'CrackBerry' Reboot? BlackBerry Announces Z10, Q10 Models
If you are firmly committed to your QWERTY keyboard (beloved by so many lawyers), new BlackBerry options are coming to the market.
Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal's CIO Journal voiced concerns about Research in Motion's ongoing financial health and viability, noting that BlackBerry had devolved from the "symbol of corporate mobility," to a mere "curiosity." But the BlackBerry death watch may have been premature.
Research in Motion, now rebranded simply as "BlackBerry" has introduced two new BlackBerry models -- BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 -- and the new BB10 operating system, CBS News reports. Both phones have 4G LTE capabilities.
BlackBerry Z10, a touchscreen device, has a 4.2-inch 1,280 x 768 display with 356 pixel density, front- and rear-facing cameras, and comes in black and white. Available in March, the device has 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of storage.
AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile all plan to offer the Z10. Verizon told Time that it will price the Z10 units at $200 with a 2-year contract.
There aren't quite as many details about the QWERTY-keyboard equipped Q10 model. We know it has a 3.1-inch display, but there's no word yet on when it will be available or what it will cost.
And, just in case you think that every gadget needs a celebrity endorsement, BlackBerry announced on Wednesday that singer Alicia Keys has been named the company's new Global Creative Director. Hopefully BlackBerry's new phones have fewer flaws than the company's Creative Director choice: CNET reports that Keys is a longtime Apple user, who tweets from iOS devices, publishes her photography app exclusively on the App Store, and uses Instagram, which is not yet available on BlackBerry's platform.
Perhaps it's time for Keys to add her app to the 70,000 applications -- including Skype and Amazon Kindle -- currently available in BlackBerry's app catalog.
Related Resources:
- BlackBerry 10 Critical to Research in Motion (New York Times)
- When Should an Attorney Dump His BlackBerry for an iPhone? (FindLaw's Technologist)
- BlackBerry Launches Software Store to Compete with Apple's iPhone App Store (FindLaw's Technologist)
