TORONTO – RIM just announced that the upcoming Blackberry 10 will no longer have their signature keyboard. The model will be released with along with the other high end Blackberry products. The Blackberry 10 will be the first ever full-touch screen smartphone released by RIM thus making people believe that the company will start selling full-touch screen smartphones from now on.
The best-selling smart phones these days all have full-touch capabilities which is why it is about time that RIM starts offering one of their own. However, RIM’s attempts to do so in the past have all failed. So what makes them feel positive about the Blackberry 10? It’s high tech specifications!
Most businessmen prefer Blackberry phones because of the presence of physical keyboard. After all, it really is more difficult to write long emails on a touch screen phone.
The launch of the BlackBerry 10 has been pushed to the first quarter of 2013. This makes consumers a little doubtful about whether or not purchasing one would be worth their buck since the one thing that they love most about Blackberry phones no longer exists with the upcoming model. Furthermore, competitors such as Apple and Samsung are also coming up with units that are business use friendly.
Perhaps RIM’s best bet would be the BlackBerry 20. At the moment, plans are still being drawn up for the said unit but RIM aims to provide high quality multimedia viewing, faster internet browsing, and new applications that customers are looking for.
Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Financial, wonders why RIM decided to launch a smartphone that doesn’t come with a keyboard.
“The keyboard that has been present in past Blackberry phones is the key element that differentiates Research In Motion from its competitors,” he said. “If they do not ride on their own strengths, they could lose out tremendously.”
RIM’s smartphone sales fell sharply from 44% in 2009 to 10% in 2010.
