Will BB score a perfect 10?

RIM changes name to BlackBerry, launches new operating system and 2 smartphones, hoping to win back lost market share

Research In Motion Ltd unveiled on Wednesday night the long-delayed line of smartphones it hopes will put the company on the comeback trail in a market it once dominated, but said sales of the BlackBerry 10 in the United States will not start until March.

Long road ahead: The new BlackBerry 10 mobile platform being unveiled in New York. The BlackBerry Z10 will be available today in Britain, from February 5 in Canada and from March in the US. Pic/AFP

Signalling his hopes for a fresh start for the company that pioneered on-your-hip e-mail, Chief Executive Thorsten Heins also said RIM was abandoning the name it has used since its inception in 1985 to take on the name of its signature product.

“From this point forward, RIM becomes BlackBerry,” Heins said at the New York launch. “It is one brand; it is one promise.”

RIM said the first of the new BlackBerrys will be available on Thursday in Britain, with other countries following as carriers complete their testing. In the US market, the BlackBerry Z10 touchscreen device will go on sale in March.
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