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Why the BlackBerry Z10 is on sale in the U.K. first

Two days ago, the company formerly known as RIM pulled out all the stops at a super-swanky event in New York to launch two new phones that will either kill or cure the company.

Despite the global launch happening in the U.S., America will be the last in the first batch of countries to see the Z10, BlackBerry's first phone to ship with its new OS, BlackBerry 10. Americans have to wait until March to buy the touch-screen phone, but it became available to buy in the U.K. yesterday. That's six days ahead even of BlackBerry'… Read more

A new BlackBerry tablet? Don't bet on it

Don't hold your breath for a sequel to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

Speaking to the press yesterday during the BlackBerry 10 launch event, CEO Thorsten Heins wasn't particularly upbeat about tablets.

"The tablet business is rather difficult," he conceded.

Indeed, the tablet market has seen a lot of entrants, but only a few winners. While Apple's iPad franchise continues to dominate, its market share is eroding to only a few players, including Google's Nexus 7, Amazon's Kindle Fire franchise, and a few of the Samsung Electronics tablets. But that doesn't leave a … Read more

BlackBerry 10.1: What we want to see next

BlackBerry (formerly RIM) may have just lifted the lid on its completely overhauled BlackBerry 10 OS for mobile devices, but CNET has been testing the heck out of the OS and Z10 smartphone for over a week now. There are elements that we love and elements that we, frankly, think the smartphone-maker could have done better.

So, three of us who have spent time with the Z10 and its OS put our heads together to offer up a few suggestions that we'd like to see in BlackBerry's inevitable first OS update. And yes, we have more suggestions for … Read more

Why the Z10 and Q10 will not save BlackBerry

BlackBerry is betting its future on the Z10 and its new OS, but they won't be enough to prevent the company's inevitable demise.

By every standard, the BlackBerry Z10 is the best smartphone that BlackBerry (formerly RIM) has ever produced. It's a massive upgrade in terms of design, user experience and technology. I welcome the departure of the home button in favor of gestures. So let me first give credit where credit is due: BlackBerry has built a decent phone. The Q10 isn't bad either, if you're a die-hard fan of QWERTY keyboards.

Building decent … Read more

New BlackBerrys fail to impress Wall Street as concerns linger

BlackBerry's splashy launch of two well-received smartphones wasn't enough to halt a weeklong slide in its stock.

Shares are down 6.7 percent to $12.86 in morning trading. In total, BlackBerry has lost more than a quarter of its market value over the last four days.

While there seems to be universal acknowledgement that the newly introduced BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 smartphones represent a massive improvement over old BlackBerrys, there remains some disappointment with yesterday's announcement. More importantly, there also is a persistent concern that BlackBerry may have arrived too late with its last-ditch effort to … Read more

BlackBerry's last stand: Z10 unveiled

Wednesday's CNET Update has the BlackBerry breakdown:

It's the start of a new chapter for BlackBerry. Today's show explains the basics of the Z10 and Q10 smartphones, as well as the new features of the BlackBerry 10 operating system. For a deeper dive, check out the links below:

- Full review of the touchscreen BlackBerry Z10

- First impressions of the BlackBerry Q10 smartphone with keyboard

- Full review of the BlackBerry 10 operating system

- RIM sheds old name, becomes BlackBerry

- The big apps available on BlackBerry 10

- Carrier and price details for the Z10 and Q10 … Read more

Why isn't the keyboard-rocking BlackBerry Q10 out sooner?

commentary With BlackBerry 10 and the all-touchscreen BlackBerry Z10, Research in Motion is looking to the future.

But BlackBerry shouldn't forget its heritage and position its QWERTY keyboard-rocking BlackBerry Q10 play as the second-string product.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what BlackBerry is doing by launching the Z10 first. CEO Thorsten Heins said the Z10 will launch in mid-March in the U.S., while the Q10 will likely launch in April.

BlackBerry wants to create the impression that its all-touchscreen BlackBerry can compete against the iPhone and elite Android smartphones such as the Galaxy S3. Heins wants to barrel into … Read more

Samsung aims to hit BlackBerry where it hurts: Business users

Samsung Electronics has already landed a few blows against BlackBerry, and as far as the Korean electronics giant is concerned, it's only early rounds in this bout.

Samsung, which became the world's largest smartphone vendor more than a year ago, is ramping up its push to attract corporate users for its technology. It's putting its full might behind these efforts, and its newfound focus on business users (including this commercial bashing BlackBerry) should have BlackBerry worried.

While some business users will be clamoring for the Canadian company's BlackBerry 10-powered Z10 and Q10 smartphones, which were unveiled today, … Read more

Here's how the Z10, Q10 get BlackBerry back in the game

After years of anticipation, frustration, and delays, Research In Motion (now re-branded BlackBerry) finally lets BlackBerry 10 loose. So now what?

That's the question a lot of folks in the industry are asking now that BlackBerry is just days (or months, depending on the region) from competing in the market with its first legitimately new product in more than a year and a half. BlackBerry 10 offers a refreshingly slick and unique experience, and the two smartphones, the Z10 touchscreen BlackBerry and more traditional Bold-like Q10, look fairly competitive.

But whether they're enough to turn some heads and … Read more