Research In Motion kick started the BlackBerry World 2012 conference yesterday in Orlando (USA) by giving a sneak peek to the BlackBerry 10 OS. Thorsten Heins, chief executive officer of RIM, demonstrated the new BlackBerry 10 user interface, keyboard and even the camera. Of course, it was the same BlackBerry 10 Developer Alpha device that was spotted online. However, from the smooth and intuitive looking user interface of the new operating system, we can only hope for some awesome BlackBerry devices by the end of this year.
BlackBerry World 2012 is an event RIM holds annually for the BlackBerry platform developers.
RIM had renamed its BBX operating system as BlackBerry 10 officially sometime back. The BlackBerry 10 OS has been rewritten from scratch to include the QNX Real-Time Linux OS to the core. The BlackBerry 10 OS is what every developer along with the regular BlackBerry users certainly look forward to. BlackBerry 10 OS interface certainly looks fresh and more focused towards the full touch form-factors.
Surprisingly, the BlackBerry 10 Developer Alpha device looks eerily similar to the iPhone 4S but does not have a home screen button in the front. The BlackBerry 10 Alpha device, infact, is very similar to a miniaturised PlayBook Tablet. The user interface of the menus in the BlackBerry 10 has cascading styled effect while the basic gestures continue to remain same and simple – right to left and vice versa, top to bottom and vice versa.
RIM has also released the first beta version of the BlackBerry 10 Software Development Kit and Native Development Kit with it. Moreover, RIM has announced that the BlackBerry 10 Alpha device owners can trade those devices with a limited edition BlackBerry 10 device whenever it releases.
RIM has also unveiled a new BlackBerry Music Gateway accessory which is basically required to hook your BlackBerry smartphone, PlayBook or PC to play music wirelessly. Basically, the source device should feature A2DP or AVRCP Bluetooth profile support. This Music Gateway accessory will retail in the USA for $50 (Rs 2,500 approximately) and will support Near Field Communication as one of the connectivity options.