CEO Changes Mind On Inexpensive BlackBerry 10 Handsets

If you were worried that you'd never get your hands on a BlackBerry 10 smartphone because the first touchscreen device was too expensive – bucker up! Today BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins has made an almost offhand comment about the future of the inexpensive BlackBerry 10 handset – a device he'd previously all but dismissed as a possibility. Today during an earnings call that had rather mixed news for the company, a "midrange BlackBerry 10" smart device was confirmed.

If you're all about the least-expensive of this notoriously business-oriented smartphone lineup, it looks like you'll be waiting until mid-year. According to Heins, "various markets" will be getting a so-called "midrange" BlackBerry 10 device, while up until then the world will be working with the two top-tier devices we've seen thus far. Heins added that the company was looking forward to [this midrange release] because [BlackBerry] knowss that there's a big demand even in the midrange."

[aquote]We know there's a big demand [for BlackBerry 10] even in the midrange.[/aquote]

This announcement has this lesser BlackBerry device pinned for right around September – that's not halfway through the year, you might say, but Heins wasn't talking about the normal year, he referred instead to the fiscal year. BlackBerry's fiscal year just ended with this particular earnings call, the next starting presently.

This midrange machine's existence will quite likely hinge on the success of the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10, both of which are hitting the market either immediately or rather soon. Have a peek at the rest of the earnings call results in our BlackBerry earnings wrap-up and hit the timeline below for more BlackBerry 10 hands-on magic!