bidorbuy was fortunate enough to be part of the global BlackBerry 10 launch event where the bidorbuy Shopping App for BlackBerry 10 Devices was featured. The BlackBerry Z10, a full touch-screen device, and the BlackBerry Q10, a device with a physical keyboard and touch screen were also launched at the event.

Event Highlights

The live event was held in a few key cities around the world. These were New York, London, Paris, Dubai, Johannesburg, Jakarta and New Delhi. It is significant that South Africa was included in this list, showing that BlackBerry is still a formidable force in the country.

RIM becomes BlackBerry

BlackBerry President and CEO, Thorsten Heins announced that they were dropping their company name and rebranding RIM simply as BlackBerry. Their new brand and slogan is “BlackBerry – one brand, one promise.”

New Devices

BlackBerry Z10

The BlackBerry Z10 is a full-screen touchscreen device. You won’t find any “back button” or “home button” on this device. Running on the new BlackBerry 10 platform, this device brings with it a bunch of new features that take the BlackBerry experience to the next level and is comparable in many ways to an iPhone running iOS or a Samsung Galaxy SIII on Android.

BlackBerry Q10

The BlackBerry Q10 is a fusion between a BlackBerry 10 touch device and a phone with a physical keyboard. It was developed for people who prefer the feel of a  keyboard over a touch-screen for typing.

Global Creative Director

In a somewhat strange but interesting announcement, Alicia Keys was announced as the Global Creative Director of BlackBerry. She will be responsible for driving creative inspiration and will lead “BlackBerry Keep Moving Projects”. This seems much like the appointment of Will.i.am to the same position at Intel.

The bidorbuy App for BlackBerry 10

UPDATE: As of October 2016, bidorbuy is retiring its BlackBerry mobile shopping app.

bidorbuy also had the opportunity of featuring its App for BlackBerry 10 and is available from BlackBerry World immediately. You’ll have to get hold of a BlackBerry 10 device though as this App will only support BlackBerry 10 and up. With the bidorbuy App for Blackberry 10 you’ll have access to over 1,000,000 products from around South Africa and the world, whenever you want and wherever you are.