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RIM launched its first BlackBerry in 1999 and quickly cornered the market for secure emails, but its market share plummeted after customers jumped ship to Apple Inc’s iPhone and devices using Google Inc’s Android technology.

Analysts at Evercore Partners said they did not expect the new BB10 devices to cause a stir among customers, and cut their rating to “equal weight” from “underweight”.

“The new hardware and operating system is a dramatic improvement versus RIMM’s older products but expect a muted consumer response due to RIMM’s damaged brand image,” they said.

Barclays Capital analysts wrote in a note that RIM had the best possible device launch it could have hoped for, but there were many challenges ahead.

The analysts said average sales prices might be too high for many emerging market users and raised questions about how quickly businesses would adopt the new devices.

For the BlackBerry faithful, another month is a long time. The execution could have been crisper

Analysts were also concerned about the delay in the launch of the devices in the United States.

BlackBerry 10 phones won’t appear in the U.S. until March, raising concerns that the company will fall even further behind the iPhone and Android in its biggest market. The lag also means BlackBerry won’t get as much value out of its first-ever Super Bowl commercial, which airs on Feb. 3, weeks before Americans can even buy one of the new devices.