RIM begins showing new BlackBerry’s to carriers

An attendee at the Blackberry 10 Jam World Tour holds one of the company’s DevAlpha devices at their stop in Waterloo, Ontario, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012. AP PHOTO/THE CANADIAN PRESS, GEOFF ROBINS

KITCHENER, Ontario—Canadian phone maker Research In Motion has begun showing its new BlackBerry smartphones to wireless carriers around the world, but the struggling company remains “months and months” away from starting to sell them.

The smartphones running the BlackBerry 10 operating system are critical to RIM’s survival. RIM executives met with wireless companies this week and provided a glimpse of the much-delayed system.

It is due out early next year and comes as North Americans are abandoning BlackBerrys for flashier iPhones and Android phones.

Andrew McLeod, managing director of RIM’s Canadian operations, said Thursday that feedback from those carriers has been positive. McLeod says the company will begin to discuss product launches and other business aspects with the carriers soon. ‘