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If you've been following the news regarding BlackBerry 10, then you likely already know that the first BB10 device will be a full touchscreen, with the QWERTY version following close behind. This decision has shocked some people, making many wonder why RIM would go such a route when one of the most popular features of BlackBerry, and arguably one that RIM has perfected, is the QWERTY keyboard. When Kevin asked him about this decision, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins had this to say:
"There's two reasons for this. The first reason, without being arrogant, I think we own the full qwerty market. The Bold 9900 is doing a good job of this in the market with our corporate customers. In the US we're most under pressure with the BYOD movement in enterprises, so we need to get in the battle. That's why we need the entry card, which is the full touch device, so we can go to enterprises and say, hey look at this, this is the full touch from BlackBerry and it does things way better than what you have today. And I think it's going to be way better. And then the qwerty comes immediately thereafter."
"The second reason is technology. Building the full touch device on this platform is more complicated than the qwerty one. So it's natural that you make the more complex product first that actually clears the pipeline for the platform."
The reasoning behind the decision makes a lot of sense, and hopefully will prove to be a wise one. Plus, that new virtual keyboard we've seen peeks of looks hot! Maybe it's enough to turn even the most devout physical keyboard users' heads?
CrackBerry nation, we want to know which BB10 device you're lusting after. Does the smooth, all touchscreen device have your curiosity piqued? Are you planning to stick with the tried-and-true QWERTY model, even if you have to wait a little longer to get it? Let us know in the poll above, then leave a comment below letting us know why you chose what you did!
