Leaked video shows Qwerty, touchscreen RIM BlackBerry 10s

Video posted about the time RIM announced second-quarter financial results also explains elaborate marketing plan for the smartphones 

A newly leaked video shows off two coming Research in Motion BlackBerry 10 smartphones, while also describing an elaborate marketing campaign designed to help launch the devices in the first quarter of 2013.

CrackBerry.com first posted the video on Thursday at about the same time that RIM posted its second quarter earnings, according to BGR.com.

BGR apparently grabbed the video before it was pulled from CrackBerry, and posted it on its site Friday.

The two BlackBerry 10 phones, shown side-by-side at one point in the 3:20-minute video, include a tall touchscreen device that is similar to the Dev Alpha devices being used by RIM developers to build applications.

The video also shows for the first time a Qwerty smartphone with a screen that is not as tall. The phone has a familiar-looking BlackBerry physical keyboard below a display that's a bit taller than the one used in RIM's current Bold 9900.

On the screen of the Qwerty device is a depiction of how BlackBerry Hub might work, with a document overlaid on an email.

BlackBerry Hub is designed to bring emails and notifications together easily in BlackBerry 10. RIM officials demonstrated Hub earlier this week at the BlackBerry Jam event in San Jose.

RIM disclosed at that event that its subscriber base has passed 80 million, up from 78 million in the first quarter of 2012. On Thursday, RIM reported a second quarter loss of $235 million, which beat expectations and led to a surge in the company's stock price.

During an earnings call yesterday, RIM officials and CEO Thorsten Heins said RIM projects another loss in the third quarter, and is likely to report deficits for several quarters to come.

Still, Heins said that the highly anticipated BlackBerry 10 will launch "on track" in the first quarter.

The video also describes an "In the Right Hands" marketing campaign involving celebrities and average BlackBerry users that use a BlackBerry 10 smartphone for one day apiece, adding content and then passing it on until the day the device is formally launched.

For example, the narrator says musician Lady Gaga could write and load on the phone a single music track on one day, followed by a short story from writer JK and Rowling could write a short story, and the recording of a movie by film director Ridley Scott.

RIM officials declined to comment on the video.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen, send e-mail to mhamblen@computerworld.comor subscribe to Matt's RSS feed .

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BlackBerry sales fell but RIM's loss narrowed in Q2

RIM lost $$235 million in the quarter ended Sept. 1

Shipments of its BlackBerry smartphones fell in the quarter ended Sept. 1 as Research In Motion posted its third straight loss.

There were 7.4 million BlackBerrys sold in the quarter, down from 7.8 million in the company's March-to-May quarter. RIM's revenue fell to $2.9 billion, compared with $4.2 billion a year earlier. But the company's revenue beat the consensus estimate of analyst polled by Thomson Reuters, of $2.5 billion.

Also, RIM's loss of $235 million, or $0.45 per share, was narrower than the $518 million shortfall it reported for the previous quarter. The latest loss included $136 million in costs for the company's ongoing restructuring. RIM said its adjusted net loss was $142 million, or $0.27 per share. Analysts had forecast a loss of $0.46 per share.

A continued dropoff in BlackBerry sales is not surprising as the company prepares to deliver BlackBerry 10, its delayed next-generation OS that is now expected to come out in the first quarter of next year. RIM has struggled against the growing popularity of Apple's iPhones and a vast array of smartphones based on Google's Android OS.

In June, RIM posted a first-quarter net loss of $518 million and said BlackBerry sales had fallen by nearly half to 7.8 million units. At the same time, the company said it would eliminate one-third of jobs in the company and cut down the number of products it offers.

The latest financial report came just days after RIM CEO Thorsten Heins told app developers at the BlackBerry Jam Americas conference that BlackBerry 10 is still on track for devices to launch in the first quarter of next year. Heins also said the number of BlackBerry users worldwide had grown slightly since the end of the second quarter, from 78 million to 80 million.

Sales of RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook tablets dropped to about 130,000 in the quarter.