RIM confirms lack of physical keyboard on first BB 10 phone
updated 03:24 pm EDT, Thu June 21, 2012
Physical keyboards on BlackBerry 10 devices will arrive eventually, but not at launch
Breaking with a long-standing tradition, Research In Motion (RIM) confirmed on Thursday that its first device running on the upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS won't have a physical, QWERTY keyboard. That handset is rumored to arrive in mid-October, with the touchscreen rumors also originating from this story. Instead, the phone will have a virtual, on-screen keyboard like competitors from Apple and Android-powered devices, The Washington Post reported.
Later on, RIM will bring out BlackBerry 10 devices with the company's signature hardware keyboard, however. What effect this decision will have on sales remains to be seen. There are those who keep BlackBerry phones for the keyboards alone, along with the popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) messaging app.
Traditionally, RIM was strong in the corporate and enterprise market, but it's losing ground here to Apple's iPhone. Like the virtual keyboards of the competition, RIM has developed a way to correct typos. Users can choose which corrections to make from the predictive menu by swiping rather than pointing and clicking.
