BlackBerry Curve 9310 makes a straight line to Verizon, July 12th
RIM's BlackBerry Curve 9310 hasn't exactly been shy. It's already made a cameo over at the FCC and got some Boost Mobile face time, and now the QWERTY keyboard-packing smartphone will be hitting Verizon, arriving on the carrier this week.
Context & Ripple Effects
RIM has kept the Curve line moving through carrier refreshes, from Verizon's global-ready Curve in January to the OS 7 Curve family announced in August 2011. The 9310 extends that carrier cadence as RIM's handset sales fell 41% year-on-year in its latest fiscal quarter.
The launch also sits beside RIM's confirmed plan for a touch-only first BlackBerry 10 device. A new physical-keyboard Curve therefore serves a different part of the BlackBerry portfolio while the company prepares its next platform.
First-order effects
- Verizon adds the BlackBerry Curve 9310 to its phone range on July 12, giving customers seeking a physical QWERTY BlackBerry another carrier option.
- RIM gains another major US carrier outlet for the Curve line at a point when its reported handset sales are contracting.
Second-order effects
- RIM must market and support a physical-keyboard Curve alongside its stated touch-only BlackBerry 10 direction, making the portfolio transition more visible to carrier partners and buyers.
- Verizon's continued Curve distribution keeps carrier shelf space available for RIM's established handset line rather than concentrating its BlackBerry offer solely on a future platform.
Third-order effects
- The overlap between another Curve refresh and the first touch-only BlackBerry 10 device signals a handset maker managing two product eras at once; sustained sales pressure would make that overlap harder to maintain.
- Carrier launches are becoming a distribution lever rather than, on their own, evidence of a platform reset for RIM, whose next-platform developer outreach is already under way.
The trend: RIM is using established carrier-backed Curve devices to bridge toward BlackBerry 10 while changing the flagship interaction model from physical keys to touch.