Sumit Passary email: s.passary@mobilenapps.com
Research In Motion (RIM) will be launching its latest operating system BlackBerry10 (BB10) at its press event on Jan. 30 and the Canadian company is also slated to launch some of its latest BB10-powered smartphones. BlackBerry 10 pre-registrations have begun on major carriers in Canada, and now reports suggest that BB10 will have strong demand, at least in its home terrain.
RIM has been going through a difficult patch with its BlackBerry smartphones. The company's smartphones have lost a major chunk of its market share to other smartphone makers in the recent years and now the new BB10 ecosystem seems to be the only hope for the company to stay afloat in the smartphone space.
Regaining popularity in the smartphone industry will be a difficult task for the company; however, a report from BGR suggests that BB10 devices are gaining strong demand in Canada as Canadian carriers have already started to take reservations.
"While we can't release the total number of reservations we have received for the BlackBerry 10 all-touch device, we can say that customer interest is definitely strong and reservations continue daily," a Rogers spokesperson told BGR.
Rogers began taking reservations for the first BlackBerry 10-powered handset from mid-December last year. The carrier has not revealed any information of the upcoming BlackBerry device but asked interested subscribers to make a reservation on their Web site.
Other Canadian carriers like Telus and SaskTel also indicate "BlackBerry 10 Coming Soon" on their respective Web sites regarding the upcoming BB10 smartphones. What's more, recently Bell and Virgin Mobile too began pre-registrations.
The news from Rogers may bring hope to RIM, but it may be difficult for the company to divert customers from other smartphone brands like Apple, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, et al.
Strong demand at Rogers may be a positive start for the BB10 smartphones and we will have to wait and see if RIM is able to see a light at the end of the tunnel after the launch of the BB10 platform.
If you are using or have used a BlackBerry phone, what do you expect from the BlackBerry 10? Are you excited about the BlackBerry Z10?
most read
more stories from OS / Software
Microsoft has reportedly started talks with HTC to add its Windows OS to the phone maker's Android smartphones and HTC is apparently considering to make a Windows Phone/Android dual-booting smartphone.
ernest hamiltonA bug in Chrome for iOS 7 has caused Google's mobile browser to leak private searches made in 'Incognito' mode.
ernest hamiltonHTC has announced that Sprint has already started to roll out the Android 4.3 update to the HTC One, AT&T and T-Mobile will follow in mid-October, while Verizon will release it by the end of the month.
ernest hamiltonThe new Windows 8.1 has gone up for pre-order on the Microsoft Store, ahead of the official launch on Oct. 18.
ernest hamiltonApple has acknowledged the iOS 7 iMessage issue and promised to provide a fix in an upcoming software update.
ernest hamiltonSamsung Canada and French carrier SFR have confirmed the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean rollout schedule for the Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2.
ernest hamiltonThe unlocked, international HTC One is getting Android 4.3 Jelly Bean now, but the U.S. and Canadian versions will 'slightly miss' the end-September timeframe.
ernest hamiltonThe Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 are reportedly slated to get Android 4.3 Jelly Bean in the fourth quarter, by year-end.
ernest hamilton