry. “It is one brand, one promise,” he said. “Our customers use BlackBerry, our employees work at BlackBerry, our shareholders are owners of BlackBerry … from today on we are BlackBerry everywhere  in the world.”

With the audience’s excitement on high, Heins introduced the first BlackBerry 10 phones: the fully touchscreen BlackBerry Z10, and the keyboard-toating BlackBerry Q10. The Z10 sports a 4.2-inch display with a 720p resolution, while the Q10 features a 3.1-inch display along with a full keyboard. (Images of the Z10 have been floating around the web for months, so its reveal didn’t come as much of a surprise.)

Vivek Bhardwaj, BlackBerry’s head of software portfolio, joined Heins on stage to show off some of BlackBerry 10′s capabilities. He demonstrated how easy it is to move between multiple apps, a method the company calls “Flow,” as well as how the BlackBerry Hub is always just a few flicks away.

BlackBerry Messenger fans will have a lot to look forward to in the new OS. Bhardwaj showed off a new video calling feature, which looks like it may give Apple’s FaceTime some decent competition. He also demonstrated a feature that’s completely unique to BB10: Screensharing. Bhardwaj was able to view a colleague’s phone screen with just the touch of a button.

When it comes to media, BB10 has more support from partners than any of BlackBerry’s past efforts. Heins said that BlackBerry World will feature music from all the major labels, and movies from eight major studios.

RIM’s vice president of global alliances and business development, Martyn Mallick, boasted that BlackBerry 10 has 70,000 apps — more than any platform at launch. He confirmed that the company has app commitments from Skype, Amazon Kindle, and Whatsapp.

Unfortunately, BlackBerry didn’t have any specific release dates or pricing for the BB10 phones in the U.S. Heins said that the Z10 is expected to be available on the four big U.S. carriers in March, with pricing around $150 on a three year contract. The Z10 will be available in the United Kingdom tomorrow, in Canada on February 5, and in the United Arab Emirates on February 10.

Heins pulled out another bombshell towards the tail-end of the press conference: BlackBerry has brought on singer Alicia Keys as its first Global Creative Director.  “We wanted someone at the top of her field, well respected, immensely creative — someone who incorporates technology and creativity into her day to day work,” Heins said.

On stage today, Keys recounted “breaking up” with BlackBerry after being tempted away by other platforms (she wouldn’t say which). But now that there are new phones and an entirely new platform, she’s exclusive to BlackBerry once again. Keys will also take part in the BlackBerry “Keep moving project,” alongside well-known artists like direct Robert Rodriguez and author Neil Gaiman who will use BlackBerry 10 devices in their work.

After cutting off the livestream to other launch events around the world, Heins revealed that everyone at the NYC launch today will be getting a BlackBerry Z10. Check back later for some hands-on thoughts on the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

BlackBerry 10 is late. And I’m not just talking about missing a few release dates. It could very well be too late for Research in Motion to make an impact in today’s smartphone market with the iPhone and Android reigning supreme — where even Microsoft has a several-year head start.

But that’s not stopping RIM from holding a massive launch event for BlackBerry 10 in New York City tomorrow. There the company will finally unveil its new smartphones, discuss how popular apps like BlackBerry Messenger will live on, and explain how BlackBerry 10 is different from the competition. Ultimately, RIM will try to prove it’s still relevant.

From my brief hands-on time with BlackBerry 10, RIM is genuinely trying to bring something new to the smartphone world by focusing on productivity, multitasking, and security capabilities that IT departments will surely love. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s enough to bring the company into the modern smartphone era.

Tomorrow we’ll finally get to see if BlackBerry 10 is more than “good enough” and if RIM’s new devices can keep BlackBerry fans loyal (and maybe even convince a few other smartphone owners to jump ship). The company also has to put on a good show to impress developers (it’s already helped coax 15,000 apps onto BlackBerry 10 with promises of cash).

While I don’t think RIM is going to outright disappoint with BlackBerry 10, the company’s bigger problem is that it simply isn’t exciting anymore. The BlackBerry brand has lost most of its luster — and for good reason. RIM practically ignored the advances made by the iPhone and Android. And when it finally decided to respond with a touchscreen smartphone, we got the disastrous BlackBerry Storm.

It seems like no matter what RIM does, it can’t escape the narrative of being a struggling old dinosaur. But with 80 million users and better-than-expected revenues last quarter, it’s a dinosaur that won’t exactly go extinct overnight. In the worst case, RIM could give up on hardware altogether and license the BlackBerry platform (something that still seems to be on the table). In the best case, RIM will slowly regain market share to solidify it’s third-place position.

But the most likely scenario is that RIM will continue trucking as usual by appealing to its current users for as long as possible.

“We can’t fault RIM for wanting to hold onto its 80 million existing subscribers,” notes Ovum chief telecoms analyst Jan Dawson in a commentary piece today. “While exact figures aren’t available, our analysis suggests that RIM has always sold about half its devices to new customers and half to existing customers upgrading to a better phone. For much of the last two years, the portion bought by upgrading customers has significantly outweighed the portion bought by converts, and this makes it all the more important for RIM to retain existing subscribers.”

Dawson predicts that RIM will see a slight sales and market share bump after the launch of BlackBerry 10, as the BlackBerry faithful finally get the new platform and hardware they’ve been waiting for. But afterwards it will likely decline once again.

“All in all, BlackBerry does need to appeal to end users,” said Jack Gold, chief analyst at J. Gold Associates, in an email to VentureBeat. “If it can’t get grass roots user support, it will have a tough time. That said, it doesn’t have to get a 50 percent market share to be successful. Even if it got 20 percent to 25 percent of the smartphone market worldwide, that would be a huge number for them.”

VentureBeat will be on the ground at RIM’s NYC launch event tomorrow, so check back for more.

Photo: Closari/Flickr

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The future of the BlackBerry could belong to a company that’s not RIM.

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has hinted once again that his company could license BlackBerry 10 to rival smartphone makers.

“Before you license the software, you must show that the platform has significant potential. If such proof exists, a licensing is conceivable,” Heins told German newspaper Die Welt.

The line isn’t a new one for Heins, who told Bloomberg roughly the same thing last year. What is new, however, is the chance that RIM could sell its hardware division to another company entirely. Heins said he couldn’t rule out that possibility. (A RIM spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg today that a sale of the hardware division was indeed a possibility.)

The problem is that the move wouldn’t make much sense. As with Apple, one of RIM’s greatest strengths is its ability to create software that meshes perfectly with its hardware. That synergy would be completely lost if another company started making BlackBerry hardware.

Even the licensing deal is tough to swallow. Samsung, HTC, Nokia — there’s not a single smartphone maker for which BlackBerry 10 would be an attractive option. As a result, RIM’s efforts to license the operating system are unlikely to result in much interest.

While it’s too early to say whether RIM will succeed with BlackBerry 10, it’s clear the company is preparing for the possibility that it won’t.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

A whole lot of bribery is helping RIM fill out its BlackBerry 10 app catalog.

RIM ran a pair of virtual events this weekend dedicated to coaxing developers into porting their apps to BlackBerry 10. And according to RIM developer relations head Alec Saunders, both were huge successes: Developers submitted 15,000 apps in less than two days.

RIM says it will pay developers $100 per submitted app — assuming their creations get approved. Moreover, if developers are among the first 200 participants to get at least five apps approved, RIM says it will give them each a free BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device.

Doing the math, if RIM approves every app submitted, it will owe developers at least $1.5 million. If this doesn’t prove the company’s commitment to BlackBerry 10, I’m really not sure what does.

That money, however, is an investment, not just in BlackBerry 10 but in RIM’s entire future. Given that Apple’s app store now offers 775,000 apps, BlackBerry World clearly has a lot of ground to cover. Which is why it’s not a big surprise to see RIM throwing so much money at its app efforts.

Of course, the inevitable question is this: Of those 15,000 apps submitted, how many are any good? If a quick glance at the current BlackBerry App World is any indication, RIM is already suffering from the same app quality concerns that afflict both Android and iOS. But then again, maybe that’s proof that its efforts are working.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

While RIM has six BlackBerry 10 devices in the pipeline this year, what the company has lacked so far is confirmed carrier support for its upcoming operating system.

RIM now has it. Chief executives from Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile have all pledged support for BlackBerry 10, reports Reuters.

“It’s logical to expect our current [BlackBerry] customers will have the best BlackBerry devices to choose from in the future,” AT&T CEO Jeff Bradley said.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere also pledged support, noting that BlackBerry 10 was something his company’s business customers were very interested in. Verizon, too, will carry RIM’s BlackBerry 10 phones, CEO Lowell McAdam said.

Update: It looks like Sprint is on board as well. “We wanted to let you know that Sprint plans to bring BlackBerry 10 to our customers later this year. We will share more details soon,” a Sprint spokesperson told us by email on Friday.

It should be noted that RIM did not sign exclusivity agreements with any carriers, meaning that it’s going in a very different direction from Nokia’s early Lumia efforts. RIM clearly plans to cast its BlackBerry 10 net as wide as it can, a tactic that gives it the best possible chance to regain its footing in the U.S. We’ll get the full scope of RIM’s plans on January 30.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

We know quite a bit about the BlackBerry 10 phones RIM will announce later this month, and it turns out that the struggling smartphone maker has some ambitious plans ahead as well.

RIM will follow up the first pair of BlackBerry 10 devices with at least four others this year, CTO Frank Boulben told FierceWireless. ”We intend over time as we transition the portfolio to have a full range of devices,” Boulben said. 

The idea makes a lot of sense. Rather than the one-price-fits-all approach that Apple takes with the iPhone, RIM plans to create devices for multiple price points. This  helps it target not just the high-end but the mid- and low-ends as well. The strategy is perhaps more important in developing markets, where low-end devices are essential.

Offering a range of phone seems like an obvious tactic, but it’s not one that most smartphone markers are particularly good  at. Samsung, which launched 37 phones last year, is an exception. Price differentiation is a big part of the reason why Samsung made $8.3 billion last quarter — so it’s clear that the tactic pulls in major cash when it’s done right.

That last bit is important. RIM has to do this right. Offering multiple phones at varying prices isn’t going to do much for RIM if the devices are poorly made and scare potential buyers away. As potentially lucrative as the tactic is, RIM also has to stay focused on its larger strategy — increasing its paltry 5.3 percent global marketshare — as well as fleshing out the BlackBerry 10 ecosystem.

So far, it seems as RIM has a pretty good idea of what it wants to do. The question is whether consumers will respond to what it has to offer.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Right now, everything RIM does is in preparation for one thing: the überimportant launch of the BlackBerry 10.

Its latest patent deal is no exception. To prepare for the operating system’s debut, RIM is expanding its existing patent agreement with wireless research company InterDigital. With the expanded deal, RIM now has the rights to InterDigital’s 4G LTE and LTE-Advanced technology.

The announcement is a significant one for RIM, which can finally bring 4G LTE to its BlackBerry phones without having to worry about getting sued by InterDigtal over the technology. (Also, in case it wasn’t clear, the deal also more or less confirms that RIM’s upcoming smartphones will indeed come with LTE chips — which should make carriers like Verizon and AT&T very, very happy.)

RIM’s patent agreement comes weeks after RIM reached a similar patent licensing deal with Nokia. While that agreement has cost RIM at least $65 million so far, it’s also further proof that RIM is aiming to make the launch of BlackBerry 10 as smooth as possible. The last thing RIM wants to do is let a patent spat screw up the launch of the most critical release in its history.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Images of RIM’s upcoming keyboard-equipped BlackBerry 10 N-Series have appeared online … and they look a bit familiar.

The images, leaked in a post on cnBeta, show a device that’s almost identical to devices like the Bold 9900 — which is either a welcome relief or a big disappointment, depending on how you feel about RIM’s older phones.

This should all be expected, however. RIM has made quite a mint on its keyboard-equipped devices (people really like those keyboards!), and the brand is instantly recognizable. There’s no point in messing with it if it works.

Today’s leak comes two weeks after RIM’s touchscreen-equipped BlackBerry Z10 also appeared online. That all of these phones are leaking a month ahead of their planned unveiling is no big surprise. As RIM revealed during its third quarter earnings call last week, the company has already started testing its BlackBerry 10 devices at a bunch of large companies. This gives people a lot of opportunities to photograph the phones — regardless of whether RIM would like them to.

Via: The Verge

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

RIM’s third quarter numbers 2013 are in, and they prove one thing: BlackBerry 10 needs to get here — and quick.

RIM pulled $2.73 billion in revenue last quarter, and while that slightly beat expectations, it’s still a 47 percent drop from the $5.2 billion the company reported this time last year. It’s also a five percent drop from last quarter’s revenue. Clearly, RIM just can’t pull in the same amount of  cash anymore.

But it is still selling devices. RIM says it shipped 6.9 million BlackBerry smartphones last quarter, and, more surprisingly, 255,000 PlayBook tablets. (I’m not sure who is buying those PlayBooks, but I can guarantee RIM is glad they exist.)

Revenue concerns aside, investors welcomed RIM’s results by boosting its stock roughly nine percent in after hours trading.

RIM’s situation, however, still  remains pretty dire, which is why the January launch of BlackBerry 10 is so important to both its bottom line and long-term survival. Fortunately, that effort is looking pretty promising so far, as RIM has already started testing its BlackBerry 10 devices at over a hundred companies in the United States.

Alongside its earnings, RIM also announced that chief information officer Robin Bienfait will retire at the end of this year. While the timing of the move is a bit inconvenient given the BB10 launch, RIM says that Bienfait will advise the company during its transition to the new operating system.