The Waterloo, Ontario-based company, a one-time pioneer in the smartphone industry, is betting its future on the new products, which will be powered by its new BlackBerry 10 operating system. Its shares rose 5.5 percent to $9.01 in trading before the U.S. stock markets opened.
RIM said the twice-delayed launch would take place simultaneously in multiple countries. It will introduce two BlackBerry 10 smartphones as well as the platform that powers them.
The company has said the first devices will have touchscreens. Phones with the mini QWERTY keyboards that many long-time BlackBerry users rave about will come a few weeks later. The company did not say when the devices will be available in stores.
RIM says its new devices will be faster and smoother and have a large catalog of applications that are now crucial to the success of any new line of smartphones.
Last week, RIM said the new platform and devices had received U.S. government security clearance, potentially allowing U.S. and Canadian government agencies to deploy the new smartphones as soon as they are available.
Source: Reuters
