RIM says 4G is important for the success of Blackberry 10

CANADIAN SMARTPHONE MAKER Research in Motion (RIM) has said that uptake of 4G will be vital to the success of its Blackberry 10 operating system and next generation devices.

Speaking at the Westminster Eforum event on Friday, the firm's SVP of sales Bob El-Hawary said that businesses now expect to be able to do things on their phone like they can on a computer, and that 4G will be central to delivering these capabilities.

"4G helps us keep up with the standard people are expecting. We believe it will help us embark on a new era of mobile computing. It's not just about voice now but apps; it really is mobile computing," he said.

"The speeds we are talking about are very important compared to what we had in the past."

While stopping short of confirming RIM would therefore be making all of its future devices 4G-enabled the statements strongly suggest this.

"With Blackberry 10 we want to ensure all products - tablet and smartphone - are good enough to support any app or service people want."

Blackberry 10 is set to be launched on 30 January next year and represents the firm's final shot at recapturing its former glory in the mobile market, as it has seen its former dominance eroded by Apple.

Earlier at the same event EE said that some customers are seeing 4G speeds as high as 30Mbit/s on its network, although it also said that most are averaging around 6-8Mbit/s. µ

This article was originally published on V3.