BlackBerry 10 Announcement: Live Blog
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 30, 2013 9:19 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- RIM
- BlackBerry
- Mobile
- Blackberry 10
11:23AM EST - The announcement is coming to a close, thank you all for following, we'll have more on the announced devices later today
11:19AM EST - BB Keep Moving project: challenged several of the world's top athletes, film makers, etc... to create content with the new platform
11:18AM EST - Alicia will work closely with retailers, designers, carriers, developers, folks in the entertainment and music business
11:17AM EST - I feel like with all of these celebrity endorsements the companies involved need to be more transparent in the exact terms of the agreement with said celebrity
11:16AM EST - Alicia Keys talking about how she used to be a BlackBerry user but left for something that "had a little more bling"
11:16AM EST - Intel has will.i.am, RIM has Alicia Keys, who's going to scoop up 50 Cent?
11:14AM EST - Alicia Keys is BB's new global creative director
11:14AM EST - Looking to reach out to artists and working moms
11:14AM EST - We wanted someone at the top of her field, immensely creative and very talented
11:14AM EST - Creating a new position at BB: Global Creative Director
11:13AM EST - Another big announcement
11:12AM EST - Most partners will be launching preorder websites today
11:12AM EST - In the UK, the Z10 will be available tomorrow
11:12AM EST - in the UAE the Z10 will be on the February 10th
11:12AM EST - Pricing will vary by carrier partner, but the Z10 will retail for around $149.99 with a 3 year contract
11:11AM EST - In Canada the Z10 will be available on February 5th
11:11AM EST - Availability for most US carriers of the Z10 to be in March
11:11AM EST - In the US market: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile will begin announcing price plans today
11:11AM EST - By the end of February lab testing with 110 carriers globally will be completed
11:08AM EST - Can install multiple apps simultaneously, no reboots required
11:07AM EST - All major record labels and independents represented in the BB World music section
11:07AM EST - BlackBerry World is now the one stop shop for BB apps, games, movies, TV shows and music
11:04AM EST - Over 1K top apps committed to BB10 today
11:04AM EST - and Angry Birds
11:04AM EST - SAP committed to BB10
11:04AM EST - WhatsApp as well
11:04AM EST - Amazon Kindle committed to BB10
11:04AM EST - Skype committed to BB10
11:03AM EST - Over 70K apps today
11:03AM EST - BB10 launches with more apps by far than any first gen OS
11:01AM EST - All major labels and networks to supply content to BlackBerry World
11:01AM EST - "We will launch with an amazing collection of music, TV shows and movies"
10:59AM EST - Sounds a lot like desktop iMovie but on BB10
10:59AM EST - Select videos, choose music, add titles and credit, Story Maker automatically stitches it all together
10:58AM EST - Now talking about BB10 Story Maker
10:58AM EST - BB Flow - avoiding constantly having to go back to a grid of applications
10:57AM EST - Real time photo effects
10:57AM EST - Built in photo editor
10:56AM EST - Showing off the pictures app
10:56AM EST - BB timeshift - let's you select a face from a different capture than the rest of the scene
10:56AM EST - Tap anywhere to take a photo, drag the focus box around to move focus
10:55AM EST - BB10 Camera demo
10:55AM EST - It's one location to save everything you want to remember, organized in folders
10:55AM EST - Remember allows you to save evernote notes, emails, tasks, etc...
10:53AM EST - You can add attachments, photos, videos, URLs to reminders
10:53AM EST - BlackBerry Remember demo on the Q10
10:53AM EST - I really wish all of these real time communications protocols weren't closed
10:52AM EST - real time share of information while in a voice or video call
10:52AM EST - "great collaboration tool for small enterprises"
10:52AM EST - official name: BBM Video Chat with Screen Share
10:51AM EST - Great for flipping through photos, presentations, etc... remotely
10:51AM EST - You control the experience, the other end of the line just sees whatever you see on your screen
10:51AM EST - You can remotely share your smartphone screen with another BB10 user
10:50AM EST - BBM Screen Share: not only shares your camera, but also share your entire screen
10:50AM EST - BlackBerry Messenger now supports video calling
10:49AM EST - BlackBerry Messenger: 60M subscribers globally
10:48AM EST - Briefcase icon denotes a work app, only allowed to use a certain portion of storage
10:48AM EST - BB10 gestures seem very fast and smooth, this can definitely work for enterprise users
10:47AM EST - Single unified user experience but can multitask and quickly switch between work and home environments on a single device
10:47AM EST - In work mode you get access to a different app store, everything your enterprise server wants you to have access to
10:46AM EST - Swipe down from the home screen to switch between home and work profiles
10:46AM EST - BlackBerry Balance
10:46AM EST - Now talking about users who have to carry two devices: work and personal
10:46AM EST - Very big focus on international usage in this launch, BlackBerry knows its audience
10:45AM EST - No toggling between languages, just dynamically move between them
10:44AM EST - Prediction quickly works and spans multiple languages
10:44AM EST - Swipe down anywhere on the keyboard to switch to numeric entry
10:44AM EST - Predictive text lets you flip words right to the screen with one thumb, just swipe words up from the keyboard
10:43AM EST - "We have the aspiration to be the best keyboard experience period"
10:42AM EST - Conceptually I'm interested in the idea of something like the BB Hub that lets me do everything in one application, in practice I've never seen something like this work well - will have to spend some time with it
10:41AM EST - UI seems very smooth and fluid
10:41AM EST - Contacts aggregate as much available information as possible using Linkedin, fB, etc...
10:41AM EST - BB10 automatically pulls down photos from Linkedin when you look at meeting details, so you can see who you're meeting with
10:39AM EST - All activity/engagement in one single place...assuming there are no new major services you want to interact with
10:39AM EST - You can tweet straight from the BB Hub
10:38AM EST - One thumb operation to get in and out of the hub and navigate around
10:38AM EST - BB Hub aggregates content from email, FB, LinkedIn, BBM
10:38AM EST - Red notification LED tips you to peak at the BB Hub
10:37AM EST - Swipe to peak at the BlackBerry Hub even while watching a video or playing a game, nothing gets paused
10:36AM EST - Switching between apps looks very smooth and fast
10:36AM EST - BlackBerry Flow: quick task switching, real time true multitasking
10:34AM EST - Q10 has a 3.1-inch screen
10:33AM EST - The Q10 is the first BB10 smartphone with a physical keyboard
10:33AM EST - (the earlier specs were for the Z10)
10:33AM EST - Big focus on content aggregation within BlackBerry 10
10:33AM EST - Textured back
10:32AM EST - 4.2-inch screen, 356 PPI
10:32AM EST - BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10
10:29AM EST - "We have reinvented this company and want to reflect this in our brand"
10:29AM EST - One consistent brand, ditching the RIM name makes sense
10:29AM EST - One brand, one promise
10:28AM EST - From this point forward RIM becomes BlackBerry
10:28AM EST - "we have defined our vision"
10:28AM EST - "we have transformed ourselves inside and out"
10:28AM EST - "Took heartfelt and...brutal honesty"
10:28AM EST - "We absolutely knew it was risky"
10:28AM EST - Bringing an entirely new platform to the market...took careful planning
10:26AM EST - Thanking the RIM and QNX teams for building the foundation of BB10
10:25AM EST - Having a good camera, apps, web browser, etc... is expected, how does BB10 go beyond those expectations?
10:23AM EST - "BlackBerry 10 - Built to keep you moving"
10:22AM EST - Thorsten is thanking the RIM employees and congratulating them on launching BB10
10:21AM EST - "Innovation is at the heart of RIM"
10:20AM EST - (Sorry for the super considerate videographer that decided to setup right in front of us)
10:19AM EST - Here we go, I think the launch is now starting - Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of RIM is taking the stage
10:16AM EST - Now Lil E is on video rapping about BlackBerry 10, this is bizarre
10:15AM EST - Now showing a video of some BB fans
10:15AM EST - "the largest catalog of applications ever for a first generation launch in mobile"
10:15AM EST - Big focus on developers and a global audience with BB10
10:14AM EST - "We've seen all types of developers we haven't seen before: young people"
10:14AM EST - The official presentation hasn't really started yet, this is sort of the pre-game show at this point it seems
10:13AM EST - VP of dev rel, Alec Saunders is speaking about getting BB10 developers on board
10:10AM EST - Playing a video of user reactions to BlackBerry 10 now
10:09AM EST - and we're starting!
10:06AM EST - Should be starting soon...
09:59AM EST - Luckily 5GHz WiFi and wired ethernet are both available at the venue
09:59AM EST - We're being asked to disable any personal wireless hotspots...that request never works
09:53AM EST - We're being asked to take our seats - "the BlackBerry Experience will begin shortly"
09:47AM EST - T-minus 15 minutes until this thing starts...
09:39AM EST - On the plus side for RIM, I feel like we're quickly approaching maturity in the current era of mobile devices. The next era will be mobile/desktop convergence and no one has demonstrated obvious leadership towards that end yet.
09:36AM EST - I suspect winning over the first group won't be all that difficult, it's the second that I'm unsure of.
09:35AM EST - Success will be determined in two phases imho: can RIM retain its faithful user base and then, can RIM begin to win back users who have been lost to Apple/Google
09:35AM EST - The world is a very different place today, but there are still a significant number of BB and BB enterprise users who RIM can still sell to
09:34AM EST - I was a huge BlackBerry user through college, it was the first platform I could really be productive on after my old Palm V
09:30AM EST - So far both NYC and the venue are cooperating - weather isn't horrible and upstream bandwidth is awesome http://www.speedtest.net/result/2473371220.png
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
39 Comments
View All Comments
creed3020 - Thursday, January 31, 2013 - link
During yesterday's launch event I had multiple live blogs up and the live video stream from the event. The amount of detail and number of photos post here at AT was perhaps 10% of the detail that was actually being demonstrated and reported by other fine tech sites who were covering this event.If this would have been an Apple launch event the enthusiasm in the reporting/writing would have been far different. I definitely feel like AT has let it's readers down, and the bias towards certain companies is becoming more and more evident everyday. It just leaves a sour taste in the month that's all.
I was lucky enough to get to use a Z10 yesterday within minutes of the event ending and was comparing it to my archaic BB Bold 9700. It was a world of difference and breath of fresh of air between the new and old. It was so light, rigid, but felt soft to touch and fast, fast, fast UI. The transitions between Hub and applications are so fluid without any lag.
Pastuch - Thursday, January 31, 2013 - link
I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with this post.Where are the Z10 & Q10 tear downs? Where are the detailed reviews?
You do realize that no rational federal government or fortune 500 company uses iphones and androids for work right? When security is paramount there really is only one option on the market right now.
I say this as a professional in mobile platform development. Sure I use an SGS3 for my personal device but BB is the only device that passes the security requirements of the modern world.
Why is Anandtech largely ignoring this massive business segment? You review business machines, servers, etc. Time to review business phones!
DukeN - Thursday, January 31, 2013 - link
Yes, but that would require permission from this Effigy of Father Jobs (iJobs 4.0) that controls Anandtech operations.Bold prediction: Z10 and Q10 get the same number of reviews as the 9900/OS7 did - NONE.
Galcobar - Saturday, February 9, 2013 - link
"11:23AM EST - The announcement is coming to a close, thank you all for following, we'll have more on the announced devices later today"And a week later those promised reviews of the handsets are where?
Bob Todd - Friday, February 1, 2013 - link
Unfortunately for RIM, sorry BlackBerry, the real world doesn't reconcile with the fantasy you live in. iOS has solid penetration into Fortune 500 companies, both for iPhones and iPads. The ones who have extremely strict security requirements are using services/apps from Good and others. The bottom line is that almost none of the users CHOOSE a BlackBerry when given the option. And even in Fortune 500 there's often a choice between an iPhone 5 or something like a Bold 9900/9930/9650. Go talk to the mobile telecom departments in those companies and ask how many users opt for the BlackBerry. Your massive business segment has been leaving RIM in droves for years while they've continued to be one of the most ineptly run tech companies in existence. It took them over HALF A DECADE to come up with an answer for the iPhone. That's completely ridiculous especially considering they were sitting atop the smartphone throne at the time. How long did it take Palm to come up with a competitive platform? Wasn't it around 2 years? And that was on a shoestring budget. Microsoft built a ground up rewrite with Windows Phone 7 in about the same timeframe after they abandoned the planned mild 'touchification' of WM 6. I'm not saying BlackBerry will be dead in a few years, but I'm also not optimistic that this happened soon enough to win back the mind share they need to compete. It's much easier to see a mobile landscape dominated by Android and iOS, with Windows Phone/Windows RT/Windows 8 filling in any enterprise gap that's left.edlee - Thursday, January 31, 2013 - link
Not trying to troll, but this would have been great 2 years ago. it is a little too late to get people to switch when they are already entrenched in other platforms. For example, I will not repurchase apps that I already bought for myself on android, and for my wife on iOS.Why was RIM soo stubborn, they could have gotten the same look and function by skinning android and adding a hardware encryption and it would have been released 2 years ago. it boggles my mind how long it took to get this out. And then have the audacity to ask all the android devs to just do a straight port of their apps. If you wanted android apps.
sking.tech - Thursday, January 31, 2013 - link
You're old! you're behind, your BROKE, you should be an app on my droid... not a competitor.XonicEQ - Friday, February 1, 2013 - link
is my company provides it. otherwise I wouldn't go within 10 ft of a blackberry phone... so buggy and sluggish it's frustratingLokiThieve - Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - link
So still no update? Still no review of the hardware?