(AP)- BlackBerry maker Research In Motion says it’s now testing its much-delayed BlackBerry 10 smartphones with 50 wireless carriers around the world, calling it a key step.
RIM previously announced delays to its upcoming BlackBerry 10 system, which the company considers crucial to its future. It’s expected in the first quarter of next year, rather than late this year.
The delay means the phones will miss the holiday shopping season and come months after the expected launch of a new iPhone.
The delay could make it even harder for RIM to regain market share lost to Apple’s iPhone and devices running Google’s Android operating software.
Developments surrounding the BlackBerry 10 in recent months:
Oct. 18, 2011: RIM unveils a new operating system, combining existing BlackBerry elements with RIM’s previously announced QNX operating system for phones and tablet computers. RIM gives few details and offers no timetable, though analysts have come to expect it in early 2012.
Dec. 6: RIM says “BlackBerry 10” will be the new name for its next-generation system after the company loses a trademark ruling on its previous name, BBX.
Dec. 15: RIM says new phones running BlackBerry 10 won’t be out until late 2012. The company says the phones will need a highly integrated chipset that won’t be available until mid-2012, so the company can now expect the new phones to ship late in the year.
May 1: RIM unveils a newly designed smartphone prototype powered by BlackBerry 10. The prototype BlackBerry has a touch screen, but no physical keyboard like most BlackBerry models. No update is given on the new system’s launch date.
May 2: Company stresses that while the prototype has no physical keyboard, RIM will continue to make some models with one.
June 21: Company says the first BlackBerry device running BlackBerry 10 will not have a physical keyboard, only a touch-screen one. Ones with hard keyboards will eventually be made, but the company declines to say when.
June 28: RIM says it’s delaying the launch of BlackBerry 10 yet again, to the first quarter of next year.
Aug. 23: RIM says it has begun showing its new BlackBerry smartphones to wireless carriers around the world, but remains “months and months” away from starting to sell them. The company says feedback from those carriers has been positive, and it will begin to discuss product launches and other business aspects with the carriers soon.
Sept. 25: CEO Thorsten Heins promises to restore the BlackBerry’s stature as a trailblazing device even as many investors fret about its potential demise.
Latest: Research In Motion says its BlackBerry 10 smartphones are now being tested by 50 wireless carriers around the world.
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