RIM pushes analyst meeting until after BlackBerry 10 ships
updated 05:15 pm EDT, Tue March 27, 2012
BlackBerry 10 seen as contingent for fiscal talks
RIM in statements Tuesday said it was delaying its usual analyst meeting until after the BlackBerry 10 launch. Normally held at BlackBerry World, which starts early May this year, the meeting would be moved to a "separate session" after that platform was public, RIM's representative Temille Kennedy told Reuters. The decision would move it to the second half of 2012 and possibly September.
No direct reason was given for the delay, although it's likely to have a more positive message and more details to give about RIM's long-term plans than it can reveal at present. After deciding to move the first BlackBerry 10 phone to later in 2012, RIM was left with no choice but to ride out BlackBerry 7 hardware like the Bold 9900. Analysts have expected the company to continue losing market share to the iPhone and Android without a clearly modernized OS and hardware that's once more starting to trail even mid-range devices.
BlackBerry 10 upgrades and modifies the PlayBook's interface for the smartphone and is expected to be particularly good at multitasking and performance. Concerns exist that iOS 6 and the next Android version, Jelly Bean, will negate some or more advantages by the time RIM's new OS ships.
