BlackBerry 10 Devices to Launch Late 2012

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If you’re expecting Research-in-Motion to come up with devices based on their latest BlackBerry 10 platform anytime soon, the wait is likely to be a bit longer, as RIM confirms that no BB10 device is likely to be released until late 2012.

RIM has been experiencing a string of unfortunate events lately. After the worldwide BlackBerry service outages this October, the company also lost its legal battle to use the “BBX” name in its upcoming operating system, and instead went for “BlackBerry 10” (which can be still abbreviated to BBX, with X being the Roman numeral equivalent of 10). Just recently, RIM has announced that even devices running BB10 will get a delayed launch.

In a conference call with investors, RIM’s co-CEO Mike Lazaridis says that BB10 devices are likely to start production only by mid- to late 2012, due to the unavailability of a critical chipset required in producing new smartphones and tablets that run the company’s new QNX-based platform.

According to RIM executives, there is no viable alternative to the use of the intended chipset, which will ensure the best balance of processing power and battery life. RIM promises that while BlackBerry users wait for the next lineup of devices, the company will continue tweaking and improving the platform’s user interface to ensure the best user-experience once the new devices hit the market.

Such devices may include smartphones like the BlackBerry London, Milan, Lisbon, Nevada, and the Black Forest tablet we earlier reported on. Given the time-sensitive nature of launching products like smartphones and tablets, RIM will need to make sure it doesn’t get any further delays unless it wants its declining market share to drop even faster.