BREAKING NEWS - RIM Launches Blackberry 10 (Exclusive Photos)

Some of the things we expect to see are details about the new Z10 phone like pricing and carrier availability, news about the state of the BB10 app store, a bunch of nerdy IT talk about how the new OS will fit into existing systems, and maybe some news about the forthcoming Qwerty models. Maybe a few features of the OS that haven't been shown off yet, too. We're ready to be surprised, though, since this is such an important event for RIM, and it might have a few tricks up its sleeve.

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins hosted the main event in New York. Video of his appearance was shown at other RIM events in Toronto, London, Paris, Dubai, Johannesburg, New Delhi and Jakarta, Indonesia.

BlackBerry 10 basics

BlackBerry 10 is the first version of RIM’s smartphone platform designed for touch devices; previous versions, such asBlackBerry 7, were optimized for non-touch handsets with physical keyboards. The new platform is a combination of BlackBerry’s own technology and elements from QNX, a software company RIM acquired in 2010.

Perhaps the most noticeable feature of the new OS is its Flow interface, which uses a card-like metaphor for fast app switching. BlackBerry 10 is also taking a cue from Windows Phone with a new feature called BlackBerry Hub. Similar to how Windows Phone centralizes data in one spot with its People and Pictures hubs, BlackBerry Hub lets you view e-mail, SMS, BlackBerry Messenger, and social networking updates inside one universal inbox.

Other nice additions to BlackBerry 10 include an adaptive software keyboard that adjusts to your typing style over time and a predictive word suggestion feature that can add words to your messages with a quick gesture. There is also a new camera that offers features such as composite photos that snap several images in quick succession so you can merge them into one idealized photo. A great tool for, say, creating a group photo that doesn’t have anyone caught mid-blink. Windows Phone 8 offers a similar feature called Smart Group Shot.

BlackBerry 10 will also have some new enterprise features including Balance, which creates two "personas" on a BlackBerry device, one for work and one for personal use.

Rumored device

One rumored device expected Wednesday is the Z10, a 4G BlackBerry 10 device featuring a 4.2-inch display with 1280-by-768 resolution, a 1.5GHz processor, an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera, and 16GB of onboard storage. RIM plans to roll out at least six BlackBerry 10 devices in 2013 at various price ranges, according to an earlier report from Fierce Wireless.

 Movies, music and apps

You can’t win the smartphone wars with just nice phones and a snazzy new OS; you also need content for people to load onto their device. RIM has been busy beefing up its app store for BlackBerry 10 with a number of developer events encouraging app makers to port their programs to the OS. RIM’s app store is expected to debut with about 70,000 BlackBerry 10 apps.

The company also recently renamed BlackBerry App World to BlackBerry World, in a nod to the fact that the smartphone vendor will also offer music and movies in addition to apps. RIM said Monday that BlackBerry World will include an “extensive catalog of songs as well as movies and TV shows.” It’s not clear just what the BlackBerry entertainment catalog will look like, but RIM says it will have video content from major studios, broadcasters and independent producers such as 20th Century Fox, ABC, CBS, Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Starz, Walt Disney and Warner Bros.