BB10 offers users an alternative

BlackBerry's latest releases will stand out in today's "crowded and homogenous smartphone market," according to research group Ovum.

After launching both the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 to the waiting media in New York this week, the previously named Research In Motion is expected to live or die on the success.

And while many in the industry drummed up the release as the crossroads for the Canadian company, Ovum's principal analyst Adam Leach believes they many have produced something unique in today's smartphone market.

“The Blackberry 10 platform offers a differentiated user experience in today’s crowded and homogenous smartphone market," he says.

"The Blackberry Z10 and Q10 will stand out from the Android masses and look distinct from Apple’s iPhone.

"The user experience of Blackberry 10 introduces some nice new features but importantly builds on Blackberry’s UI heritage and therefore will certainly appeal to existing Blackberry users."

The challenge:

However, Leach believes the challenge for the company will be to attract new users and those that have already moved to alternative smartphones.

"Blackberry has rightly focused on insuring that the Blackberry 10 devices have a large catalogue of content and applications which is now essential for any modern smartphone, and achieving 70,000 applications at the launch of a new platform is good start," he says.

"Despite a well-designed Blackberry 10 platform, that will certainly attract short-term interest from existing users the company will struggle to appeal to a wider audience and in the long-term will become a niche player in the smartphone market."

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