New BlackBerry phone being tested by wireless carriers: RIM

Research In Motion (RIM) has said its much-delayed new BlackBerry smartphones are now being tested by 50 wireless carriers around the world.

The phones are seen as critical to RIM's survival. The release will come as the company struggles in North America to hold onto customers who are abandoning BlackBerrys for flashier iPhones and Android phones.

The Canadian company called the testing a key step as it prepares to launch the new BlackBerry 10 software and phones in the first quarter of next year.

"I'm very pleased to confirm that we have passed a critical milestone in the development of our brand new mobile computing platform," RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said in a statement. "This process will continue in the coming months as more carriers around the world formally evaluate the devices and our brand new software."

RIM's current software is still focused on email and messaging, and is less user-friendly and agile than iPhone or Android. Its attempt at touch screens and a tablet were a flop, and RIM lacks the apps that power other smartphones .

RIM's hopes hang on BlackBerry 10.

It's thoroughly redesigned for the touchscreen, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers now expect. A full touchscreen device will be released first followed shortly after by a physical keyboard version.

The new BlackBerrys will be released after the holiday shopping season and well after Apple's launch of the iPhone 5, Apple's biggest product introduction yet.

RIM's platform transition is also happening under a new management team and as RIM lays off 5,000 employees as part of a bid to save $1 billion.

RIM was once Canada's most valuable company with a market value of more than $80 billion in 2008, but the stock has plummeted since, from over $140 share to around $7. Its decline evokes memories of Nortel, another former Canadian tech giant, which declared bankruptcy in 2009.

Shares of RIM closed up 4.7 per cent, or 36 cents, at $7.93.