BlackBerry has launched the new smartphones and software it hopes will help turn a corner and restore it to the top table in mobile technology.

The BlackBerry 10 operating system, the Z10 touchscreen phone and Q10, the first BlackBerry smartphone with a Qwerty keyboard, were launched at an event in New York that was beamed live to London and other venues around the world.

Thorsten Heins, president and chief executive of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM), said the new software system was centred around the BlackBerry Hub, whose key feature is the ability to amalgamate information from multiple apps, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn simultaneously within your phone in "real time".

"We intend to lead the move from mobile communication to mobile computing," he said.

The unveiling was designed to appeal to BlackBerry's core business users as much as social users of systems like BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).

It also allows you to use your phone for both work and personal use but keep them separately secure, Mr Heins said, with the hope of encouraging people to "go from using two devices to one".

It will also allow video calls within its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) instant messaging system.

A new app called Screenshare that works with BBM will allow you to give the person you are chatting with virtual access to your phone's screen to look at pictures and other content you might have on it.

A high-tech camera with the ability to capture high-quality stills from a sequence of video, plus a new picture editing system, is also included.

There are 70,000 apps available for the new system already via Blackberry World, the firm said, with Skype, Amazon Kindle and Angry Birds amongst those committed to the system.

Mr Heins also revealed Canadian firm RIM will rebrand itself as BlackBerry in line with its biggest product from today.

The Z10 will be available from tomorrow in the UK, the first country in the world where it will be on sale, Mr Heins said.

It will run on the EE, Vodafone, O2 and 3 networks and be available from Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U.

It will also be enabled to run on 4G, the next generation of high-speed mobile internet.

The Q10 is expected to arrive in April.

Under the motto "redesigned, re-engineered, re-invented" Mr Heins said that customers take things like email, good internet access and a decent camera for granted in their smartphone now and the firm needed to offer more.

"This is not the finishing line, this is the starting line," he said, adding that the phones were aimed at "the true multitasker" who was "hyper-connected socially".

"People who want to get the most out of their smartphone," he added. "People who need balance in both their personal and professional lives. People who want everything in one place, people who want to flow seamlessly from app to app."

He added that users would be in the middle of a personal "internet of things".

R'n'B singer Alicia Keys was unveiled as the firm's global creative director, adding a splash of showbiz to the launch events broadcast to its staff, clients and world media.

BlackBerry has suffered a difficult couple of years, losing ground and customers to Apple's iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S3 amongst others.

From a market share of 41% in 2007, the year the first iPhone came out, it fell to 4% in the first quarter of last year.

An "outage" in October last year saw millions of people around the world unable to access emails, surf the web or use BBM.

Mr Heins admitted the last year had been the most challenging of his career to date.

"We have definitely been on a journey of transformation," he said.

"A journey to not only transform our business and our brand, but one which I truly believe will transform mobile communication into true mobile computing."

He added: "Saying we have have reinvented the company is not enough.

"This is a new day in the history of BlackBerry.

"Two years ago we had to make a very serious decision: adopt someone else's platform or make a new one for BlackBerry. We made a difficult decision to go it alone."

Ernest Doku, technology analyst for uSwitch.com said that the Z10 handset clearly had been designed to have broad appeal to business users and consumers from the outset, whereas previous BlackBerrys had achieved that a little by accident.

"They have definitely not forgotten their corporate roots," he said.

"Having said that the consumer side does have a plethora of apps and they have shown some interesting multiple-media facilities.

"That has been done to bring in a consumer angle."

He added: "It is the sheer weight of support they have put behind it which is the pleasant surprise.

"The merging of the RIM and BlackBerry brand is symbolic of how much BB10 is their core development and their determination to make this a successful launch.

"It has been the best part of a year since BlackBerry last put a device out and they haven't been wasting that time."

But he said that the launch had left some unanswered questions for BlackBerry fans over the Q10 handset with a keyboard and over UK prices, which will be announced by individual networks.

He added: "There has been no mention of the device that the died-in-the-wool fans have been waiting for, the Q10. That is a little concerning.

"All those loyal BlackBerry customers, whether lapsed or not, are going to be waiting for that device."

He said it remained to be seen whether BlackBerry would "go for the jugular" and try to take on the premium iPhone or the cheaper Android phones, or do a little of both.

Other experts also said the launch had failed to convince them BlackBerry could gain ground on other platforms.

James Chandler, head of mobile at media agency Mindshare UK, said: "The epitome of BlackBerry's problem is its failure to look outside of itself and acknowledge that the likes of Apple, Samsung, HTC, Nokia etc have all moved the mobile market forward at a tremendous rate over the past few years - and have arguably left BlackBerry behind.

"The very fact that BlackBerry have insisted on keeping a physical keyboard on a brand new device launch also nods toward a strategy which is more about appealing to BlackBerry-fanatics (who'll buy the product no matter what) rather than trying to capture new customers who ordinarily might have opted for an Apple or Android device.

"The tech world, particularly in mobile, moves at 100mph - the worry for BlackBerry pre-BB10 launch was could it keep up. Initial thought based on just a couple of their behaviours and announcements today, is probably not.

"The 4th place finish behind Google, Apple & Microsoft looks ever more likely."

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