BlackBerry 10 prototype gets a thumbs down from investors

Research In Motion's (RIM) next-generation BlackBerry 10 operating system failed to impress investors as shares of the company closed 5.8 per cent down on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The BlackBerry maker on Tuesday unveiled the new BlackBerry 10 and a set of software tools to create flashy apps to run on its new operating system.

The BlackBerry 10 devices will navigate with fewer keystrokes than the legacy smartphones, relying on swipe gestures and word suggestions.



At RIM's annual BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, new CEO Thorsten Heins took center stage to unveil a prototype of the devices RIM expects to launch later this year.

"We wanted a user paradigm that is easy and fast," Heins said, demonstrating how information from documents, emails, calendars, and address books could slide in and out from the screen's edges. "It's all about making things flow."

RIM knows consumers won't buy its new phones or tablets unless developers get excited about the platform and create a wealth of apps to operate on it. A dearth of apps for the legacy BlackBerry is one of the big reasons RIM has suffered huge market-share losses to Apple Inc and Google Inc's Android in recent years.

As a consequence, shares of the BlackBerry maker have dropped about 70 per cent over the past 12 months. On Tuesday, RIM closed down 5.8 per cent at C$13.31 in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

"The bulls have disappeared from the scene as far as RIM is concerned. There is no investor confidence in RIM at all. It will have to do something fairly spectacular to turn things around," said David Cockfield, managing director and portfolio manager at Northland Wealth Management.

With inputs from agencies