BlackBerry 10 smartphones delayed until late next year

If you were holding out on picking up a new BlackBerry until the BlackBerry 10 line of phones are released, you may want to change your mind – or be prepared to wait somewhere in the range of a full year.

During a conference call held earlier today, RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis explained that a “highly integrated chipset” to be used in BlackBerry 10 phones would not be available until mid-2012 at the earliest, and so the company was forced to delay the phones until late next year.

“We decided we wanted to get a high-efficiency, low-power integrated chipset,” Lazaridis said (via PC Magazine). “We wanted the performance and battery-life expectations that consumers expected on BlackBerry products on LTE.”

While the delay may have been out of RIM’s hands, it’s still a significant setback for the once-thriving manufacturer. BlackBerry 10, which was supposed to launch much earlier in 2012, was supposed to be RIM’s way out of the hole they’ve found themselves in.

According to the latest NPD data, RIM has found success selling their products overseas this year, but overall market share of smartphones in the U.S. is at 10 percent, down significantly from the 44 percent market share it enjoyed back in 2009.

“We ask for your patience and confidence and hope to report further progress in the coming quarters,” Lazaridis said of the delay.

via PC Magazine