Some things in life are worth waiting for, while others are all about the prolonged and possibly rather annoying wait. Whichever one you fall into when it comes to the latest BlackBerry operating system, which has been dubbed as Blackberry 10, it is already here, pretty much.

BlackBerry World 2012 was the showcase event, and here developers were given some of the new kit to play around with, and out of this whole thing came some surprises.

Blackberry 10

More on the surprises later. The first thing that really struck the media at the event was the fact that the new operating system stands to offer a brand new level of gaming for BlackBerry devices. The Playbook revolutionized how the operating system could work with games, with the Need for Speed game being an absolute highlight for gamers, but this new operating system is rumored to bring things to a whole new level. RIM actually stated that they would be moving towards making the BlackBerry 10 OS a real groundbreaking platform for gaming, and if they are saying this then it must be true. Expect to see a lot of ports from other operating systems, but also some new and bold strides forward when it comes to classic, BlackBerry only titles. The Playbook was just the beginning.

BlackBerry World 2012

What BlackBerry did at BlackBerry World 2012 was dish out a load of handsets to developers, like being in a sandpit with a whole new set of toys basically. These handsets had the new OS on them (or as close to this as possible) and developers were given free reign at the event to take the BlackBerry 10 model through its paces.

The handset was called the BlackBerry Dev Alpha, and RIM was quick to point out that it was not indicative of the new phones or the OS. So they were basically warning prospective customers to not expect what they saw to become reality, and this means both in the handset design and the operating system that ran on it. With the handset there was no keyboard, which immediately set the alarm bells ringing (in a nice way) for many visitors. Some people will always associate the BlackBerry series of phones with keyboards, but if the Dev Alpha is a true prototype, then it looks like BlackBerry are moving ever closer to the traditional smartphone model.

Blackberry 10 – Needs Lots of Apps

The main change with the operating system lies in the fact that they handed it out to developers. Blackberry is keen to get app makers on board here. The key to a growing business model in uncertain times is a constant steady stream of income, one that keeps diversifying. While Apple may have cracked this with their App Store, Blackberry are still in their infant years. This new Blackberry 10 OS should allow them to make it easier for developers to create apps that will be easily transferred to the OS, and quickly bought by millions of customers.


Whether this will be true remains to be seen. The event was exciting and all that, but many commentators pointed to the fact that this kind of rush towards an app friendly phone was perhaps a little too late for the market. However in our opinion, producing more apps is definitely the right way to go. Especially if Blackberry is to keep their customers from switching to other platforms, after all goo looking hardware is one thing but useful things to do with it is another.

Blackberry 10 Dev Alpha Handset Video

You can read more about the Dev Alpha handset here phonesreview


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