As BlackBerry Jam kicked off today, Research In Motion CEO Thorsten Heins revealed during the keynote that it now has 80 million BlackBerry subscribers. The news came as a surprise to many as RIM had been widely expected to announce either a drop or a stall in its subscriber numbers when it announces its latest fiscal results later this week.
RIM had reported that its subscriber base stood at 78 million users when it announced financial results back in June. It’s likely that most of this growth came from emerging markets where its cheaper devices remain popular.
Heins also said that BlackBerry 10 was getting a positive reaction from carriers that have seen the software and upcoming BlackBerry devices:
“We are making believers out of our partners. We are making believers out of those who had previously written BlackBerry off,” Heins said.
BlackBerry 10 remains on track to launch in early 2013. Carrier testing is set to start in October.
RIM will start to accept BlackBerry 10 application submissions on October 10th. Its BlackBerry App World will also be updated for BlackBerry 10 devices.