We are not ditching physical keyboards

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Research In Motion is not killing off its physical keyboards, according to CEO Thorsten Heins. Heins, who addressed a roomful of reporters at the company's BlackBerry World conference here, said he wanted to clear up confusion based on the company's unveiling of the BlackBerry 10 software.

It was widely reported or intimated that RIM may be getting rid of its physical keyboard, he said. One of the highlights of the yet to be released BlackBerry 10 software is the intelligent virtual keyboard that take touch-screen keypads to a new level. The software not only learns the words users use most often, but it also learns how people type on the device and compensates for sloppy typing. Ultimately, this makes typing much more accurate, something that has been a big problem with other virtual keypads.

But Heins reassured the audience that RIM is not getting rid of its tried-and-true physical keys. "We never stated that we wouldn't build BlackBerry 10 devices with physical keyboards," he said. "We know what our strengths are. And it would be plain wrong to get rid of the physical keyboard." Heins went on to say that the BlackBerry Dev Alpha device that the company showed off during the presentation yesterday was just one possible form factor for the upcoming BlackBerry 10 devices. He said that the press and BlackBerry fans shouldn't view this as something that will reflect the final product. He stopped short of promising a physical keyboard on the first BlackBerry 10 devices, which are expected to ship later this year. But he said that the physical keypad will be part of BlackBerry 10 devices in the future. Heins also reiterated that the software that was shown off during the demonstration is just the beginning. It is not the final software.