New BlackBerrys coming to UK, Canada in next week

New generation of BlackBerrys to hit UK, Canadian markets first before March arrival in US

Thorsten Heins, CEO of Research in Motion, introduces the BlackBerry 10. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company.

NEW YORK — A new generation of more versatile BlackBerry smartphones is finally about to hit the market after excruciating delays allowed mobile devices made by Apple, Samsung, and others to build commanding leads in a market that is redefining society.

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. formally unveiled its long-awaited line-up of revamped smartphones and software today at simultaneous events held in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Dubai, Johannesburg, Jakarta, and Delhi.

In a move underscoring the stakes riding on its make-or-break product line-up, the Canadian company used the occasion to announce it is changing its name to BlackBerry — a pioneering brand that has lost its cachet since Apple's 2007 release of the iPhone reset expectations for what a smartphone should do.

The first devices in the new crop of BlackBerrys will be called the Q10, which will feature a physical keyboard like previous versions of the phone. The Z10 will have only a touch-screen keyboard, like Apple's trend-setting iPhone and other handsets running on Google's Android software, including Samsung's popular Galaxy. They will run on a redesigned operating system called BlackBerry 10, which the company began working on after buying QNX Software Systems in 2010.

The new software and BlackBerrys were supposed to be released a year ago, only to be delayed while Apple and Android device makers won more zealous converts to their products. In the meantime, Microsoft Corp. also rolled out a new Windows operating system for smartphones giving RIM another technology powerhouse to battle. The delays helped wipe out $70 billion in shareholder wealth and 5,000 jobs.

“It is the most challenging year of my career,” said RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, whose anniversary leading the company occurred last week. “It is also the most exhilarating and exciting one.”

The wait for U.S. smartphone users interested in buying the new BlackBerry line isn't over. The Z10 won't be released in the United States until March and the Q10 might not arrive in the country until April, Mr. Heins said, to give wireless carriers more time to test the product. The estimated U.S. prices for the phones weren't announced either.

The Z10, which BlackBerry will call the “Zed-10” outside the U.S., will go on sale Thursday in United Kingdom Thursday. The same model will be released in Canada on Feb. 5 and will cost about $150 there with a three-year contract.

BGC Financial analyst Colin Gills said the new phones’ tardy arrival to the United States threatens to cause even more BlackBerry users to defect to the iPhone or an Android device.

Today's event didn't go over well on Wall Street. RIM's stock fell $1.18, or 7.5 percent, to $14.48 in afternoon trading.