RIM plans to unveil BlackBerry 10 and two smartphones Jan. 30

Will it be enough to reverse RIM's decline?

Research in Motion will officially launch its new mobile operating system, BlackBerry 10, on Jan. 30, along with the first two RIM-designed smartphones to run it, the company announced today. The company has bet its future on the platform's success.

The RIM press release is vague on what "launch" actually means. The company has already demonstrated many of BlackBerry 10's capabilities, along with a prototype smartphone created to help software developers write apps for the new platform. In today's statement, RIM doesn't say when the first two BlackBerry 10 smartphones actually go on sale.

BACKGROUND: RIM CEO vows to wow with BlackBerry 10

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RIM is promising that on release, BlackBerry 10 "will offer a large catalog of the leading applications from across the globe and across all categories, including Games, Productivity, Social, Lifestyle and Leisure, Multimedia and Published Content, as well as applications designed for business and enterprise use."

In an important milestone for its traditional government and enterprise customers, RIM announced earlier this month that BlackBerry 10 had been granted FIPS 140-2 security certification, allowing it to be used wherever FIPS is mandated. These markets will be able to buy and use BlackBerry 10 devices, and BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10, as soon as they're released. According to RIM, the first BlackBerry 10 phones are now being tested by over 50 carriers and "many more" are expected to start in the coming weeks.

John Cox covers wireless networking and mobile computing for Network World. 
Twitter: http://twitter.com/johnwcoxnww 
Email: john_cox@nww.com

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