Limited Edition red BlackBerry Z10 launched

Last week, BlackBerry CEO Thosten Heins unveiled BlackBerry 10 alongside two new handsets: the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry Q10.

He also confirmed that BlackBerry 10 would launch with 70,000 apps in tow – the highest number ever for a new platform.

Launching a new platform with 70,000 applications is impressive. Apple’s iPad launched with just 20,000 dedicated applications in 2010, for instance.

Heins said more content would be added every day – Netflix is expected to be landing very soon – and in order to keep developers dedicated to BlackBerry 10, the handset maker formally known as RIM is handing out 12,000 red Z10 handsets to its loyal team of devs. Nothing inspires platform allegiance quite like free hardware, after all.

Here’s the official line via the BlackBerry Developer Blog:

‘Thank you for taking a leap of faith. And thank you for believing in BlackBerry 10. Since we can’t say thank you enough, we’re going releasing 12,000 new Limited Edition BlackBerry Z10 devices, in red. Because you have earned them.’

The BlackBerry Z10, now available in the UK in black or white, is an all-touch device with a 4.2-inch display, a dual-core Qualcomm S4 Processor, 2GB of RAM, and multi-band LTE-support.

We were very impressed with the BlackBerry Z10 in our first look, concluding of its build:

'Visually, the Z10 is a very good-looking device - that much was obvious from the leaks. It definitely looks and feels bigger in the flesh though with its expansive slab-like proportions and gorgeous 4.2-inch 1280x768 pixel display. But that's no bad thing.'

Initial sales of the BlackBerry Z10 have been impressive, with some UK retailers now reporting that they're officially out of stock of the handset.

Read our first-look review of the BlackBerry Z10, our first-look at BlackBerry 10 here, and our thoughts on whether BlackBerry’s new mobile operating system can beat Windows Phone in 2013.