BlackBerry CEO unveils new smartphone

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has unveiled a lower-cost BlackBerry that is designed for emerging markets.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has unveiled a lower-cost BlackBerry that is designed for emerging markets.

Research firm IDC said more smartphones than “dumb” phones are being made this year, a milestone in a shift that’s putting computing power and Internet access in millions of hands worldwide.

Smartphone maker BlackBerry on Friday slammed as “false and misleading” a brokerage research note which claimed consumers were returning the new Z10 handsets at a high rate.

Blackberry, the frontrunner of smartphones only six years ago, before it was dislodged by Apple and Android, makes a comeback with a redesigned look and user interface (UI) that’s finally attuned with the times.

Research In Motion Ltd. said Thursday that it sold about 1 million of its critically important new BlackBerry 10 devices and returned to profitability in the most recent quarter.

The head of BlackBerry has taken a swipe at Apple, saying in an interview the iPhone’s operating system was outdated, while promising thousands of new apps as it prepares to launch its new Z10 handset.

BlackBerry on Friday launched its new Z10 smartphone in Indonesia, the company’s third-largest market, as it rapidly loses ground elsewhere to rivals such as Apple and Samsung.

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion will launch its new touchscreen smartphone in the US with AT&T on March 22. The release will come several weeks after RIM launched the much-delayed devices elsewhere.

Troubled smartphone maker BlackBerry will not launch its new models in Japan, reports said Friday, effectively heralding a pull-out from a booming smartphone market where it is being beaten by Apple.

The chief executive of Research In Motion said he’s disappointed the new BlackBerry won’t be released in the United States until mid-March, but he said early data suggests sales in the U.K. are above expectations.

Are you ashamed to have a BlackBerry? It’s not exactly a status symbol any more, at least not in the U.S., after it got left in the dust by the iPhone. Now, there’s a new BlackBerry that wants to get back into the cool club: the Z10.

The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedier device, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone. It’s the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company.

Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion plummeted Friday on the Nasdaq exchange on investor fears that its new smartphone platform will thin the ranks paying for its service.