BlackBerry 10 in Hands of More Than 50 Carriers
The highly anticipated BlackBerry 10 seems to be on track for its launch in the first quarter of 2013. RIM CEO Thorsten Heins announced today the BlackBerry Platform has achieved Lab Entry with more than 50 carriers.
“I’m very pleased to confirm that we have passed a critical milestone in the development of our brand new mobile computing platform, BlackBerry 10. In the last week, BlackBerry 10 achieved Lab Entry with more than 50 carriers – a key step in our preparedness for the launch of BlackBerry 10 in the first quarter of 2013. We made this commitment during our recent results conference call and we have delivered. This process will continue in the coming months as more carriers around the world formally evaluate the devices and our brand new software,” said Heins in an official statement.
Originally slated to be released in 2012, carrier partners are finally getting their hands on BlackBerry 10, the software update BlackBerry has been producing for over the last few years in an effort to compete with Apple and Android.
“I have spent the last several weeks on the road visiting with carrier partners around the world to show them the BlackBerry 10 platform and to share with them our plans for launch. Their response has been tremendous. They are excited about the prospect of launching BlackBerry 10 in their markets. Our respective teams are now engaged on the technical and commercial preparation of the launch of BlackBerry 10 and the lab entry is an important milestone in that context,” said Heins.
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Although the system is in carrier testing, work has not been completed on the operating system. BlackBerry developers are working to get as many applications as possible to BlackBerry’s latest OS to ensure customers are supported in their switch to the new OS.
“The hard work will not stop here as we build towards launch. Our developer teams are continuing to generate momentum to bring a wealth of applications to BlackBerry 10, our enterprise teams have started to present BlackBerry 10 devices and services to our business customers, and our engineers are fully mobilized to ensure that BlackBerry 10 launches flawlessly in the first quarter of 2013,” said Heins.
