On Wednesday, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins announced they new Blackberry 10 OS and the two phones that will run on it – Z10 and Q10. This announcement came with a lot of pomp-and-show at an over-the-top New York City event. Overall, the marketing monies spent on the new OS announcement is very large, as is seen with the million-dollar Superbowl ad coming up on Sunday – a first for Research In Motion. To add to the glamor, RIM announced that Alicia Keys is going to be its new Global Creative Director. The event started on a positive note and RIM shares were up 4%. But then Heins dropped the ball – the phones won’t be available in the U.S. until mid-March.
The Blackberry10 launch is already coming after a long series of delays and missed dates. RIM has a reputation for dallying production and the company was only able to get the final versions of the phones to U.S. carriers in the last couple of weeks. U.S. carriers have an extensive testing procedure to ensure that the phones are compatible with their services that usually lasts around 6 weeks. Hence, the mid-March estimate for the phones to hit the market. This can have some really negative consequences for RIM, as the buzz created by its widespread marketing efforts is likely to die by this time. The Canadian company’s shares closed at 12% in the red by the end of the event.
The company blames U.S.’s stringent testing policies for the delay. In countried like Canada, U.K. and UAE, where these are absent, Z10 and Q10 will hit the shelves in the next two weeks. However, logic says that RIM obviously knew of the testing time and should have accounted for it during production. The good news is that all four top U.S. carriers will be carrying one or both of the new phones. Verizon announced that the Z10 will cost $199 with contract, but there is no pricing or availability information from any other carriers just yet.
Blackberry 10 is RIM’s long-overdue attempt that gaining back the market share it lost to iOS and Android users. The Z10 is an only-touchscreen phone that is slightly bigger than the iPhone, while the Q10 has a smaller touchscreen and the signature Blackberry QWERTY keyboard. The company also announced that it will be changing its name to Blackberry.
