Blackberry 10

March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Research In Motion Ltd. plans to give software developers prototypes of a new BlackBerry in early May, signaling RIM is a step closer to the debut of a handset it’s betting on to revive slumping sales.

As many as 2,000 of the BlackBerry 10 test models will be given out to developers at RIM’s BlackBerry Jam conference in Orlando, Florida and they are designed to allow developers to build applications using the underlying operating system, Alec Saunders, RIM’s vice-president developer relations, said in an telephone interview today.“It’s a huge step forward on our path to eventually launching BB10,” Saunders said. “It’s tangible evidence of the company making progress to finally shipping the device.”

Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM fell 0.5 percent to $13.72 at 1:44 p.m New York time. The stock fell 75 percent last year and is down 5 percent this year. RIM is looking to generate buzz with developers who, like consumers, have drifted away from the BlackBerry platform because of the lack of a consistent operating system and recent losses in market share. Eighty-nine percent of developers in a January survey by Appcelerator and IDC said they were “very interested” in developing for the iPhone. For Android phones, the figure was 79 percent, while only 16 percent of developers polled were “very interested” in building apps for the BlackBerry phone.


RIM had the best market share being the first in the game with Smartphones but they lost the battle when everyone else came out with their own Smartphones. With superior leadership and organization RIM can till get back into the game, the war is not over.