It’s no secret that there’s currently a sense of urgency in Waterloo, but if a recent report from N4BB is accurate, it seems that both consumers and enterprise are bound to benefit. According to the site’s confidential source, Research in Motion is preparing to reveal its first BlackBerry 10 device in mid-August and will have the product in the hands of consumers by October. We’d previously known that RIM intends to have these units in the hands of developers next month, which gives a bit of credence to this most recent revelation. As for what consumers may expect, the first device is said to offer just a touchscreen, whereas we’ll need to wait until Q1 of next year to see a handset with a physical QWERTY keyboard. As you’ll recall, the company’s previous leader, Mike Lazaridis, previously stated that consumers wouldn’t see a BlackBerry 10 device until the end of the year, but this was due entirely to a shortage of the chipset that RIM deemed crucial to its manufacture. Perhaps Mr. Heins was able to light a bit of a fire under the company’s partners, no?

RIM’s first BlackBerry 10 device may come as early as October originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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