Mobile
BlackBerry 10: Six Device Launches for 2013
With RIM’s big BlackBerry 10 launch upcoming on January 30th, details are already trickling out as the company has confirmed, ahead of the launch date, that it expects to offer six devices over the course of 2013, that it currently has no carrier exclusives in any market and that it plans on offering devices in a range of price points including high-end devices and lower-end models.
Read: BlackBerry 10 Gestures Demoed (Video).
On January 30th, the Waterloo-based company will finally announce its first two BlackBerry 10 smartphones. The first, expected to be called BlackBerry Z10, will feature a virtual keyboard rather than a physical keyboard. The other is expected to be a BlackBerry 10 QWERTY device which may be called BlackBerry X10, though, that name seems a little less certain.
RIM says that it will be launching six BlackBerry 10 devices in 2013.
Those two devices will represent the first devices in the BlackBerry 10 family but that doesn’t mean that RIM isn’t already planning for the future. In comments made to FierceWireless by RIM CMO Frank Boulben, RIM is planning on releasing a grand total of six devices over the course of the year, two of those being the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry X10. The four others remain unknown.
In addition, Boulben seemingly confirmed that the company does not have any carrier exclusives in any regions, something that should help to give consumers more options when the devices do arrive. We’ve already seen T-Mobile and Verizon confirm BlackBerry 10 for their networks and AT&T is rumored to be getting a BlackBerry 10 smartphone at some point as well.
Read: BlackBerry Z10 Shown Heading to Verizon.
He also claims that the company is aiming to introduce BlackBerry 10 devices at three different price points including high-end, mid-tier and lower tier. It’s unclear where the first two devices, coming on January 30th, will fall but we should certainly know more at the end of the month.
RIM is currently at CES showcasing its BlackBerry 10 operating system on its developer phone and it says that the new software, which was announced many months ago, should be available shortly after the January 30th announcement, depending on region and carriers.
