On our Canadian blog, we've been speculating for months now about the launch date of BlackBerry's new BB10 operating system, and most of all, about the two new BlackBerry devices that go along with it.
But the countdown has now officially begun! BlackBerry maker RIM recently that they'll be holding their BB10 launch event January 30, 2013. What's more, they'll be doing it simultaneously in different countries.
But perhaps more so than the OS itself, what many of us have really been waiting for is the hardware. The two new devices have been much-leaked over the past months, and have since been confirmed as a BlackBerry Curve-like Qwerty/touch phone and an all-touch device that will be the first of its kind for RIM.
RIM will be unveiling its new BB10 smartphones January 30, a Qwerty/touch phone and an all-touch device
So here's the really exciting part: not only will the January 30 event mark BB10's official launch, it'll also act as the unveiling for the two new BlackBerry handsets where the press release promises "details of the smartphones and their availability will be announced."
But Mobile Syrup thinks they've already got a handle on that. Citing a Reuters report that "has Kristian Tear, RIM’s Chief Operating Officer, going on record," Mobile Syrup says new BB 10 devices are expected to hit stores “not too long after” the January 30 event.
"Personally," writes Mobile Syrup, "‘not too long’ sounds like we could see them hit our carriers by February, but that’s purely speculation."
In any case, such a date, if accurate, would not only be squarely within the first quarter timeframe that RIM previously gave for the launch of BB10 and release of the new BlackBerry smartphones but would actually be ahead of the March date some analysts had projected.
