It’s great to finally see the BlackBerry Q10 surface in the United States as many of us have been quite anxious to get our hands on it, with the Canada already having access to it at major carriers in the region. The latest and greatest suggest that the Q10 is due for official nationwide launch on June 5th, which sounds pretty good to us since similar time lines were whispered over at BlackBerry Live as well. The Q10 is the QWERTY keyboard flagship device, sporting BlackBerry 10 and a smaller screen resolution of 720 x 720 but large display screen still. Also, it comes out of the box with 10.1 preloaded so you’ll be able to get on awesome applications such as Skype.
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Previously Sprint decided to hold off on carrying the BlackBerry Z10, but will carry the Q10 with a full QWERTY keyboard.  However, a new rumor is among us (courtesy of AllThingsD) that Sprint is looking to carry a next generation BlackBerry 10 device which is expected to launch this summer.  There’s no word on exclusives here, but we’re interested to read more into what this new device may be.

At the BlackBerry Launch Keynote, BlackBerry was proud to announce a list of apps that have been only on Android or iPhone and had committed to BlackBerry 10 apps. Apps such as Angry Birds Star Wars, Skype, Amazon Kindle, The New York Times, Rdio and many many more. One thing I noticed immediately was no one mentioned Instagram or Netflix. I had even tweeted about those two apps specifically not making the list. Looks like others noticed that was well and it looks like he guys from AllThingsD noticed that as well, and decided they were going to get some answers. Here is what they were able to find out.

“A spokesman for BlackBerry says the company is “in talks” with Instagram and Netflix, but could not confirm when those apps will make their way into the store.”

I’m not going to lie these are key apps, and a lot of smart phone users want Instagram and Netflix. So these are core apps that would be great to have on the BlackBerry 10 platform. I expected that Instagram would already be on BlackBerry 10 since BlackBerry and Facebook have very good ties with each other. All I know I have spoke with a quite a few people already who asked me about these two apps, and as silly as it may sound to some of us to others these are key reasons NOT to get another BlackBerry. I personally believe that BlackBerry will at least land Instagram . Netflix I’m not to sure of.  However, I remain very optimistic about this. So what do you all think? Do you think Instagram and Netflix will make it’s way over to BlackBerry 10 devices? And when?

 

Source: AllThingsD

If you haven’t heard the buzz lately about BlackBerry 10, and all the applications coming out then you must have been living under a rock! The BlackBerry 10 application ecosystem is growing and growing daily. It’s been great to see some of the applications that have been making it’s way over to BlackBerry 10. Some apps have been ported from other platforms, while others have been developed at the Jam Sessions held by RIM.

Developers have been making announcements about their applications either launching or have launched in BlackBerry World for BlackBerry 10. The guys over at Polar Bear have been doing a lot of announcing and have been getting BlackBerry users really excited about their application which allows you to post to multiple social networks such as:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Tumblr
• Blogger
• Posterous

The next wave of BlackBerry Bridge looks pretty interesting as CrackBerry mentions that a new update is coming up with some cool features.  The first feature is SMS text message support for Bridge applications.  Doing so will allow you to use your PlayBook strictly when connected over Bridge without having to take your BlackBerry smartphone out (unless you have to make a phone call that is).  In addition, Bridge will bring connectivity to smartphones over WiFi rather than just Bluetooth which is a definitely a great alternative.  I’m wondering how the WiFi connectivity will work though.  Will it Bridge if you are using the mobile hotspot feature on your BlackBerry smartphone and connect the PlayBook to that network or do both devices need to be on the same network? Maybe both?

Based on some rumors floating around the web, it looks like BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 might be launching on February 21st.  There’s no leaked screenshots indicating or anything as it’s just a word being spread around.  We already know that RIM has promised the OS to launch in February and we see a lot of applications updating lately for OS 2.0 support as well.  Let’s see if RIM comes out to announce the launch date or just “surprises” us out of nowhere with the launch the day of.

Source: N4BB

 

Future products from RIM are a bit blurry at the moment as we are not sure what to expect exactly.  There’s a rumored roadmap showing two new Curve devices, a new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, and some BlackBerry 10 smartphones.  Here’s the details:

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We already know that RIM has BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 set to launch in February, but no specific date has been announced just yet.  Ronen from BerryReview received an insider tip which suggests a February 17 launch date, while a lot of rumors surfacing have been shooting for the week of the 15th.  So we’re about a month away from the rumored launch, but again there is no confirmation for this info to be solid 100%.  We can only hope and pray that RIM has no more delays with OS 2.0 and launches it at last!

Well this is what we know so far.  BlackBerry 10 smartphones are due in the second half of the year.  BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 is due in February.  All BlackBerry 7 devices intended to release have already made their launch.  The folks over at N4BB have some more information in regards to what’s ahead this year with RIM.  Here’s a glimpse:

• 10″ PlayBook releasing in December 2012, will be LTE enabled
• 7″ PlayBook releasing in April 2012, will be 3G+ (will not be LTE due to chipset)
• First BlackBerry 10 phone releasing in September 2012
• PlayBook OS 2.0 releasing end of February 2012
• Mobile Fusion releasing in April 2012
• PlayBook Admin Service releasing in Summer 2012
• Two new Curves for emerging markets. One Curve will be 2G only.

So that 10 inch BlackBerry PlayBook rumor has returned!  Maybe RIM really is going to do away with them.  I’m just hoping they are putting more and their primary focus on the BB10 smartphones more than anything else.

The latest from the wire is that RIM has plans to license BlackBerry 10 OS to other manufacturers.  To be clear, this means we could see BlackBerry 10 OS on other devices that are not BlackBerry branded.  Android has the same approach where it’s an operating system which many handset manufacturers use. Peter Misek, analyst from Jefferies & Co says that he thinks RIM is headed in that direction:

“We think some of this has already been started with RIM likely agreeing to license BlackBerry 10 to Samsung, HTC, and possibly others. This would help create a critical mass for the ecosystem and maintain RIM’s monthly service revenue; however, it puts more pressure on the hardware business in the short term. Longer term, it possibly gets people hooked on the RIM ecosystem and may in fact allow them to sell more BB 10 handsets (if they are able to create compelling handsets).”

If BlackBerry 10 does indeed become a likeable operating system, it could be appealing for manufacturers such as the already mentioned HTC and Samsung to put on their devices.  How do you feel about BlackBerry 10 OS on other hardware?

 

Source: MobileSyrup, Barrons