Fifty Carriers Have BlackBerry 10 in Shakedown Mode

Research In Motion’s new BlackBerry 10 and the devices that will run it are on track for their promised market debut early next year.

That’s the word from RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, who said Wednesday that some 50 carriers are testing BlackBerry 10, a crucial step in getting its next-generation smartphones ready for launch.

“I’m very pleased to confirm that we have passed a critical milestone in the development of our brand new mobile computing platform,” Heins said. “This process will continue in the coming months as more carriers around the world formally evaluate the devices and our brand new software.”

That’s great news for RIM, which has been scrambling to launch BlackBerry 10 after numerous delays. Those postponements have cost it the all-important holiday shopping season, so it’s crucial that RIM hits its early 2013 deadline. And this is promising news indeed. RIM shares are trading up well over 4 percent following its release.

Here’s Heins’s statement if full:

I’m very pleased to confirm that we have passed a critical milestone in the development of our brand new mobile computing platform, BlackBerry 10. In the last week, BlackBerry 10 achieved Lab Entry with more than 50 carriers — a key step in our preparedness for the launch of BlackBerry 10 in the first quarter of 2013. We made this commitment during our recent results conference call and we have delivered. This process will continue in the coming months as more carriers around the world formally evaluate the devices and our brand new software.

I have spent the last several weeks on the road visiting with carrier partners around the world to show them the BlackBerry 10 platform and to share with them our plans for launch. Their response has been tremendous. They are excited about the prospect of launching BlackBerry 10 in their markets. Our respective teams are now engaged on the technical and commercial preparation of the launch of BlackBerry 10 and the lab entry is an important milestone in that context.

The hard work will not stop here as we build towards launch. Our developer teams are continuing to generate momentum to bring a wealth of applications to BlackBerry 10, our enterprise teams have started to present BlackBerry 10 devices and services to our business customers, and our engineers are fully mobilized to ensure that BlackBerry 10 launches flawlessly in the first quarter of 2013.