BlackBerry today officially launched its new BlackBerry 10 smartphone platform  in a 6-city simultaneous launch – complete with a celebrity (Alicia Keys, who has been named Global Creative Director) in attendance.

One of those launch cities is New York, and Ramon Ray, founder of SmallBizTechnology.com, attended the launch and provided this live report, including his analysis.

The promise of the BlackBerry 10 for small business productivity

1. BlackBerry, whose company name was “Research in Motion” (RIM), has now been officially re-branded as  BlackBerry.
2. BlackBerry has a communication hub which seamlessly integrates all your communication (email, social, calendar). Previously called Unified Inbox, it is now BlackBerry Hub ^[1].
3. BlackBerry Flow lets you seamlessly transition between apps you are running. BRG defined it ^[2] as a central ribbon which “provides a series of minimized windows on users’ screens that show them all the apps they’re currently running, and it lets them easily flip through them without having to return to a central home screen and clicking on separate icons.”
4. Using the BlackBerry swipe feature you can control and manage your communication, quickly, from within any other app. For example, if you get an email you can move quickly from the BlackBerry Hub to see the email.
5. BlackBerry looks like it is now the leader in keyboarding. One of the most important things we do on our phones is type on the keyboard.  BlackBerry has some very innovative features making it much easier to type and FASTER to type, such as predictive words.
6. The BlackBerry Messenger has also been upgraded. Users can do an instant video chat with another BlackBerry user and share their screen with another user.

BlackBerry has launched two new phones. The Z10 has a virtual touchscreen keyboard.  The BlackBerry Q10 has a physical keyboard.  (Read a review ^[3] of these new phones on ABC News.)

Based on this first look, BlackBerry 10 appears fresh and innovative.

A version of the above article and image (showing BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins and the new BlackBerry Z10 and Q10) was originally published on Smallbiztechnology.com ^[4] and is included here with permission.