Research In Motion (RIM) is using the BlackBerry Jam Americas developer conference as a showcase of the Canadian firms BlackBerry 10 Operating System. The struggling company has fallen from its top spot in the smartphone market as competitors like Apple and Samsung have dominated the industry as of late. Many analysts believe that the BB10 software and devices will be RIM’s last chance to make a comeback before losing relevance for good. The BlackBerry maker’s CEO, Thorsten Heins, thinks that the company can turn its fortunes around with its new BB10 and claims that the devices will be like laptops on the go.
He stated at the conference that, “We are at the start of a new era in mobile computing. And with BlackBerry 10, we are readying this platform for the future.” Heins talked about the upcoming BB10 devices and mentioned that they will have “processing power close to a laptop”. The CEO also mentioned that BB10 release is planned for early 2013 and that the schedule had no delays.
Heins’ webcast to the conference also gave investors and analysts some positive news when the the CEO stated that, “We recognize the need for change. There is a new culture at RIM. There’s a new energy and a lot of fighting spirit.” He went on to give some figures about the company’s growth by sharing that RIM now had 80 million users. This is a jump from the 78 million reported at the end of the second quarter a month ago.
Analysts had thought that the user base of the firm would have declined or stayed flat but the positive news caused the shares of RIM jump 6.2 percent.
Heins also talked about some of the updates in BlackBerry 10 during his keynote address. One of the features he chose to highlight was a very fast browser and a refresh of BlackBerry App World. These are both areas the previous versions of the operating system have lagged in performance.
The RIM CEO also took time to discuss and show the audience BlackBerry Hub and Peek features. The Hub unifies in one inbox email, messages and social interactions while the peek feature allows the user to look at their messages with one swipe.
Source: Ottawa Business Journal
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