No new phones at BlackBerry World

30 April 2012

Event will showcase upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS instead

Last week, we featured the BlackBerry Curve 9320, which was tipped to be one of the launches at BlackBerry World this week. Well, it now seems like it will not make its debut at the event, nor will any other phone.

That's right, no BlackBerry smartphones at the BlackBerry show, which seems strange, to say the least. But BlackBerry maker RIM is taking a longer-term approach, using the event to showcase its latest operating system, BlackBerry 10.

'We are not unveiling any BlackBerry 10 hardware,' a company representative told CNET.

RIM is going through some rocky times right now, with its most recent results showing a £78m quarterly loss and 21% fewer BlackBerry devices shipping in the last quarter compared to the previous one. It's bad, but it isn't terminal yet. Which is where BlackBerry 10 comes in.

BlackBerry 10 will be the new platform for both smartphones and tablets, as well as being a complete break from the current BlackBerry operating system (7.1). A flexible platform too, much like Android and iOS. The developer's kit should be launched this week, as well as a device to test it. But that will not be a phone.

Which is a shame, as we quite liked the idea of getting a first 'real' glimpse at the BlackBerry London pictured here, a phone that's scheduled to be the first BlackBerry 10 device. Sadly, that rumoured launch date of late 2012 still seems to stand, so it could be a long wait before anyone gets hands-on with a BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

Source: CNET