BlackBerry Begins Seeding Dev Alpha C Device to Developers With Keyboards

After having launched the BlackBerry 10 platform and the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 smartphones, BlackBerry says that demand is exceeding its expectations and it is now moving forward to seed the BlackBerry Dev Alpha C smartphone with a physical QWERTY keyboard to developers. The Dev Alpha C smartphone will help developers target and design their apps for use both with a square resolution 720p HD touchscreen and a keyboard experience, and those apps will eventually be released for the consumer smartphone release that’s known as the BlackBerry Q10.

Images of the BlackBerry Dev Alpha C hardware were posted on BGR. 

The keyboarded BlackBerry Q10 was announced alongside the BlackBerry Z10 though RIM isn’t making that handset available right away. The BlackBerry Q10 may not become available for purchase until April at the earliest and even possibly later depending on geographic location and carrier. Given that BlackBerry, formerly known as Research in Motion, is now beginning to seed the Dev Alpha C device, developers will have to work quickly to port their apps for the BlackBerry Z10 when that device becomes available.

Unlike the touchscreen-only BlackBerry Z10, the BlackBerry Q10’s design is similar to today’s BlackBerry Bold 9900 series smartphone. It has a 3.1-inch 720p HD display that sits just above the physical QWERTY keyboard. As such, apps that make use of the extra long screen real estate on the BlackBerry Z10 may need to be re-compiled for the smaller square screen user experience.

BlackBerry has been aggressive in the past with courting developers to launch apps in the BlackBerry World app store for the launch of the BlackBerry Z10. It looks like it will be taking just an aggressive of an approach with the Q10 model by encouraging developers to create even more apps and test it with the Dev Alpha C hardware.

The Q10 will be made available to carriers 8 to 10 weekshttps://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/02/05/blackberry-q10-release-date/ after the launch of the BlackBerry Z10.