The
CEO of BlackBerry will deliver a keynote speech amid speculation that
he will introduce a lower-priced phone running on the BB10 platform at
the company's annual three-day conference in Orlando, Florida.
CEO
Thorsten Heins is set to speak Tuesday morning. The Canadian
manufacturer unveiled new, versatile BlackBerry phones earlier this year
after delays allowed Apple and others to dominate the smartphone
market.
The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, had
been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and
consumers before the iPhone debuted in 2007 and showed that phones can
handle much more than email and calls. The company faced numerous delays
modernizing its operating system. During that time, it had to cut more
than 5,000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth decline by more than $70
billion.