BlackBerry 10 now being tested by 50+ carriers worldwide. Pentagon will keep carrying BB devices.
RIM CEO Thorsten Heins announced in a statement on Wednesday that handsets running the new OS were now being tested by more than 50 carriers worldwide.
Thorsten Heins, President and CEO, Research In Motion, said:
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.
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.
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.
In other news involving the mobile company, the Pentagon made clear
this week that it would carry on supporting “large numbers” of
BlackBerry handsets despite going ahead with plans to allow the US
military to use other devices such as the iPhone.
“The Defense Information Systems Agency is managing an enterprise
email capability that continues to support large numbers of RIM
devices,” a spokesman told
Reuters this week. A number of government agencies and businesses have
said in the last year they would be issuing staff with iOS or Android
devices, ending long-standing contracts with BlackBerry. While the
Pentagon also appears to be relaxing its association with RIM, things
are so serious at the Canadian company that the defense agency’s
announcement that it’s not switching entirely to rival devices will actually be perceived as good news by many.
The BlackBerry was once the phone of choice for many agencies and
firms thanks largely to its strong security features. However, security
on rival handsets such as Apple’s iPhone and a number of Android-powered
devices has improved over time, offering an alternative to the
BlackBerry.
