Last week, BlackBerry introduced its first two BlackBerry 10 smartphones, the touchscreen Z10 and the QWERTY Q10. The Z10 launched first, and is already available in the United Kingdom and Canada. However, according to BlackBerry, wouldn't be available for a while. Last week, the company said it would hit shelves in spring, but offered nothing more specific than that. This week, word has it that the phone won't arrive until May.
According to the Associated Press, the Q10 has been delayed until May or June. The news outlet is basing its estimate for the Q10 release on Thorsten Heins' previous statement that the Q10 would come out eight to 10 weeks after the Z10 is released. This would put it on track for a mid-May or early June launch.
Despite this, PCMag says BlackBerry still plans to ship the phone in April. The website says BlackBerry 'set the record straight' about today's rumors of a delayed Q10 launch, quoting the company as saying, "We expect the first global carriers to launch the BlackBerry Q10 in April."
Unfortunately, BlackBerry didn't mention anything about the U.S. launch, and its comments on the Q10's April debut specifically mentioned global carriers. The Z10 launched in the UK on January 31. Counting forward 10 weeks would bring us to early- to mid-April. This leaves us wondering if the U.S. will once again have to wait many weeks while other carriers get the Q10 first.
The latest rumors have the U.S. Z10 launch happening at the end of March. We'll keep you posted on any developments regarding either of the BlackBerry 10 smartphones. We were actually rather surprised when BlackBerry decided to launch the Z10 first and leave the Q10 release-date unspecified. The company has been struggling to compete against the likes of the iPhone and Android but has retained users that can't bear to go touch. It seems like a poor choice to leave loyal QWERTY users hanging.
The Z10 packs a dual-core 1.5GHz CPU, a 4.2-inch display, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of on board storage, an 8-megapixel in the back, a 2-megapixel camera up front. Be sure to check out our live blog of the event, as well as our unboxing, and our first impressions of the device.
A Brief Look at the Technical Specs of BlackBerry Z10, Q10
BB10 Interview With the QNX Boss of BlackBerry OS
Check out our hands-on with BlackBerry 10 on the Z10.
Interview With the BlackBerry Z10, Q10 Industrial Designer
A Complete Video Walkthrough of BlackBerry 10 OS
