The new BlackBerry 10 smartphone, the Z10, finally goes on sale this week. Yet enterprise IT groups, who've been waiting for BlackBerry to get its act together, face a bigger challenge than learning the distinctive gestures of the phone's new touch interface.
Gartner analysts said in a report released Monday that BlackBerry's new BB10 software isn't going to achieve world-beating results anytime soon. Even BlackBerry officials have literally begun singing the praises of the new Z10 smartphone in anticipation of its arrival in the U.S. market on Friday.
Representatives of The-Company-Formerly-Known-as-Research-in-Motion have reached out to embrace the company's legions of followers on "social channels" in arms of love. They gently remind us that this Sunday, Feb. 3, "BlackBerry will be featured in Super Bowl XLVII [or 47 for the Roman Numerally challenged] for the first time ever."
In a keynote that was rife with technopop music and contrived videos -- and woefully short on details -- Research in Motion launched two new smartphones in its bid to restore its fortunes in the smartphone market.
Research in Motion has released an important part of its attempted comeback plan: BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, which is designed to manage the fast-growing, and increasingly diverse mobile device population in the enterprise.