The eyes of the technology world were focused squarely on Research In Motion today as the company launches BlackBerry 10, the hotly anticipated line of smartphones with the potential to make or break the company.
CEO Thorsten Heins kicked off simultaneous live events in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Dubai, Johannesburg, Jakarta and Delhi, with the announcement that the company and its ubiquitous product were becoming one and the same — the company has renamed itself BlackBerry.
Heins unveiled a line of new smartphones the company says will help it win back market share in the competitive mobile space.
After pioneering the smartphone concept in the early 2000s, RIM has seen its grasp on the sector slowly erode since Apple released the iPhone in 2007 and several manufacturers followed quickly to market with Android-powered devices tailored to the consumer market.
"They're not really perceived as being hip or cool," Queen's University business professor Barry Cross says of the company's recent woes.
From a high of over $150 in the summer of 2008, RIM shares fell steadily to the $6 range on the TSX as recently as September before a round of analyst optimism over RIM's chances with BB10 pushed the stock into the teens.
Recent data suggests RIM has less than five per cent of the North American market share, and the company has pinned its hopes on BlackBerry 10 to halt that slide and take back the dominance it once had.
Two phone versions
RIM launched two versions of the phone on Wednesday, the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10. The former is a touchscreen device, the latter has a full Qwerty keyboard.
"We know there are a lot of keyboard lovers out there," Heins said. "We heard you loud and clear."
Among the features on the devices are something the company is calling BlackBerry Balance, which will allow one machine to be switched between work and personal user accounts.
The company is pitching the technology as a way for consumers to be able to have only one device with multiple personas — a personal one full of apps and tools for personal use, and a corporate one that can safely house sensitive corporate material.
"You can just switch from work to personal mode," Scotiabank analyst Gus Papageorgiou said. "I think that is something that will attract a lot of people," he said.
Another feature is BlackBerry Flow, a technology that will allow the user to swipe between multiple apps with the touch of a finger. That's something the current round of BlackBerry phones haven't been able to do, but it's seen as key in the multitasking environment.
Analysts and reviewers who've seen the device suggest the company has revamped its web browser to the point where it competes and might surpass those available on iPhones, Android or Windows phones. It also boasts the BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging technology that helped make BlackBerrys so popular in the first place.
The company has revamped its app store and called it BlackBerry World, which will have more than 70,000 applications at launch. That's barely a tenth of what's available in Apple's App Store, or on Google Play, but it's a step toward bridging the gap.
"It's got the ability to start to create some buzz around RIM again," Cross says.
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