BlackBerry OS 10 to support video chat

Research In Motion (RIM) may have disappointed many of its patrons by announcing that its much awaited BlackBerry OS 10 will not be available till early 2013. However, now the company is trying to sweeten the deal by stating that they would be adding video chat feature to its popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service.

Speculations in regards to video chat being added to BBM have been floating around for about a month now and now RIM too has accepted that this feature would indeed be a part of the new OS.

Video chat is one feature that has been missing from this popular chat application. But will this feature alone help the company win back customers, is something that one will have to wait and find out. Other features that are expected to be added in the BlackBerry OS 10 are screen share and something that is being dubbed as Cinnamon Toast.

The BlackBerry maker has been having a tough year so far with its share prices trading at an all-time low and consumers abandoning its products in favour of Android and iOS. RIM is betting heavily on its BlackBerry OS 10 to make a strong come back in the smartphone space. The company had earlier indicated that it will be launching full touch-screen as well as QWERTY handsets running on its new OS.

However, analysts feel that by 2013 it will be perhaps too late for the Canadian handset maker to stage a comeback.

At RIM's annual shareholder's conference, Thorsten Heins CEO of Research in Motion had indicated that the company was working round the clock on BlackBerry 10 devices and also asked for patience from its patrons. Another major challenge for the BlackBerry maker would be to ensure that it is able to build a robust app eco-system around its new OS.