BlackBerry 10 launch event set for January 30, 2013

After several delays, Research in Motion announced this morning that it will officially launch BlackBerry 10, its next-generation phone platform, on January 30, 2013.

RIM says the launch event will happen simultaneously in several countries, and you can bet that it’ll be livestreamed on the Web as well. In addition to more details on the BlackBerry 10 OS, RIM says that it will also divulge more information on BB10 hardware and availability.

The former smartphone giant certainly has its work cut out for it, now that it has even strong competition to contend with. Around this time last year, RIM said that it was planning to launch new BB10 phones in late 2012, a delay from an expected mid-2012 launch.

It would have been tough for RIM to make a comeback in the middle of this year,  but with a 2013 launch (and who knows when the phones will actually be available) RIM’s recovery seems almost impossible. Not only have the iPhone and Android cemented themselves more with consumers, Windows Phone 8 also now has Windows 8 buoying its presence. All the while, I can’t imagine too many smartphone buyers were drooling at the thought of a new BlackBerry.

Photo: Robin Bienfait, CIO, Research In Motion; by Jennifer Van Grove