There’s also apparently a fixed, non-user-accessible 1,800 mAh battery, together with 2GB of memory and 8GB of storage. The display apparently runs at 720 x 720 resolution, just as per the BlackBerry Q10, and runs BlackBerry 10.1 OS.

So far we’ve seen the R10 leak in black, white, and red, which suggests either BlackBerry is having some fun with its color schemes or, alternatively, the company will be offering multiple colors at retail. Given the BlackBerry R10 is presumed to be the BlackBerry 10 equivalent of a Curve-series phone, that would make sense for the youth market traditionally keen on Curve variants.

Although touchscreen text-entry has found favor on most platforms, and indeed BlackBerry 10 itself has a refined on-screen system for the Z10, the Canadian company is reluctant to step away completely from physical ‘boards. Expectations for the Q10 are high, within BlackBerry at least, with ambitions of “tens of millions” of the phone being sold.

[via MobileSyrup]

Department of Defense employees can now use both Blackberry 10 smartphones and the PlayBook in conjunction with Blackberry’s Enterprise Serivce 10 on the agency’s networks. This approval covers both the Blackberry Z10 and the Blackberry Q10 handsets, both of which are now listed on the DISA’s Unified Communications Approved Product List.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal yesterday, both Samsung and Apple will be seeing approval separately for their devices. Reportedly, Samsung will get approval for use with the agency’s internal email, and Apple will get approval for iOS use with “nonclassified communications” methods that weren’t specified. With Blackberry getting its approval today, it is reasonable to assume the other two will be seeing theirs shortly as well.

Blackberry’s Senior Vice President of Blackberry Security Scott Totzke said: “BlackBerry 10 is ideal for our government customers because it offers a rich, highly responsive mobile computing experience … This approval will enable DoD customers to connect their BlackBerry Z10 or BlackBerry Q10 smartphones to DoD networks and securely access assets from work, while enjoying the wealth of consumer-oriented functionality that BlackBerry 10 brings to market.”

[via Blackberry]

Speaking at the Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles this week, Bloomberg reports, Heins vaguely outlined his reasoning behind the dark prediction. “Maybe [you'll have] a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such” the CEO suggested. “Tablets themselves are not a good business model.”

You certainly can’t blame Heins for being pessimistic about slates, given the failure of the BlackBerry PlayBook. RIM – as it was known back when the PlayBook was released – launched its 7-inch iPad rival back in 2011 as a companion device to BlackBerry 7 handsets, but the tablet’s limited standalone functionality left consumers non-plussed, and by the time the OS – a precursor of the BlackBerry 10 platform on the Q10 and Z10 – was reworked, the company had already resorted to slashing prices in order to clear shelves.

Heins has since suggested that, while a tablet isn’t necessarily off the table, BlackBerry will need to see the opportunity to do something uniquely special before it’s tempted back into that particular market. “I want to gain as much market share as I can,” he said in an interview back in January 2013, “but not by being a copycat.”

The negativity around slates has led to suggestions that BlackBerry is in no hurry to – and may in fact never – replace the PlayBook, despite originally arguing that one of the strengths of the QNX-based BlackBerry 10 OS is its cross-platform flexibility across phone and tablet-scale devices. One possibility, meanwhile, is that increasingly powerful phones could be used to drive the “big screen in your workplace” Heins mentioned; the Z10 and Q10 already support HDMI output to a separate display.

That puts the potential audience for Skype on BlackBerry 10 relatively low, at least for the moment, though plans to update Z10 devices to OS 10.1 are already afoot. Skype says that BlackBerry expects that to happen “in the near future” at which point the app will install.

Though described as a “preview”, Skype for BlackBerry 10 does show some significant integration into the core platform. Based on a port of the Android version, rather than built natively for BB10 from the ground up, it has a new UI – suited to the Q10′s squared-off touchscreen – and automatically funnels Skype contacts into the smartphone’s phonebook.

There’s also Skype notification support in the BlackBerry Hub, which means incoming chat requests, file transfers, and contact invite requests – among other things – will pop up in the unified inbox BlackBerry refined for its latest platform. The app can be used for sharing photos, videos, and other files, as well as for making SkypeOut calls to phones not using Skype.

Skype for BlackBerry 10 is already in the BlackBerry World store, where it’s a free download.

With the BlackBerry Q10, the company delivers its QWERTY smartphone experience for their full-fledged BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system launch. This device works with a display that’s a little over half the size of their Z10 model and offers a full physical keyboard in portrait mode.

The release of the BlackBerry Q10 will tend to traditional-style BlackBerry users as the original BlackBerry craze centered around physical keyboards and internet connectivity primarily. Though we’ve not yet seen a BlackBerry 10 device coming with a trackball between the display and the keyboard, we wouldn’t put it out of BlackBerry’s range of possibilities.

Have a peek at our timeline of BlackBerry Q10 bits and pieces below and get ready for the final launch of the Q10 for more than just business users. If what we’ve seen with the Z10 remains true of the Q10, this launch will be decent, if not simply satisfying for traditional BlackBerry fans.

This program is entirely separate from BlackBerry’s own Android initiative – you’ll find that previous reports have put the number of “repackaged Android apps” in the BlackBerry 10 library at 40 percent. That’s no small number for a platform that’s competing with both Android and the iPhone for market share in the mobile industry. Be it BlackBerry’s own Android toolset or Unity’s new offering, it would appear that BlackBerry 10 is seeking developers from widely successful environments left and right.

The offering Unity has here is a toolset which allows an app developer to create apps for multiple platforms at once. Developers will be able to create with what would at first appear to be the same tools and workflow they normally employ for iOS or Android, but here the end result will be a BlackBerry 10 app. These apps will work on the BlackBerry Z10, the BlackBerry Q10, and eventually whatever other BlackBerry 10 devices arrive on the market.

At the moment this setup is being pushed to only the most advanced developers, while the final workflow will be released in a form that Unity Technologies will aim at a more broad developer user base. This release will be followed soon after by a set of tools for those developers hoping to create apps for Windows Phone 8, as well.

With the BlackBerry Q10 you’ll be seeing pre-orders beginning from today at Vodafone – grab one if you’re living in the United Kingdom only! If you do want one and live inside the UK, you’re in luck: Vodafone has promised that this device is one of the first to have the built-in ability to work with the 4G LTE networks appearing soon throughout the region!

Here in the USA we’re expecting this device to also appear with 4G LTE capabilities built-in as the device will be appearing on several networks with 4G LTE as a standard feature on all smartphones. The BlackBerry Q10 is also a device we’ve had some hands-on time with – have a peek at our BlackBerry Q10 hands-on experience right this minute, or stick around for the preview video here:

This BlackBerry Q10 device is working with a 3.1-inch touchscreen with 330 PPI resolution and Super AMOLED technology. Below this display you’ll find the device’s full physical QWERTY keyboard and a full rounded-edged body that’ll have BlackBerry addicts screeching for joy. Keep your eyes peeled for more BlackBerry Q10 action in the near future right here on SlashGear!

[via Vodafone]

Below you’ll see an image presented by BlackBerryOS who say they’re all about the idea of it being a new R-Series BlackBerry device called the BB10 Curve. This smartphone is said to come with less RAM, less processor power, and not quite as much excellence on the whole. But you’ll still be working with BlackBerry 10, so perhaps it’s not all bad – and the price will certainly be affordable!

Then there’s the top-notch BlackBerry Q10, the QWERTY keyboard version of the Z10, BlackBerry 10′s heroes the both of them. Have a peek at our BlackBerry Q10 hands-on right this minute to understand the power. Today’s news includes the first official pre-orders from Carphone Warehouse in the UK – that includes T-Mobile, Three, EE, O2, and TalkMobile.

Have a peek at the timeline below of recent BlackBerry goings-on to see how this BlackBerry 10 universe is expanding at an interesting rate. We’ll be having our own look at the Q10 in the near future in a full review – then the R-Series as well if it does end up existing on the market, yes indeed. BlackBerry 10 makes its big push!

Blackberry CEO Thorsten Heins states that the company will be launching its Blackberry 7 devices in emerging markets, more specifically to the countries who have always been loyal to Blackbery’s products. While Apple and Samsung are the major players in the bigger markets, Blackberry is still one of the top players in the emerging markets, like Nigeria, where its devices top those of other companies.

After bringing Blackberry 7 devices to those markets, Heins says that the company will also be launching lower-end Blackberry 10 devices as well. Heins states, “We’re not excluding those markets from Blackberry 10 because of us wanting to sell Blackberry 7.” Blackberry plans on bringing a wide-variety of low to mid-ranged devices “that covers the entry-level market”. He states that the company needs to appeal to all the markets in order to turn a profit.

Along with releasing these lower-end devices, Heins states that the company is also working on developing a variety of new services and features that they can monetize. The new features will tie in mainly with Blackberry Messenger. One of the new features, BBM Money, will allow users to transfer money to each other through the app. Blackberry plans on developing its portfolio even further this year, which we sort of have an idea of thanks to the leaked Blackberry Roadmap. The Blackberry Z10 is a phenomenal device, and once more people get to see that, Blackberry may be able to pull off a successful comeback. Check out our Blackberry Z10 review to see if its the device for you.

[via CBC]

In our original BlackBerry Z10 Review, Chris Davies spoke about both the hardware and the software in great detail. Lucky for you, not a whole lot has changed since that device was ready for action nearly 2 months ago. Here with the Verizon version we’ve only got the addition of big red’s 4G LTE connectivity compatibility and a couple of Verizon account apps.

With My Verizon Mobile and Backup Plus Contacts you’ll now have the ability to work with your Verizon bill and monitor the data you’ve used during the month. You’ll be able to back up your contact list with Verizon as often as you’d like. And that’s it.

This version of the BlackBerry Z10 uses the same 2 megapixel camera on the front, the same 8 megapixel camera on the back with LED flash, and the same processor under the hood. Inside you’ll find the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor, the same that exists in every version of the Z10 that exists thus far – this same processor is used in such phones as the Samsung Galaxy S III (USA edition), the Motorola DROID RAZR HD, and the HTC One X (USA edition). You’ll also find the first, most updated, and only version of BlackBerry 10 mobile OS on the market.

Up front you’ve got a lovely 4.2-inch 1280 x 768 pixel LCD display, complete with the third-densest pixel arrangement on the market. While the HTC One wins at the moment with 468 Pixels Per Inch, and the HTC DROID DNA is in second (with the Xperia Z and GALAXY S 4) with 441 PPI, the BlackBerry Z10 stands alone as holding the only display on the market with 355 PPI. Of course at that level of density, it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between the lot with the naked eye, but it’s always fun to compare!

Have a peek at our hands-on photos above and below, keep your eye tuned to our BlackBerry Z10 tag portal for more information on this device and see the timeline below for our adventures with BlackBerry 10 up to and including this week!

If you’re all about the least-expensive of this notoriously business-oriented smartphone lineup, it looks like you’ll be waiting until mid-year. According to Heins, “various markets” will be getting a so-called “midrange” BlackBerry 10 device, while up until then the world will be working with the two top-tier devices we’ve seen thus far. Heins added that the company was looking forward to [this midrange release] because [BlackBerry] knowss that there’s a big demand even in the midrange.”

This announcement has this lesser BlackBerry device pinned for right around September – that’s not halfway through the year, you might say, but Heins wasn’t talking about the normal year, he referred instead to the fiscal year. BlackBerry’s fiscal year just ended with this particular earnings call, the next starting presently.

This midrange machine’s existence will quite likely hinge on the success of the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10, both of which are hitting the market either immediately or rather soon. Have a peek at the rest of the earnings call results in our BlackBerry earnings wrap-up and hit the timeline below for more BlackBerry 10 hands-on magic!

The event was a huge success. How successful? Over 20,000 Android apps were successfully ported to the Blackberry 10 App World. That’s 20% of all the apps available in the Blackberry ecosystem. Martyn Mallick, Vice President for Global Alliances and Business Development for Blackberry, stated that porting Android apps to Blackberry 10 was a great way to increase Blackberry’s app data base. He said, “Our users deserve to have great content. If that is the fastest way we can get some of that content, that’s great.”

While it does have many big name companies bringing apps to its platform, there are still two companies that are holding out. Both Instagram and Netflix stated that they had no intentions of bringing their apps to Blackberry 10. Netflix is speculated to be holding out because it doesn’t see enough incentive in developing for the platform. Mallick stated, “There are some partners where their priorities are elsewhere, not even necessarily in mobile.”

However, despite those two declining to help Blackberry, Mallick is still optimistic about the Blackberry App World. He stated that many developers only intended to port their apps to Blackberry and that was it. But eventually, developers started developing native apps for Blackberry 10 devices. A lot of them are adding Blackberry 10-specific features, like Amazon with its Kindle port.

Mallick also assures developers that they don’t have to worry about fragmentation, because the first set of Blackberry 10 devices will have one of two screen sizes. Developers are still a bit wary about the Blackberry Z10′s slow sales, however, Mallick, like many others, stated that the Blackberry Z10 just needs some more time to get its foot off the ground. If you’ve been considering buying a Blackberry Z10, check out our hands-on review for the device here.

[via All Things D]

Brightstar is a big, wireless distributor that distributes products all around the world. About 40% of its revenue was composed of Blackberry handset sales a couple of years ago. Brightstar had enough confidence in Blackberry’s new product in order to place such a massive order, and since it operates globally, it has a better chance, than AT&T and Verizon Wireless, to resell all of its Blackberry Z10 devices.

Brightstar also acts as a buffer for companies like Verizon Wireless. Mark Gerber, managing director at Detwiler Fenton, a Research House, stated that Verizon is using Brightstar to “handle the big-box retail and dealer agent channels” for the Blackberry Z10. Gerber believes that Verizon Wireless doesn’t have enough faith in the Blackberry Z10, otherwise it would sell the product on its own.

Operating through a 3rd party is Verizon’s safety net if the Z10 doesn’t do well on its network. It’s a conscientious move on Verizon’s part. Goldman Sachs’s research showed that the Blackberry Z10′s launch on AT&T was disappointing. The firm checked over 20 various AT&T, Best Buy, and Radio Shack stores to confirm their research. However, the firm did say that it wasn’t the product itself that was bad, but the company’s and Blackberry’s lack of marketing support for the device.

[via All Things D]

Of course, business customers on T-Mobile were able to get their precious Z10s a bit earlier, but that’s quite a niche group of folks that we don’t really count. AT&T is the first carrier to offer the new device to the general public. Verizon will begin the BlackBerry Z10 next week, but if you just can’t wait that long, consider hopping on over AT&T to grab the latest device on the market right now.

The Z10 features a 4.2-inch display with a 1280×768 resolution, resulting in a whopping 356 ppi pixel density, which is quite impressive. Under the hood there’s a dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz with 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage space, with the option to increase that by 32GB with a microSD card.

The phone features an 8MP rear camera capable of shooting full 1080p HD video, and a 2MP front-facing shooter that can record 720p HD video, so make sure you look good before you chat with friends or family, because the clarity will point out that bad hair day. Other than that, there’s an 1,800mAh battery, micro HDMI support, and Bluetooth 4.0 on the inside.

Said Heins, “There’s one new product I’m really excited about, but I can’t really share it.” He went on to state that the phone’s launch is planned in time for the year-end holidays, but that he cannot say with absolute certainty that it will roll out in time. What he does say, however, is that the device “takes Blackberry 10 to another level in terms of the user experience.”

A statement which, given the relatively near release date, might give pause to those who were planning on the grabbing the Z10, which went up for pre-order earlier this month and will be available from multiple carriers in just a few days. While the Z10 has been getting all the attention, Blackberry also unveiled the Q10, which features a physical QWERTY keyboard and will be available next month or the month after.

Speaking of a physical Blackberry keyboard, Google’s Eric Schmidt revealed this week that is he a Blackberry user, and his reason for using the non-Android handset is because he likes the keyboard. He should be happy to hear, then, that Blackberry’s CEO said the company will roll out three tiers of devices, each one offering both touchscreen and QWERTY options.

[via CNET]

Though a real straight-up pull-quote has yet to be found, it’s been said by the Guardian that Schmidt’s desires lie in the keyboard of the BlackBerry he continues to use to this day. Of course there are many Android alternatives for those addicted to BlackBerry who cannot get off the idea that they need a physical keyboard, but it’s apparent that Schmidt will not be deterred.

It’s assumed that Schmidt means the physical keyboard when he says “the keyboard”, since the next-generation on-screen keyboard in BlackBerry 10 being choice for Schmidt over Android’s plethora of keyboard options, well, that’d just be too much to swallow. As it stands, BlackBerry 10 as an OS and as a smartphone lineup has yet to hit the United States – it’s on the way soon and very soon.

With Schmidt also talking about the way we must consider the privacy of others and how China is laying low its society’s ability to use the web, we must also note that one of the main reasons the Google Executive Chairman had this particular interview was because he’d just left North Korea. There he’d been speaking as evangelist for a more open internet in the top half of the Korean land mass, attempting to knock some sense into the government – and whoever else would listen – with chat about how their economy would flourish if given the chance.

Have a peek at the timeline below for more wild and wacky adventures of Eric Schmidt and don’t you dare leave without letting us know if you’re thinking about tossing your Android smartphone out the window the moment BlackBerry 10 hits your local mobile carrier!

What’s perhaps more impressive, however, is the fact that BlackBerry World gained 30,000 apps in just seven weeks, since the company reported back in January that they were at the 70,000-app mark. Of course, this isn’t too surprising, and frankly it’s quite expected, as BlackBerry has been offering incentives for developers who create apps for BlackBerry 10.

Plenty of popular apps are available from BlackBerry World, including Facebook, Foursquare, NOVA 3, and Angry Birds. Also, BlackBerry announced that Amazon’s Kindle app just launched today, and “in the coming weeks,” BlackBerry 10 users will be treated with even more apps, such as eBay, eMusic, MLB at Bat, Rdio, Skype, and Soundhound.

The BlackBerry Z10 will hit the US starting tomorrow on AT&T, while BlackBerry’s PlayBook tablet will receive an update to BlackBerry 10 sometime in the near future. 100,000 apps may not seem like a lot compared to Google’s or Apple’s own offerings, but it’s certainly a good start for such a new platform, and we expect BlackBerry World to keep growing over the next few years.

The folks over at Electronista say they have received information from “well-placed sources familiar with the matter” that the Department of Defense has a pending order for over half a million Apple devices, which will go through after the sequester ends. This follows reports that Blackberry’s BB 10 handsets were given the kibosh in an effort to reduce costs.

The sources went on to break down the numbers, stating that the order will be comprised of 200,000 iPod Touches, 100,000 iPad minis, and 120,000 iPads. For those doing the math, this leaves another 200,000+ empty slots that will be filled with “various iPhones,” meaning some government workers won’t be lucky enough to score the iPhone 5. Still, this order is being placed, the sources say, to satisfy “needs that can’t wait.”

Reportedly, the majority of these Apple devices will be sent to those on the “battlefield [and] afloat,” as well as to support commands related to both. The devices left over from that will almost exclusively stay with Pentagon personnel, and whatever remains will find homes in various other locations. The blow for Blackberry comes from another source, which stated that these Apple devices will replace almost all Blackberry devices in use that aren’t BB 10 compatible.

[via Electronista]

“The user interface on the iPhone, with all due respect for what this invention was all about is now five years old” he concluded. In contrast, Heins claimed, BlackBerry 10 is better at multi-tasking than Apple’s phone, .

The CEO wouldn’t be drawn on specific sales figures, pointing out that BlackBerry is in a quiet period ahead of announcing its latest financial results. However, he did re-confirm that the company is considering the potential for licensing BlackBerry 10 – assuming it could find other manufacturers sufficiently interested in using it on their own devices – but said that, right now, the focus is on the roll-out of the Z10.

Hardware we shouldn’t expect to see delivered any time soon is a tablet, though. Here, Heins gives Apple a little more credit: “Kudos to Apple, I think they really managed to own that space, so it doesn’t make sense for me to just take this head on” he conceded. “I need to figure out, for my enterprise customers, for my consumers, for my BB10 audience, what can I do that provides them a mobile computing experience in the form factor of a tablet, which goes beyond just the puristic tablet experience.”

That stance echoes comments by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, who has repeatedly said that the Finnish firm will only wade into the tablet space once it can find a sufficiently unique angle to take with it. “I think the profit pool is very very thin,” BlackBerry’s Heins mused.

Verizon boasts a black version of the Blackberry Z10 in addition to the white one offered by AT&T. The handset costs $200 with a two-year contract, a price that many feel is too steep for a phone that the company is hinging so much on. While many handsets have been launched at this price point, including the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III, Blackberry isn’t a major player in the market, leading some to question the wisdom in the pricing. You can read more about this in our write up here.

If you’re a Blackberry faithful, however, or want to give the platform a shot and aren’t afraid to drop $200 and take on a new 2-year contract, you can head over to Verizon and place your order now. Still undecided? Read our review of the Blackberry Z10 to get a better idea of whether it’s the phone for you.

The BB Z10 features a 4.2-inch 1280 x 768 display, as well as a 2-megapixel front camera and an 8-megapixel rear camera with an LED flash. Inside, users will find a Qualcomm MSM8960 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 2GB of RAM, as well as 16GB of internal storage. There’s a microSD slot for storage expansion with support for up to 32GB.

[via PC World]

The application allows users to exchange messages using the same mobile web connectivity used for checking e-mail and browsing the web. That means there’s no additional cost to stay in touch with friends who use the app. That is assuming you stay within your data limits naturally.

BlackBerry says that the app offers a fantastic experience to BlackBerry 10 users that leverages the multitasking capability of the devices. The app offers instant push notifications to alert users when a message is received, even if the screen is locked. The app is also fully integrated with BlackBerry Contacts supporting automatic contact scanning to build your contact list and help you start messaging people right away.

The app is available to download starting today via BlackBerry World. WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton says that BlackBerry has been a great platform for WhatsApp for many years. The app was officially announced yesterday, but could’ve taken 24 hours to appear on the BlackBerry World storefront. That means it should be there today and ready for download.

[via BlackBerry]

The only information supplied provided is that the order came from an established partner, but Blackberry declined specifying what it means by such a statement or who that partner is. In addition to carriers, Blackberry supplies devices for both corporations and governments agencies, although the number that use its handsets declined dramatically in 2012.

Said Blackberry’s Executive Vice President of Global Sales Rick Costanzo, “An order for 1 million devices is a tremendous vote of confidence in BlackBerry 10. Consumers are ready for a new user experience, and BlackBerry 10 delivers. With strong partner support, coupled with this truly re-invented new platform, we have a powerful recipe for success.”

Bloomberg, which is reporting on the story, reached out to the major carriers – Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint – none of which offered a statement about whether they were involved in the transaction. While the latter two declined commenting, Verizon hasn’t yet given a comment either way. The announcement resulted in an 8.2-percent jump in shares.

[via Business Week]

$200 has become the “norm” for a new high-end phone launch. The Galaxy S III arrived at $199.99; the iPhone 5 did too. HTC’s One will likely command the same amount when it hits US carriers in the coming months. The carriers have settled on a figure that has proved to be psychologically acceptable for the mass market (even if that mass market would probably save itself some money by paying full-whack for its new phone rather than expecting a network subsidy).

Whether it’s AT&T, Verizon, or BlackBerry itself, however, the pricing for the Z10 seems to have been knee-jerk rather than fully thought-through. Yes, $200 may be the expected price, but the Z10 comes to the market as a challenger, not as another proven quantity. Price was the first point at which the networks could properly express that challenger appetite, but they opted not to.

Sure, the BlackBerry faithful will probably stomach two-hundred bucks to get their hands on what’s a significant improvement over their existing phones. Yet selling to the same, minority-share market – one which has seen many deserters already jump ship to Android or iPhone – isn’t a strategy for growth. BlackBerry 10 needs fresh blood attracted to the platform, not just more of the same.

The closest comparison is probably Windows Phone, which is also fighting to build its share in the smartphone segment. Verizon will sell you an HTC 8X for $99.99 with a new agreement, however, while AT&T will happily hand over a Nokia 920 at the same price. Like the Z10, neither is a perfect device, but Windows Phone undoubtedly has its strengths and with the pricing, both carriers are making them look especially appealing for new smartphone users.

BlackBerry took the decision to eschew Android and use its own platform; I can respect that. However, it also needs to wake up to the reality of the situation it thus finds itself in as a company, trying to break into a hectic and aggressive market with an unproven OS. That’s a tough fight at the best of times, but pushing for premium pricing as well seems at best an unnecessary challenge and at worst a clear misreading of the mobile industry today.

The Z10 will use AT&T’s LTE network, for faster download speeds, but early-adopters of the new BlackBerry 10 platform will have to stomach the usual two-year commitment and a price more commonly associated with a new iPhone or top-tier Android device. That could be overly-ambitious for AT&T and BlackBerry, with the Z10 decidedly occupying the “challenger” category right now.

As we found in our review, the Z10 does some things well – the screen is good, and the software is a significant improvement over BlackBerry 7 – but it also falls short in places. Mediocre low-light camera performance has in part been addressed by a recent firmware update, but the handset also has middling design and build quality in comparison to, say, Apple’s phone.

Still, AT&T isn’t the only carrier to have high expectations for what BlackBerry fans might pay. Verizon confirmed some time ago that it would be offering the Z10 this month, also pricing it at $199.99 with a new, two-year agreement. T-Mobile, meanwhile, will begin sales to business customers from today.

Carphone Warehouse has reduced the pricing of its Blackberry Z10 devices down from 36 euros per month to 29 euros per month with a 29 euro up-front cost. The total price-reduction is said to equal about 160 euros. Vodaphone has reduced the pricing of its Z10 to around 33 euros per month, which is about a 72 euro total price reduction throughout the entire contract.

James Faucette, an analyst at Pacific Crest stated, “We believe that meaningful price cuts so soon after launch, while probably at the initial discretion of the carriers, is likely to relegate the Z10 to being a mid-tier device with very low gross margins.” The price-reduction sends out a bad message saying that the new OS still isn’t enough to attract users from other popular platforms like Android or iOS.

Many critics have stated, however, that the Blackberry Z10 is a great device. It has an intuitive UI, beautiful design, and is great at multi-tasking and productivity. The app base is at a great start, with over 70,000 apps being available at launch. Blackberry has even reported that 1/3 of British Z10 owners did not previously own a Blackberry device. Blackberry has come a long way and is delivering the user experience consumers have been asking for. Here’s hoping for a successful U.S. launch.

[via The Telegraph]

Netflix didn’t say exactly why they weren’t planning on developing an app for Blackberry 10, but sources have told All Things D that its because Blackberry 10 doesn’t have a big enough user base. Without a huge user base like Android, iOS, or even Windows Phone, Netflix wouldn’t receive a lot of returned benefits from its app on Blackberry, so it decided to forgo the developing costs of creating the app.

Things may change in the future when Blackberry 10 starts attracting more and more users. Netflix didn’t say they were never going to work with Blackberry 10. It’s just following Instagram’s footsteps and is waiting the situation out. Though if those two companies partnered up with Blackberry 10, wouldn’t it be enticing enough to attract many users over to the developing platform? Perhaps developing their apps would prove to be a win-win situation.

Even without Netflix and Instagram, Blackberry 10 still has a decent amount of popular apps like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Skype to hold it over. It has a catalog of over 70,000 apps, 40% which is comprised of Android apps, and the list will keep growing. Sooner or later, Netflix and Instagram will join in on the fun. Alex Kinsella, a spokesman for Blackberry, is hoping for the former however. He says, “We hope they choose to bring a Blackberry 10 experience to their customers. We’d love to have them.”

[via All Things D]

This information was given to the folks over at AllThingsD by sources who are said to be close to Instagram. While one source said there was a possibility – “There will be no Instagram for BB10 for now.” – they also said they weren’t sure there would ever be a native app. Fortunately, however, Instagram lovers who want to embrace the BB10 platform won’t be entirely out of luck.

It has been reported for awhile now that Instagram for Android is being actively ported for Blackberry 10, meaning that those desperate enough for it will have an option. As we have seen with many ported apps, however, it’ll likely be an inferior product when compared to the native versions running on other mobile OSs. The app won’t be optimized for BB10.

Instagram hasn’t said why it won’t be making a native app for Blackberry 10, though one can speculate that it’s due to the effort/reward ratio in doing so. BB10′s userbase is substantially smaller than Android and iOS, and Instagram’s team isn’t the largest out there. When asked about it, Blackberry stated that it is “actively engaged around Instagram support for BB10.” What do you say? Is lack of a native Instagram app something that would prevent you from adopting the BB10 platform? Let us know in the comments.

[via AllThingsD]

The 4.2-inch display for the Z10 costs around $26.50. The 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor costs about $23.50. The 8MP rear-facing camera and 2MP front-facing camera totals about $15. The 16GB internal storage costs around $9.00. The other components, including the battery, communication chips, and RAM total $21.00. Finally, the casing, as well as the other small electronics included in the Z10 total around $59.00. All of this adds up to $154.

The Blackberry Z10 is slightly more expensive to create compared to the iPhone 5, which costs about $139 to make. But in the Z10′s defense, the Z10 has a bigger, higher resolution screen, more RAM, and a bigger battery. Blackberry hasn’t released how much the unsubsidized price for the Blackberry Z10 yet, so we can’t really determine how much profit Blackberry makes off each phone.

The Blackberry Z10 won’t launch in the U.S. until March, and it has been confirmed, at least by Verizon Wireless, that the device will retail with a subsidized price of $199.99. Blackberry is hoping that with its new OS overhaul, it will be able to compete in a market that it once used to dominate. While many people are loving the new UI that comes with the Blackberry 10 OS, it will still be hard for Blackberry to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung, who is rumored to be announcing its new, highly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S IV on March 15th.

[via CNN Money]

Where TI was previously a mainstay for processors and chips in BlackBerry phones, the Z10 instead looks to Qualcomm for its 1.5GHz dualcore processor, 3G/LTE modem, GPU, power management chip, GPS, and more. TI is relegated to providing the WiFi/Bluetooth/FM combo chip, while Samsung donates the flash memory and RAM.

Perhaps more interesting than the origin of the components is the decision process BlackBerry (nee RIM) seemingly made in how they were combined, something which is supposedly strongly reminiscent of Samsung’s assembly strategy with the Galaxy series. Various parts – from the processor that’s also in the LTE Galaxy S III, to the new WCD9310 audio codec in the same phone – seem to indicate that BlackBerry certainly knows who its key rivals are.

“It’s not certain if these decisions the designers made on what semiconductors, ICs and other modules to use were by design or by accident” UBM concludes, “but based on the relative success of the Samsung Galaxy S3, it isn’t a bad model to draw from.”

If you’re more interested in how the BlackBerry Z10 – and BlackBerry 10 as a platform – performs when the phone is in one piece, check out our full review.

[via Gizmodo]

According to the New York Times, more than one tweet was present on her Twitter account from the iPhone, as well as images recently taken with Instagram, which you won’t find on any Blackberry handset. All of the activity has since been deleted, but it nonetheless makes her response to the issue seem less plausible than it would have if only one iPhone-sent tweet was present – that she was hacked.

As you can see in the screenshot above, Keys says that she did not send out the “Started from the bottom now were [sic] here” tweet, instead blaming it on being “hacked.” Her spokesperson has a different angle to the story, however, insinuating that Keys’ posted those tweets before officially “breaking up” with her iPhone.

Said Keys’ spokesman Rhett Usry: “The Internet is buzzing with speculation as to the exact time Alicia Keys ‘broke up’ with her previous smart phone. After a transitional period, she’s officially an exclusive BlackBerry 10 user today.” Which is it? We’ll never know, but the moral of the story is either to keep your Twitter password secret, or be careful when using a handset other than the one you’re supposed to exclusively represent.

[via The Verge]

The big switch will affect Home Depot store managers and corporate employees on the whole, while the general store employee population are not currently smartphone-carrying members, so to speak. When you work at Home Depot ranked any member Store Manager or above, a corporate smartphone plan goes into effect. With the brand new reveal and release of the BlackBerry 10 mobile OS, it would appear that the home repair and construction supply company is not suitably impressed.

Employees that work on the floor – those that you the customer would interact with on the daily, behind the counter and helping you load up planks of wood into your odd carts – will continue to use Motorola smartphones. According to inside sources speaking with Apple Insider, the iPhone switch will not affect the some 60,000 employees working with the “rugged” Motorola phones currently in use by floor employees.

This is not the first company to have tossed BlackBerry aside over the past few months, but given that Home Depot is the fifth largest retailer in the entire modern world, it’s certainly a significant one. Keep your eyes on the prize, BlackBerry, and make sure you prove yourselves to the enterprise universe real quick! Have a peek at the timeline below to see other recent BlackBerry happenings to keep track of the magic!

[Image via Martin Hajek]

Cavanagh said that a BlackBerry 10 port actually wasn’t something he had originally lined up, but a friend who helped port the game to Android wanted to do the same for BlackBerry 10, as he maintains the unofficial Blackberry port of openFrameworks. Cavanagh had no qualms of porting the game to yet another device and decided to give it a shot.

Cavanagh also says that a BlackBerry tablet version of the game (read: PlayBook) may come along eventually, but there’s no guarantees. In the meantime, Z10 owners in the UK and Canada can grab the game for $2.99. Users in the US will sadly have to wait until March to get their hands on a new Z10, but that’s just right around the corner.

If you’re not familiar with Super Hexagon, it’s essentially an action game that has you guiding a small cursor through gaps that appear randomly from six sides (hence “Hexagon”), but you have to act quick, since the barriers come at you pretty fast. Just like with VVVVVV, the game is meant to be an incredible challenge. It’s currently available for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and of course, BlackBerry 10.

While Reuters couldn’t reach the company for comment, the folks over at Engadget did get a response from a company spokesperson who confirmed the rumors. In the response, the spokesperson said: “Japan is not a major market for BlackBerry and we have no plans to launch BlackBerry 10 devices there at this time. However, we will continue to support BlackBerry customers in Japan.”

On Wednesday, we reported that BlackBerry 10 had a wildly successful launch day in Canada, where the company broke its own records by 50-percent. In addition, BlackBerry has reported that its sales in the UK are nearly thrice the best initial week sales of any other BlackBerry handset.

BlackBerry 10 isn’t set to release in the United States until near the end of March, with the Q10 not slated to hit shelves until several weeks after the Z10. Many feel this is a bad move on BlackBerry’s part, something that will ultimately hurt it, especially given the long duration over which BlackBerry 10 has been discussed and has been in development.

[via Engadget]

Official word from BlackBerry is that “in Canada, yesterday was the best day ever for the first day of a launch of a new BlackBerry smartphone.” That’s saying something for the Canada-based manufacturer and developer of the entire BlackBerry lineup. With the launch of BlackBerry 10 came the all-touch BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, the first in a series of smartphones to run the new operating system. With this device being the one and only smartphone to be on the market here at launch with BlackBerry 10, the success should be well received.

BlackBerry’s announcement that the first full week of BlackBerry Z10 sales are not double, but nearly three times as good as they’ve been with any previous release should also be seen as a sign that the company has done something right. Currently the BlackBerry Z10 is only available inside Canada and the UK, with a developer edition Red model appearing in the mail for developers around the world this week as well. That developer edition unit was (and continues to be) available to developers participating in a special offer where they create an app for BlackBerry 10 in time for its full final launch – grab one!

With word straight from Thorsten Heins, President & CEO of BlackBerry on this great success, we must hold our BlackBerry 10 flags high, hoping for the best! Have a peek at the timeline below to see additional insights and a full review of the BlackBerry Z10 as well.

This set of studies is, of course, all based on estimates and analysis, here suggesting that the number of tablets we’ll see by the end of this year represents a massive 125 percent growth over 2012′s final set. Of this 2013 year-end set, 62 percent will be Apple’s hardware while 28 percent will be Android-based. That’s quite the flip-flop compared to how the smartphone universe is trending.

ABI has predicted that 20 million BlackBerry 10 devices will be up and running by the end of 2013 – this boding relatively well for the company that just launched their new operating system here in the first quarter of the year. While some have a less-than-hopeful outlook for the company formerly known as RIM (now just called BlackBerry), even 20 million devices (still less than Windows Phone) is better than none. Windows Phone’s numbers on the end-of-2013 predictions chart shows Microsoft’s mobile OS to be hitting at around 3 percent of the market’s total.

The team at ABI let it be known that the annual smartphone growth rate has been factored in here to get that final 1.4 billion units was a fabulous 44 percent. That number is down from their previous reports showing 2012′s 45 percent growth rate over the year before, this 1 percent change either signifying that we’re reaching a plateau or that we’re simply having a slightly irregular amount of sales change.

[via Venture Beat]

The original name for BlackBerry 10 was BBX – lost to the company when they discovered someone else that thought to put those three letters together before RIM did. Each time an incident like this happened over the past year and a half, RIM lost another brick of confidence in the public. They’ve had so much bad press between the announcement of BBX and here in 2013 where they’ve announced the OS (again) that it should be considered no less than a miracle that they’ve gotten so very many developers to join their team with BlackBerry 10 apps.

Of course about 40% of those apps are simply converted iterations of Android apps, but who’s counting? Giving away free special edition smartphones to developer initiatives helps!

Now while the all-touch half of the BlackBerry 10 party is already out in Canada and the UK with the device called BlackBerry Z10, it’s been made clear that the earliest we’ll see BlackBerry 10 in the wild in the USA will be the end of March. This is also only the Z10 piece of the puzzle. The BlackBerry Q10, that being the QWERTY keyboard-toting BlackBerry 10 hero device here at the start of the OS, has been confirmed by BlackBerry to be hitting the market in April.

According to the Associated Press article published with Mercury News, BlackBerry’s CEO Thorsten Heins has suggested an 8-10 week window between the launch of the Z10 and the Q10. That would place the release for the Q10 back to May/June. Just a few months shy of two years after the first announcement of BlackBerry 10!

That’s no way to work in this modern mobile-minded market. A successful company like Samsung releases a new smartphone every few months – weeks in some cases – and refreshes a piece of hardware at least once a year (we’re nearly up to the Samsung Galaxy S IV here in 2013 after a new Galaxy S hero phone for several years in a row.) Apple has gotten to the point where they release a new iteration of their one singular handset, the iPhone, every single year without fail.

Will you join the BlackBerry 10 party with a Z10 at the end of March or the beginning of April if it does indeed see release in the USA? How about a BlackBerry Q10 several weeks after that?

In an interview with the Associated Press (via ABC News), BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins gave us a rough idea of when we can expect the Q10 to launch in the US. He didn’t give specifics, but he did say that the Q10 probably won’t start popping up on carrier shelves until 8 to 10 weeks after the Z10 has launched. With the Z10 not arriving until mid-March, it could be summer by the time we see the Q10.

Of course, what Heins said isn’t set in stone. It’s more up to the carriers than anything else, as they will all want to test it before deciding to offer it. So, there’s a possibility that the Q10 will launch at some carriers in the US earlier than this May-June window. In the end, we’ll have to wait for each carrier to announce their own release dates for the BlackBerry Q10.

It certainly sounds like the BlackBerry Q10 has a lot to live up to, as we’ve been hearing that the Z10 has been selling out in some areas in the UK and posting excellent pre-order numbers in Canada and UAE. Reviews seem to be generally positive as well, so if BlackBerry can hit it out of the park with the Q10, the company will be in good shape. Be sure to check out SlashGear’s hands-on with the BlackBerry Q10 to hear our initial impressions!

This update will allow easier and better pathways for Android developers hoping to move in to the BlackBerry 10 environment in 2013 without a doubt, and while we’re still not solid on the exact release date of the BlackBerry 10 Android Runtime update that we’re talking about here, a “TBD” date is certainly more encouraging than no word at all. In a Planning stage at the moment, this Jelly Bean update for Android Runtime will, the BlackBerry team hopes, “support all current features and APIs available on the Android Runtime platform today.” BlackBerry also notes that they’ll be evaluating their ability to integrate new features revealed between here and the Jelly Bean upgrade as well.

This release bodes well for BlackBerry 10 because it allows Android developers to create their Android apps as they normally would and port them to BlackBerry 10 with great ease. The tools that BlackBerry offers to developers across the board are both free and intuitive, working with processes that take each Android buttons, gesture, device sensor, and more and connect them to their BlackBerry 10 equivalent. BlackBerry hopes that their already massively successful (so to speak) campaign to help Android developers into the BlackBerry 10 environment will continue through the actual full launch of the system.

Have a peek at the timeline below to see more big BlackBerry 10 developments that’ll have this mobile OS taking off into outer space (or so BlackBerry hopes) when this early Spring market push begins. You’ll find that BlackBerry is working with more than just Android developers and with more than just software tools to make the app universe inside BlackBerry a success. It’s there that a system must grow from – without seeds to have no flowers!

[via CrackBerry]

The “Limited Edition Process” can still be seen on the official BlackBerry website for developers with a mystery package at the end of a timeline. This set of instructions shows that it was developers working with BlackBerry 10 apps and submitting a qualifying app to the company before January 21st, 2013, that were able to get in on this hot red party. This process was originally shown to have been delivering a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device which was then requested back before the BlackBerry 10 Launch Event.

UPDATE: Developers can still get in on the action as the BlackBerry team has extended the deadline for the Limited Edition Z10 to February 28th – head to that Limited Edition Process link and get your coding fingers out!

Amazingly it appears that a “6-8 week” launch window has been broken to pieces by BlackBerry (still called RIM when this whole process began) as developers have already begun receiving what up until now was still a mystery package. The package was described as simply “The Limited Edition device” and was noted as being “a specially designed fully functional BlackBerry 10 device built to help recognize those developers that helped launch the BlackBerry 10 platform by submitting quality 3rd party applications.” Rather simple and entirely enticing.

This is now one of three different editions of the BlackBerry Z10 that will be on the market, the first being a standard black version and the second being a white edition offered only through Verizon (thus far). There will of course also be different editions based on the radios required for each different mobile carrier both here in the United States and abroad – and it’s looking like the end of March is going to be the delivery window on the whole – can’t wait!

[via BlackBerry]

Misek said that major UK carriers like EE, O2, and Orange are seeing high demand for the new handset, while Carphone Warehouse is actually experiencing “widespread sellouts.” He also claimed that sell-through rates could be as high as several hundred thousand in the UK, which is definitely a good sign for the struggling BlackBerry. Canada and UAE are two places where the phone is enjoying high pre-order numbers, though Misek didn’t talk specifics.

If Misek’s estimates are accurate, then the BlackBerry Z10 is off to an excellent start. Apparently, the white variant of the device is a bit more popular than the black variant, with the white ones in particular selling out at Carphone Warehouse. That doesn’t mean the black variant is unpopular, however, as that one is also experiencing limited stock in some places.

BlackBerry 10 is the company’s best shot at climbing out of the rut it’s worked itself into over the past few years. It used to be that BlackBerry phones were all the rage, but then Android and Apple came along to steal massive amounts of market share. Can this new OS and the Z10 help BlackBerry regain its former glory? It’s definitely a long shot, but things are looking good at this early stage. Stay tuned, and be sure to check out review of the BlackBerry Z1) to see what we thought of the device!

[via CNET]