Research in Motion Changes name to Blackberry, Launches Two Phones on the new Platform 10.

Few days ago I got this detailed press report that Research in Motion(RIM) has finally changed their name to Blackberry and launched two phones on the much awaited Platform 10.

I am yet to have access to the new phones to review them but within few days of this launch have received more than ten phone calls from Nigerians who are interested in getting the newly launched phones. I guess this might just be in for Blackberry!

The press statement from Blackberry reads that BlackBerry® 10, the re-designed, re-engineered, and re-invented BlackBerry platform that creates a new and unique mobile computing experience. Available on two new LTE-enabled smart phones, the BlackBerry® Z10(all-touch) and BlackBerry® Q10 (touch with physical keyboard) smart phones powered by BlackBerry 10 offer you a faster, smarter and smoother experience than any other BlackBerry you have used before. BlackBerry unveiled the new BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smart phones at events held simultaneously in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Dubai, and Johannesburg.

“Today sees a re-invented BlackBerry launching an entirely new mobile experience,” said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of BlackBerry.“We are thrilled to be introducing BlackBerry 10 on the new BlackBerryZ10  and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones ,to deliver a faster, smarter experience that continuously adapts to your needs.  Every feature, every gesture, and every detail in BlackBerry 10 is designed to keep you moving.”

Highlights of BlackBerry 10

BlackBerry 10  is a robust and reliable platform that is smooth and responsive. It has a modern design and a gesture-based interface that is highly discoverable. It is designed to support, learn, and adapt to the way you work and share with features like:

·         The ever present BlackBerry® Hub, which is a single place to manage all your conversations whether personal or work email, BBM™messages, social media updates or notifications, and the ability to “peek”into the BlackBerry Hub from anywhere, so you’re always only one swipe away from what matters to you.

·         BlackBerry®Flow, where the BlackBerry 10 experience excels by enabling features and apps to flow seamlessly together, helping youcomplete the task at hand effortlessly and efficiently. For example, you can tap on an attendee listed for a meeting to see their latest tweet or LinkedIn profile. Or tap the thumbnail of a picture you just took to launch the Picture editor and quickly apply a transformation or filter, then instantly share it with your contacts.

·         A keyboard that understands and adapts to you, that learns what words you use and how you use them, then offers them up to you so you can type faster and more accurately.

·         BBM (BlackBerry® Messenger), which allows you to share things with the people that matter to you in an instant. BBM in BlackBerry 10 includes voice calling and video chat, and introduces the ability to share your screen with another BlackBerry 10 contact.

·         BlackBerry® Balance™ technology, which elegantly separates and secures work applications and data from personal content on BlackBerry devices.

·         TimeShift, an astonishing camera feature that lets you capture a group shot where everyone is smiling with their eyes wide open. StoryMaker,  which lets you bring a collection of photos and videos together, along with music and effects, to produce an HD movie that you can instantly share.

· The new BlackBerry 10 browser, which sets the industry benchmark for HTML5 support on smartphones, is incredibly fast. Scrolling or zooming is fluid and responsive. The browser includes many advanced features, supports multiple tabs, lets you browse sites privately, includes a reader mode, and integrates with the platform for easily sharing content.

·         BlackBerry®Remember, which combines memos, tasks and much more into a single experience. It helps you organize and manage information you have on your smartphone around projects or ideas, letting you collect content such as websites, emails, photos, documents, and other files, and then like a To-Do list, lets you create tasks, assign due dates, and track your progress. If your BlackBerry 10 smartphone is set up with a work account, your Microsoft® Outlook® Tasks will automatically be wirelessly synced with BlackBerry Remember.  If you have configured an Evernote account with your smartphone, BlackBerry Remember will sync Evernotework books as well.

·         BlackBerry® Safeguard technology that helps protect what is important to you, and the business you work for.

·         Built-in support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync® so your BlackBerry Z10 or BlackBerry Q10 smartphone can be simply connected and managed as other ActiveSync devices in a company, or enabled with BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10 to gain secure access to work email,“behind the firewall” applications and data, and benefit from other security and enterprise mobility management features.

·         The BlackBerry® World™ storefront, which now includes 70,000 BlackBerry 10 appsand one of the most robust music and video catalogs in mobile today– with most movies coming to the store the same day they are released on DVD. In addition, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare apps for BlackBerry 10 are pre installed, and BlackBerry 10 customers will have access to leading applications from across the globe. Leading application providers including Disney, Cisco, Foursquare, Skype and Rovio have committed to the platform.

“At Foursquare, we are extremely excited to launch our new BlackBerry 10 application and to continue developing on the platform,” said Dennis Crowley, Co-Founder and CEO of Foursquare.“Our team built the app just for BlackBerry 10, and the result is an amazing Foursquare Explore experience to help people around the world make the most of where they are.”

“We’re delighted to bring Angry Birds Star Wars to BlackBerry fans around the world,” said Petri Järvilehto, EVP of Games, at Rovio. “It’s a great platform that gives a fantastic gaming experience, so fans can experience the struggle of Rebel Birds vs. Imperial Pigs to the fullest!”

“Bringing Where’s My Water? and Where’s My Perry? to BlackBerry 10 smartphones will introduce some of Disney’s most popular mobile games to new audiences,” said Tim O’Brien, VP of Business Development, Disney Games.

“The new BlackBerry 10 platform is an exciting opportunity to expand Disney’s network of mobile players.”

“We’re proud to extend Cisco’s WebEx technology to the BlackBerry 10 platform letting customers of any size join, start, view content, and stay connected to WebEx meetings right from their BlackBerry 10 smartphone,”said Raj Gossain, Vice President of Product Management, Cloud Collaboration Applications Technology Group at Cisco. “Our customers access Cisco collaboration capabilities, such as instant messaging, IP voice calling and conferencing on BlackBerry smartphones to stay connected anywhere, anytime,and with anyone. RIM and Cisco have worked together to develop an application that is user friendly and meets the needs of our global customers.”

“We are excited about our plans to bring Skype to smartphones running the brand new BlackBerry 10 platform,” said Bob Rosin, VP & GM of Business Development for Microsoft’s Skype division. “We are working closely with BlackBerry to ensure Skype runs great on BlackBerry 10 devices. This will give BlackBerry 10 users a great Skype experience, including free voice and video calling, sending instant messages and text messages, sharing photos,videos and files, and calling to landlines and mobiles at Skype’s low rates.”The new BlackBerry 10 smartphones are elegant and distinctive, and the fastest, most advanced BlackBerry smartphones yet. They feature 1.5 Ghz dual core processors with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and an expandable memory card slot. They include the latest enhancements in high density pixel and screen technology to display clear, sharp, and incredibly vivid images. Both featurea microHDMI out port for presentations, and advanced sensors such NFC (near field communications) to support mobile payments and the exchange of information with a tap of the smartphone. They also have a removable battery.

Models of the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 will be available from carriers to support their respective 4G LTE or HSPA+ networks, and all the available models include connectivity support for global roaming. The BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones will also each come in White

A range of accessories forthe new BlackBerry 10 smartphones, including the new BlackBerry® Mini Stereo Speakeras well as a variety of carrying and charging solutions including a unique charger that provides on-the-go charging, will be available from select carriers and retailers.

Pricing and Availability

Worldwide, we have several key markets that are revealing pricing and availability today, including the UK, Canada and UAE.

·         In the UK, the BlackBerry Z10 will be available beginning tomorrow on pay monthly contracts and pre-pay plans from EE, O2, Vodafone,Phones 4u, BT, 3UK and the Carphone Warehouse. BlackBerry Z10 smartphones will be available fully subsidized on competitive monthly pay contracts.Price points will vary according to carriers and retail partners.

·         In Canada, the BlackBerry Z10 will be available on February 5th. Pricing will vary by carrier partner, but it will retail for around $149.99 on a 3 year contract.

·         In the UAE, the BlackBerry Z10 will be available on February 10th. Pricing will vary by carrier partner, but unsubsidized it will retail for AED 2,599.

·         In the U.S. market, we expect availability with most carriers for the BlackBerry Z10 to be in March. Today, U.S. carriers will start announcing pre-registration and price plans.

Many of our global partners have already launched or will be launching pre-registration and pre-order sites today.We expect the first global carriers to launch the BlackBerry Q10 in April.We will announce new pricing and availability information as carriers roll-out around the world.