BlackBerry Bringing Back Keyboard

Previously known as Research in Motion Ltd, BlackBerry Ltd is the manufacturer of the BlackBerry line of smartphones. The company was regarded as a pioneer in the smartphone industry and its phones enjoyed immense popularity in the market. Nevertheless, with the introduction of other smartphones from companies like Samsung and Apple, BlackBerry phones lost their position in the market. After struggling for a few years, the company launched a touch-based smartphone in January of this year, which is in line with the consumer demand. The BlackBerry Z10 remained three years in the making. Nonetheless, the success of this launch is still uncertain for the company.

Regardless, the company is gearing up for another of its release of the year; the BlackBerry Q10, which is equipped with the keyboard and resembles the traditional design of the BlackBerry smartphones. This new device will be coming to Canada and UK first, just like the Z10 and will later be available in the US. The company announced that carriers in Canada will start selling the new device from 1st of May while it will be available for shipping in the UK as early as Friday. The company is banking on the success of its new line to regain its lost market share.

In order to remain true to its image, the Q10 has been released, which looks very much like BlackBerry Bold that was once highly coveted since its launch in 2009. However, the Bold series were the last of the line to run on the old operating system of the company. The Q10, as opposed to it, will be running on the operating system designed by the company, BlackBerry 10. Apart from that, the new device will also boast a classic physical keyboard, along with a small touch screen. The phone will be competing with other high-end devices in the market as it will be priced at $200 with a multiyear plan.

The company is counting on the keyboard-loving users to snap up this model as soon as it’s out on the market. The keyboard-equipped smartphones still have a big market and it is dominated by BlackBerry Ltd. The only problem is that the market is shrinking fast in face of competition from touch-based phones. The market of keyboard-based smartphones was 62.8 million units last year, according to IDC, which was a down from the 100.2 million units the year before that. BlackBerry Ltd currently has 47% of the market and shares it with Nokia and other Asian manufacturers.

The market of touch-based smartphones has jumped up to 650.1 million units form the 372 million units in 2011. BlackBerry only has 3% of this market. Nonetheless, the shift in market is understood by the Canadian smartphone maker, which is the reason they introduced the Z10 before the Q10. With the touchscreen device, the company had to make an extra push in terms of advertising, but it can count on the loyal customers who love its traditional and classic keyboard design of smartphones. However, the phone has to be in touch with the market in order to succeed.

BlackBerry Urges Investigation on Z10 Report!

BlackBerry Limited is planning to ask Ontario Securities Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate what it claims to be a misleading and fault report regarding the retail rates of the Canadian firm’s new Z10 smartphone. The report was published on Thursday by an institutional research and wealth management group of Boston known as Detwiler Fenton. BlackBerry shares declined with this report. However, the research firm has rejected this criticism. Nonetheless, this is a serious blow to the already struggling BlackBerry. Formerly known as Research in Motion Ltd, the company is relying on the Z10 and other smartphones in the BlackBerry 10 line for halting the precipitous decline the company has been going through.

The Canadian company is struggling to compete in the market, where devices of Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics have become a dominant force. The chief executive of the company, Thorsten Heins stated that the sales of the new Z10 smartphone were meeting the expectations and the data collected from the carrier and retail partners indicates that customers are also satisfied with the new device. He further added that the return rates were either below the forecast or meeting it, which is in accordance with the industry. He said that suggesting otherwise was willful manipulation or a complete misreading of data.

The CEO said that this conclusion was not based on fact and the company would be challenging it. The Chief Legal Officer of BlackBerry, Steve Zipperstein stated that the company and its shareholders were harmed by the false and misleading reports about the Z10 return rates in the United States. Therefore, he said, that the appropriate authorities were being consulted to start off an investigation. He asserted that having an opinion regarding the various competing products in the market is acceptable. However, deliberately purveying false statements for influencing the market is not acceptable at all.

Detwiler Fention, the research firm was not unnerved by the criticism and said that it trusts its research methodology and would welcome an investigation. The company has been consistently bearish regarding BlackBerry. The chief compliance officer and general counsel of the research group, Anne Buckley said that they weren’t the only one who was releasing reports regarding the customer response, sales and the return rates of the new smartphone of BlackBerry. She also clarified that neither any director or officer nor the research analyst held any financial interest in the BlackBerry maker.

In a report it was published by the research group that retail partners were listing a significant increase in the returns of the BlackBerry Z10 and in fact, the returns were increasing to a point that they were exceeding the sales of the new device. This phenomenon hasn’t been seen. It was reported by the analyst that customers were complaining because of the lack of apps, the map app and the user interface. Moreover, some customers also said that the phone tends to slow down. The firm said that the company was already facing a battle in luring customers and with the high rate of returns, it would be impossible for it to gain back market share.

Features of BlackBerry Bold 9650

Blackberry is really a trusted brand name for mobile phones. It has launched numerous business phones during a short time. Usually these mobile phones support web surfing, text messaging, online faxing, cellular telephone, push e-mail and many other great features.

BlackBerry launched its BlackBerry Bold 9650 during 2010. It is a superior 3rd generation (HSDPA 2100) phone that comprises technology associated with high speed. It's aesthetically designed and it is a BlackBerry Bold family member including other mobile phones for instance Bold 9700 & Bold 9000.

Its style and body look like Tour 9630, however it has newer and more effective features like optical monitor pad and contains a comparatively smaller sized dimensions. It's keypad is nearly just like Tour 9630 with similar color scheme as well as layout. A few features of this phone are given under:

Key Features:

· IM program including Text, Push E-mail, MMS, Email and Messengers.

· 3.Fifteen Megapixel Digital camera, with 2048x1536px and consists of LED expensive and auto-focus function. It also has a function of Picture stabilization.

· It's compatible with regard to Social Networking.

· It offers a BlackBerry® OS, which comprises HTML internet browser, built-in together with online games, Maps, Player of MP2/WMA/MP4/WMV, Document Publisher to modify documents such as word, PDF and so on.

· Its phonebook contains limitless entries as well as fields; we are able to record calls.

· Its internal memory is 512 MB, while it also supports microSD, up to Thirty-two GB having a 2 Gigabyte built in memory card.

· Its display is 2.4" TFT, 65K (480 by 360px)

· It has a QWERTY Keyboard along with Touch delicate visual monitor pad.

· BlackBerry Bold 9650 has 3rd generation HSDPA, Wi-Fi® 802.11 b/g Technologies.

· Facility for connecting to other products using the online connectivity includes Universal serial bus & Bluetooth® wireless online connectivity.