BlackBerry goes niche... Can we have our slider now?
So with yesterday's news, BlackBerry seems to have given up hopes of being #3 in the smartphone market and has instead decided on being a niche player targeting "prosumers". There are already multiple threads about whether or not this is a good thing but it got me thinking. Since they were first released in Canada, I've been rocking the z10. It's been a bit of a love/hate relationship with it. Before that I had the Torch and I absolutely loved it. If BlackBerry had planned on releasing a BlackBerry 10 slider in the same timeframe of the q10/z10 I would have been one of the first ones to line up for it. Of course, that didn't happen and now it seems we might never get anything beyond the 4 BlackBerry 10 phones we have on the market now. But one can dream!
The most common complaints I've heard about the BlackBerry 10 phones (besides a lack of apps) are that the screen on the q10 is too small and that people with the z10 still miss their keyboards. A BlackBerry 10 slider solves both of these problems. The biggest negative that I've heard when it comes to producing a new slider is that the Torch never sold all that well and that sliders are a niche market. Well guess what? BlackBerry has decided to make itself a niche player in the business/professional market so why not make a phone that's primed for the people that make up that niche?? Give the 'prosumers' a phone that has screen real estate that's comparable to the z10 so they don't have screen envy and can still enjoy multimedia and games on their phones and at the same time give them a phone with a keyboard comparable to the q10 so they can power through emails and documents when they need to. Nobody else is making a professional grade slider which means that it would be one thing truly unique to BlackBerry.
Is there still time for us to see a BlackBerry 10 slider? Has anyone heard rumours of one being in development? Would anyone else buy it if BlackBerry released one? I, for one, am keeping my fingers crossed.