Yesterday when Bloomberg’s interview with Thorsten Heins came out and folks ran with the "RIM Says BlackBerry 10 Will Soon Be Ready for Licensing" headline there was something in that article that struck me as different from what Thorsten had been saying previously in interviews. No, I'm not talking about the licensing stuff. We knew that. The stuff I'm referring to is the fact he stated he's now carrying a BlackBerry 10 device.

A new report coming from WSJ, which also had a briefing with Thorsten Heins, indicates RIM is soon set to take two beta devices to carriers as a preview. Meaning, in Thorsten's words, "The physical shape and feel of the new phones is finished and the software nearly complete" and "We're near the finishing line." The carriers noted in the article are Verizon Wireless and AT&T with comments coming from Mark Siegel, AT&T spokesman: "We value our relationship with RIM and look forward to working with them on existing and new products."

Over the past few days, we've heard from several people this was the case. In addition to that, independently confirmed, RIM is about to or already has started inviting internal employees to take part in beta testing of the devices as well. Needless to say, we're all impatiently waiting for BlackBerry 10 but now we're starting to see it all come to fruition. Other highlights include the statement that RIM will roll out six phones eventually, three that are all-touch screen and three with physical keyboards and will have replaceable batteries - a decision noted to have been made for the sake of the heavy smartphone user, who doesn't want to always have to carry a charger.

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Source: WSJ (Pay Wall)