Opinion: Re-invented BlackBerry reaches for "hyperconnected" users

Q10 and Z10 BlackBerry smartphones, 70,000 apps, and redesigned UI create a new mobile experience

In a keynote that was rife with technopop music and contrived videos -- and woefully short on details -- Research in Motion launched two new smartphones in its bid to restore its fortunes in the smartphone market.

The company put almost as much weight on its name change, to BlackBerry (stock symbol changes from RIMM to BBRY), to showing a montage of some of the top popular smartphone apps that will be part of the BlackBerry 10 catalog, and video clips of enthusiastic developers and users, and bringing onstage singer Alicia Keys as BlackBerry "Global Creative Director."

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The company seems confident that it can attract, convince, and persuade a lot of users, even in mature markets like the U.S. and Canada. The iPhone is 6 years old; Android powers a lot of phones but only a very few models that approach the iPhone's success. BlackBerry's assessment is that the OS and UI are a match for the next evolution in how people are already stretching smartphones, moving, as BlackBerry President and CEO Thorsten Heins says, from mobile communication to mobile computing.

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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