The buildup is over. President and CEO Thorsten Heins took to the stage today for the BlackBerry 10 Experience Launch event. Here is a summary of today’s event:
- Introduction:
- The most challenging but also most exhilarating year in his life
- Recognition for the RIM team for their hard work to get to this point
- Today is not the finish line but the starting line: BlackBerry 10 will keep people moving.
- Today is a new day in RIM’s history. Two years ago, RIM decided to go it alone with its own mobile operating system (based on QNX).
- Company rebrands: “From this point forward, RIM becomes BlackBerry.” / “One brand, one promise”
- Devices and BlackBerry 10:
- BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 (with physical keyboard) announced
- Irrespective of which one you choose, it will be the “best keyboard experience”
- BlackBerry 10: Demonstration of “BlackBerry Hub” multitasking along with “BlackBerry Peek” and “BlackBerry Flow”.
- BlackBerry 10: Demonstration of “BlackBerry Keyboard” – One thumb to do all your typing
- Multi-language predictive ability. Able to deal with typos like missed spaces
- BlackBerry 10: Demonstration of “BlackBerry Balance” to help separate work and personal work but applications coexist to facilitate switch back and forth
- New features in BBM include BBM Video and BBM Screenshare which lets you share your screen
- BlackBerry Remember demonstration
- BlackBerry Camera demonstration with TimeShift
- Picture Editor demonstration
- BlackBerry Story Maker: Video creation
- BlackBerry World: Over 70,000 applications available at launch including Skype, Amazon Kindle, WhatsApp, SAP, Angry Birds Star Wars
- BlackBerry World: All major record labels, TV and movie studios onboard
- Availability:
- US: BlackBerry Z10 coming in March from major carriers
- Canada: BlackBerry Z10 will be available starting February 5th. Pricing will start at CA$149.99 with a three-year contract.
- UK: BlackBerry Z10 to launch on January 30th
- BlackBerry Q10 expected to launch in April in U.S.
- In closing, Heins announced that Alicia Keys has been hired as BlackBerry Global Creative Director.
And that’s a wrap. Specific details about devices and availability to follow shortly.