One of the big tech announcements for today is not Android related, but could potentially still affect the mobile industry. Research in Motion officially launched the BlackBerry 10 OS along with the BlackBerry Z10 all-touchscreen phone and the BlackBerry Q10 with QWERTY keyboard phone. For the most part, it looks like RIM has been working hard to iron out the kinks in their mobile OS, although most of the preliminary reviews across the web all say it is much better than the past BB OS, but it still lacks polish and useful apps.
The other problem industry pundits are finding with the new product, isn't the software or the hardware, it's the fact that RIM brought out a high-end product with a high-end carrier contract price. There seems to be an indirect consensus amongst journalists that RIM should have followed Microsoft's lead by offering a cheaper option at first with a much lower subsidized price of below $100, or perhaps even Free. That way, RIM could potentially draw in new customers just on the value savings alone. By jumping into the market in the high-end it forces consumers to make a choice between BB10 and the Android or iPhone they have already grown accustomed to. At a cheaper price point, it might be easier to justify taking that risk, but at $150-200 dollars, most folks will think twice.
At this point, it is beginning to look like the best the BB10 OS can hope for is fighting Microsoft for "table scraps left on the floor" from Android and iOS. Of course, just because some journalist shared his/her opinion doesn't necessarily mean the market will translate that perspective into reality directly. One could argue that the beginning of the Android OS lacked polish and useful apps too, but we can see how that turned out. If RIM can truly reinvent itself, this new transformation might just put them back in the race.
What do you think? Is it too late for RIM, or could we finally be seeing a worthy third competitor in the mobile OS landscape?