RIM rebrands as Blackberry and Launches Blackberry Z10 and Q10 - Alicia Keys' Global Creative Director is a Girl on Fire for these Tallawah yet Beautiful Creatures

“RIM, renamed Blackberry, put on glitz, glamour and yes a little bling with CEO Heins doing a good job introducing BB10. The bling of course is Alicia Keys, named Blackberry Creative Director, who plans to be in the office at least for a while. Heins was met with ~1,000 reporters, bloggers, investors, analysts and Blackberry staff. It was a ‘slick’ show which is table steaks [sic] in the maturing and more competitive smart phone market”

Excerpt from CIBC analyst Todd Coupland on Blackberry 10 OS and Z10 and Q10 Launch as reported in BGR

Look like Ontario, Canada RIM (Research in Motion) is serious this time, as it seems Canadian Black Sheep have got their back, with the Blackberry 10 OS launched as chronicled in Kelroy’s Geezam blog article entitled “BlackBerry 10 Officially launches – Z10 and Q10 flagship devices” ! Read the Blackberry Z10 and the Blackberry Q10 Specs for yourself! This article’s not about specs, but rather Blackberry’s chances of making a solid comeback as the Mobile Computing world expands.

On Wednesday January 30^th 2013, not only did they launch the Blackberry 10 OS along with two (2) new handsets, the Z10 smartphone and an amped up Q10 with a revamped QWERTY Keyboard, they also changed their name to Blackberry as noted in “Research in Motion launches BlackBerry 10, changes corporate name”, published January 30, 2013, 10:39 AM By Chenda Ngak, CBS News.

No longer RIM, their simplified smartphone names that are easier to remember suggest the company rebranding to attack 2 separate markets: Consumers and Corporate  Enterprise types as predicted in my blog article entitled “Blackberry 10 OS and smartphones for Global Launch on January 30 2013AD - RIM's The Man with the Iron Fist needs a Solid Tablet Partner” .

They also named R& B Singer Alicia Keys their new Global Creative Director in a move that’s’ a clone of Intel appointing Black Eye Peas Will.I.Am as their Creative Director as noted in “BlackBerry goes glam, enlists Alicia Keys”, published January 30, 2013 8:45 AM PST by Shara Tibken, CNET News and “Alicia Keys Is BlackBerry’s New Creative Director”, published January 30, 2013 By Sam Grobart, BusinessWeek. 

The Girl on Fire was previously a user of Blackberry as noted in “Alicia Keys: BlackBerry’s Official Creative Director...Really”, published Jan 30, 2013 4:51pm By Joanna Stern, ABC News. That’s before smartphones became her Social Networking Weapon of choice, quote: “I was in a long-term relationship with BlackBerry and then I started to notice some new, hotter, attractive, sexier phones at the gym. I kinda broke up with you for something with a little more bling. I always missed the way you organized my life and the way you were there for me at my job. So I started to have two phones, I was playing the field. But then you called and you said you were working it out. And now, we are exclusively dating again.”

Not surprising as Alicia Keys’s been a prolific Social Network user, especially of Instagram on her Apple iPhone as noted in “BlackBerry’s new creative director Alicia Keys was an iPhone addict just days ago”, published Jan 31, 2013 11:49 AM ET by Kim Bhasin, Business Insider. A connection sure to resonate with many who’re fans of Apple and Facebook owned Instagram, which has plans for a Blackberry 10 OS app as reported in “Instagram BlackBerry 10 app ‘definitely coming’”, published 04 February 2013 By Luke Johnson, Trusted News.

A trend that been around for quite awhile in the Telecom World as a means of keeping the brand fresh and appealing to the ever changing taste of the Millennials (ages 18 to 28) as the trends towards Mobile Computing Matures as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “How the Apple iPad killed Ultrabooks, Printing and the Mouse as the World Rediscovers Tablets”.

The Global Blackberry 10 OS Launch made the local news too as mentioned in “Review: BlackBerry Z10 is good stab at rebirth”, published February 1, 2013, The Jamaica Gleaner.  The Jamaica Gleaner. For now, availability is in UK (United Kingdom and Canada in February as stated in “Blackberry 10 handset to launch first in the UK”, published 30 January 2013 Last updated at 16:01 GMT, BBC News. Google Android smartphone lovin’ Americans will have to wait until March 2013 to get a taste of Blackberry 10 in March, being as they’re Doubting Thomases as it relates to RIM product being a hit.

Just as well, as UK and Canada are showing them loads of love, with strong sellouts for their various Carriers in BOTH the UK and Canada being reported by Jeffries analyst Peter Misek  in “BlackBerry Z10 off to 'solid start' in U.K., Canada - analyst”, published February 4, 2013 8:45 AM PST by Don Reisinger, CNET News and “Early reports suggest BlackBerry 10 is being embraced in the UK”, published February 4, 2013 By Andy Boxall, DigitalTrends.

Exactly as I’d predicted in my Geezam blog article entitled “RIM sends out official invitations to its Blackberry 10 OS, Z10 Launch and PlayBook Tablet Launch”; Blackberry owners were holding out for something better from RIM and they finally delivered, even changing their name to indicate their faith in their product.

Evidence to back up Jeffries analyst Peter Misek claim?

In Canada alone, 50% of new pre-subscriptions for the Blackberry Z10 are from Apple iPhone and Google Android owners as noted by CIBC analyst Todd Coupland in “The best news BlackBerry could possibly get: 50% of BB10 pre-registration in Canada may have come from iPhone, Android users”, published February 4, 2013 at 10:25 AM by Zach Epstein, BGR.

I was already anticipating greater things from RIM, as I knew they had something up their sleeve, such as possibly a new Playbook Tablet, being as it already runs on QNX OS, the basis for Blackberry 10 OS as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “RIM sends out official invitations to its Blackberry 10 OS, Z10 Launch and PlayBook Tablet Launch”. That didn’t materialize, but that doesn’t mean Blackberry doesn’t have plans to make a Tablet in the future.

In short, as we Jamaicans, lover of the Blackberry to bits would say, RIM….er….I mean Blackberry a “Go haaard an’ All Out” by rebranding themselves with the name of their flagship phones, in essence tying their fate with the name of their product.

Jamaicans love that kind of “little but Tallawah” commitment and are most likely to snap them up like wildfire here in Jamaica when they go on sale at Telecom Provider LIME as noted in BlackBerry woos Caribbean with BB10, published Saturday, February 02, 2013 by PETE SANKEY Senior associate editor, The Jamaica Observer.

That and the fact that Blackberry 10 OS alone with the improved Browser and multimedia Capabilities, 70,000+ Apps comes with VoIP over Wi-Fi embedded in BBM (Black Berry Messenger) built in, the MAIN Reason why many did not abandon Blackberry in droves as prognosticated in my blog article entitled “RIM introduce VoIP Calling over Wi-Fi for BB Messenger - Telecom Providers Trouble with the Curve of Wi-Fi Calling”. VoIP over Data Services coming on your Data Plan via you’re Telecom Provider soon!

With Jamaicans already growing lovers of smartphone, these new Beautiful Creatures (2013) in the form of the Blackberry Z10 and the Blackberry Q10 being shepherded by Alicia Keys are gonna be a big boost to the transition to smartphones in Jamaica as it ties in Blackberry love, taking away that dubious distinction from Apple as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Apple iPhone boosts Jamaican smartphone usage as BB goes Chapter 11 Bankruptcy”.