RIM’s evangelists appear to have done their job in the UK, as all of the major UK operators have announced they will offer the company’s new BlackBerry 10-powered smartphones when they launch in early 2013.
For the first time, it has been confirmed that RIM will offer 4G BlackBerry 10 devices, after the UK’s first 4G operator announced that it will offer devices capable of connecting to its “superfast” 4GEE service to both consumer and business customers from launch.
EE will also offer BlackBerry 10 devices via its T-Mobile and Orange brands and are joined by O2, Vodafone and Three, which have also confirmed that they will offer smartphones running RIM’s overhauled mobile OS when devices go on sale in the UK.
The companies remain tight-lipped on availability and pricing, but vow to update us soon.
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RIM has scheduled its global launch event for January 30, where it show off two new BlackBerry 10 smartphones. We have already seen leaks of RIM’s new L-Series device in the past few weeks.
In October, RIM opened app submissions for BlackBerry 10 devices, alerting developers to the fact that their apps would be available when the mobile operating system launches in the first quarter of 2013. According to RIM, it may have as many as 70,000 apps available at launch.
With the UK’s major operators pledging support for the platform, it is likely it will be followed by US carriers very soon.
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