Research in Motion to unveil latest BlackBerry in January
BLACKBERRY maker Research in Motion (RIM) will unveil the next generation of its smartphones in January, the troubled Canadian company announced yesterday.
The BlackBerry 10 (BB10) software, which has been repeatedly delayed by technical problems, will be a radical overhaul of the operating system used on its phones.
RIM is pinning its hopes on the success of the software to revive sales, which have slipped in recent years due to competition from Apple’s iPhone and phones running Google’s Android operating system. Microsoft has also made a renewed push into smartphones with the release of its Windows Phone 8 Software, in tandem with Nokia.
RIM is looking to find a unique position in the market by continuing to offer phones with QWERTY keyboards, and with new features such as app multitasking.
“Our team has been working tirelessly to bring our customers innovative features,” chief executive Thorstein Heins said.
Although the company did not reveal release dates or pricing of BB10 handsets, it said a showcase event will be held on 30 January.
Shares in RIM, which lost a fifth of their value when the company delayed the release of BB10 earlier this year, opened up 4.5 per cent yesterday. The software had originally been scheduled for release in time for the Christmas shopping season, but was delayed after teething problems.