Danny Puff

Research In Motion Ltd. showed off two new BlackBerry phones on Wednesday. They will run the new BlackBerry 10 operating system. Here's how the phones compare with Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S III.

BlackBerry Z10 tech specs:

Display: 4.2-inch (diagonal) with a resolution of 1280 by 768 pixels (356 pixels per inch)

Keyboard: Touch screen only

Memory capacity: 16 gigabytes, expandable with microSD card of up to 32 gigabytes.

Price: Varies by carrier, some of which have yet to announce details. Verizon Wireless says it will sell it for $200 with a two-year service agreement.

Size: height: 5.12 inches; width: 2.58 inches; depth: 0.35 inch (130 x 65.6 x 9 mm)

Weight: 4.78 ounces (135.4 grams)

Cameras: 8-megapixel camera on back, 2-megapixel on front.

Video recording: high-definition for rear camera (1080p comparable to the resolution of a 40-inch flat panel TV); lower resolution for front (720p)

Battery life: talk time is up to 10 hours on 3G. Up to 60 hours of audio playback and 11 hours of video playback. Battery can be replaced by user with a spare.

U.S. wireless carriers: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and others.

Operating system: BlackBerry 10

Near-field communications: A chip lets the phone act as a credit card at some payment terminals and share data wirelessly when tapped against some other phones.

Availability: In U.S. in March. Varies elsewhere, including U.K. on Thursday, Canada on Feb. 5 and Latin America by end of March.

BlackBerry Q10 tech specs:

Display: 3.1-inch (diagonal) with a resolution of 720 by 720 pixels (330 pixels per inch)

Keyboard: Touch-screen and 35-key physical keyboards. Physical keyboard will have back light, with language-specific keyboards such as QWERTY and AZERTY depending on market.

Memory capacity: 16 gigabytes, expandable with microSD card of up to 64 gigabytes.

Price: Not yet announced.

Size: height: 4.71 inches; width: 2.63 inches; depth: 0.41 inch (119.6 x 66.8 x 10.35 mm)

Weight: 4.90 ounces (139 grams)

Cameras: 8-megapixel camera on back, 2-megapixel on front.

Video recording: high-definition for rear camera (1080p comparable to the resolution of a 40-inch flat panel TV); lower resolution for front (720p)

Battery life: Not yet announced.

U.S. wireless carriers: AT&T, Sprint and others.

Operating system: BlackBerry 10

Near-field communications: A chip lets the phone act as a credit card at some payment terminals and share data wirelessly when tapped against some other phones.

Availability: In some markets in April, but unknown when it will be available in the U.S.

iPhone 5 tech specs:

Display: 4-inch (diagonal) with a resolution of 1136 by 640 pixels (326 pixels per inch).

Keyboard: Touch screen only

Memory capacity: 16, 32 or 64 gigabytes, depending on price. There's no way to expand it with memory cards.

Price: Starting at $199, for 16 gigabytes of memory.

Size: height: 4.87 inches; width: 2.31 inches; depth: 0.30 inch (124 x 59 x 7.6 mm)

Weight: 3.95 ounces (112 grams)

Cameras: 8-megapixel camera on back, 1.2-megapixel on front.

Video recording: high-definition (1080p comparable to the resolution of a 40-inch flat panel TV) up to 30 frames per second with audio

Battery life: talk time is up to 8 hours on 3G. Internet works for up to 8 hours on LTE and up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi. Up to 10 hours of video playback. Battery can be replaced by service personnel only.

U.S. wireless carriers: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and others.

Operating system: Apple's iOS 6

Near-field communications: None.

Availability: Sept. 21, 2012, initially in U.S. and selected markets. Expanded throughout the world in subsequent months.

Samsung Galaxy S III tech specs:

Display: 4.8 inches (diagonal) with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels (306 pixels per inch).

Keyboard: Touch screen only

Memory capacity: 16 or 32 gigabytes. Can be expanded by up to 64 gigabytes with a memory card.

Price: As low as $99 for basic model, though carriers typically charge $199 with two-year contract.

Size: height: 5.4 inches; width: 2.8 inches; depth: 0.34 inch (137 x 71 x 8.6mm)

Weight: 4.7 ounces. (133 grams)

Cameras: 8-megapixel camera on back, 1.9-megapixel on front.

Video recording: high-definition (1080p comparable to the resolution of a 40-inch flat panel TV) up to 30 frames per second with audio.

Battery life: Up to 9 hours of talk time (depends on network). Battery replaceable by user.

U.S. wireless carriers: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and others.

Operating system: Ice Cream Sandwich version of Google's Android (at release).

Near-field communications: A chip lets the phone act as a credit card at some payment terminals and share data wirelessly when tapped against some other phones.

Availability: Worldwide, including U.S. in June 2012 and Europe in May 2012.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd on Wednesday unveiled the long-delayed line of smartphones it hopes will put it on the comeback trail, but it disappointed investors by saying U.S. sales of its all-new BlackBerry 10 devices will not start until March, sending its share price tumbling 12 percent.

Chief Executive Thorsten Heins also announced that RIM was abandoning the name it has used since its inception in 1985 to take the name of its signature product, signaling his hopes for a fresh start for the company that pioneered on-your-hip email.

"From this point forward, RIM becomes BlackBerry," Heins said at the New York launch. "It is one brand; it is one promise."

RIM, which is already starting to call itself BlackBerry, had initially planned to launch the new BlackBerry 10 devices a year ago. But it pushed the release date back twice as it struggled to perfect a new operating system.

Ahead of Wednesday's announcements, analysts had said that any launch after February would be a black mark for the Canada-based company.

"The biggest disappointment was the delay in the U.S., that it will take so long before the devices get going there," said Eric Jackson, founder and managing Partner at Ironfire Capital LLC in New York.

Heins said the delays reflected the need for U.S. carrier testing, although carrier AT&T Inc offered few clues on what that meant. Instead, the carrier merely stated it was enthusiastic about the devices and would announce availability, pricing and other information at a later date.

"Carriers in all other parts of the world get their devices through the testing process significantly faster than the U.S. carriers do," said John Jackson, an analyst at IDC, adding that the U.S. process can often take "weeks" longer.

Nevertheless investors were extremely disappointed with the delay and RIM shares on the Nasdaq ended the day 12 percent lower at $13.78. Its Toronto-listed shares fell by almost the same margin to close at C$13.86.

RIM launched its first BlackBerry back in 1999 as a way for busy executives to stay in touch with their clients and their offices, and the company quickly cornered the market for secure corporate and government emails.

But its star faded as competition rose and the BlackBerry is now a far-behind also-ran in the race for market share, with a 3.4 percent global showing in the fourth quarter - down from 20 percent three years before. Its North American market share is even smaller - a mere 2 percent in the fourth quarter.

RIM shares have tumbled along with the company's market share and the stock is down 90 percent since its 2008 peak. Despite the pullback on Wednesday, RIM's share price has more than doubled over the last four months, reflecting the growing buzz about its new devices.

TOUCH COMPETITION

The new BlackBerry 10 phones will compete with Apple's iPhone and devices using Google's Android technology, both of which have soared above the BlackBerry in a competitive market.

The BlackBerry 10 devices boast fast browsers, new features, smart cameras and - unlike previous BlackBerry models - enter the market primed with a large application library, including services such as Skype and the popular game Angry Birds.

The BlackBerry Z10 touchscreen device, in black or white, will be the first to hit the market, with a country-by-country rollout that starts in Britain on Thursday.

A Q10 model, equipped with a small "qwerty" keyboard that RIM made into its trademark, will launch globally in April.

"I'm still confident that a lot of the subscriber base are going to want the upgrade to BlackBerry 10. It's a very strong improvement over what they currently have. This is not going to cause mass defections from iOS and Android, but it doesn't have to be a success for RIM. You've got to start somewhere," said Jackson of Ironfire, which owns shares in RIM.

The Z10 device won a lukewarm review from The Wall Street Journal's tech blogger Walt Mossberg, who complained of a shortage of apps.

On the other hand, David Pogue, who writes for The New York Times, apologized for describing BlackBerry as doomed in the past. The Z10 touchscreen device was "lovely, fast and efficient, bristling with fresh, useful ideas," he said.

While technology analysts conceded that RIM has done quite a remarkable job on many of the features of BlackBerry 10 and on the array of its app selection for a new platform, many argue it will be a very tough slog for RIM to regain its crown.

"I don't think that RIM will return to its glory days," said Charles Golvin, analyst at Forrester Research. "Success for them looks like staunching the bleeding and clawing back a percentage or point or two of market share."

Announcements about pricing so far have been in line with expectations. U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless said the phone would cost $199 for a two-year contract, while Canada's Rogers Communications is quoting C$149 ($150) for certain three-year plans.

GLITZY LAUNCH

RIM picked a range of venues for its global launch parties, including Dubai's $650-a-night Armani Hotel, which occupies six floors of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower.

The New York event took place in a sprawling basketball facility on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, just north of the Manhattan Bridge. The BlackBerry has been "Re-designed. Re-engineered. Re-invented," RIM said.

RIM, which is splurging on a Super Bowl ad to promote its new phones, also introduced Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys as its global creative director.

"I was in a long-term relationship with BlackBerry and then I started to notice some new, kind of hotter, attractive, sexier phones at the gym, and I kind of broke up with you for something that had a little more bling," Keys said at the New York launch.

"But I always missed the way you organized my life and the way you were there for me at my job, and so I started to have two phones - I was kind of playing the field. But then ... you added a lot more features ... and now, we're exclusively dating again, and I'm very happy," she said.

($1=$1.0029 Canadian)

(Writing by Janet Guttsman; editing by Frank McGurty, Lisa Von Ahn, Peter Galloway, G Crosse)

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MIDLAND CITY, Alabama (Reuters) - The gunman suspected of fatally shooting an Alabama school bus driver before holing up in an underground bunker with a young child is a Vietnam veteran with anti-government views, authorities and an organization that tracks hate groups said on Wednesday.

Law enforcement officials from multiple agencies were bivouacked near the bunker in Midland City but offered few details about an overnight standoff with the shooter that stretched into Wednesday evening.

Authorities said driver Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was killed after the gunman boarded a bus ferrying more than 20 children home from school on Tuesday.

The suspect demanded the driver let a student off the bus, Alabama media reported. When Poland refused, the man boarded the bus and shot the driver before taking a 6-year-old kindergarten student and fleeing the scene.

On Wednesday, the gunman remained holed up with the boy in the underground bunker on his property down a dirt road. Dale County Coroner Woodrow Hilboldt said the man and child were barricaded in "some kind of a tornado bunker."

The shooting comes as national debate rages over gun violence, especially in schools, after a gunman shot dead 20 students and six staff members at a Connecticut elementary school last month.

Schools in the area of the Alabama shooting were closed on Wednesday and will remain shuttered for the rest of the week.

Dale County Superintendent Donny Bynum lauded Poland as "a hero...who gave his life to protect 21 students who are now home safely with their families."

The superintendent's assistant said the young boy still being held by the gunman appeared to have been chosen at random.

"Emotions are high, and it's a struggle for us all to make sense of something so senseless, but let us keep this young student, his family and Mr. Poland's family in our thoughts and prayers," Bynum said in a statement.

Reuters could not independently verify the gunman's identity. The Southern Poverty Law Center reported on its Hatewatch blog that a chief investigator with the Dale County Sheriff's Office identified the gunman as 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes.

Investigator Tim Byrd said Dykes' friends and neighbors described him as a "survivalist" who did not trust the government, according to the law center blog.

"He was standoffish, didn't socialize or have any contact with anybody," Byrd told Hatewatch.

Dykes had not been on the law center's radar before the shooting and standoff, and there was nothing to suggest he was a member of any hate group, said senior fellow Mark Potok.

"What it looks like is that he's some kind of anti-government radical and survivalist," Potok told Reuters. "And exactly what that means, we don't know."

Court records show Dykes had been due to appear for a bench trial on Wednesday following his arrest last month on a menacing charge.

James Edward Davis told CNN the arrest stemmed from an altercation he had with Dykes that ended with Dykes allegedly firing two gunshots from a pistol, as Davis sped off in his car.

"He fired the gun twice," said Davis, adding that he had a child inside the vehicle when the shooting occurred.

Neighbors told the Dothan Eagle newspaper they also had seen Dykes walk around his yard late at night with a shotgun and flashlight. Ronda Wilbur, who lives across the street from Dykes, said he once beat her family dog with a lead pipe. The dog later died from his injuries, she said.

(Reporting by Kaija Wilkinson in Mobile, Alabama; Additional reporting and writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Tom Brown and Andrew Hay)

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Labrador retriever held its 22-year reign as America's top dog, but a determined bulldog is gaining ground in the popularity stakes.

The American Kennel Club's annual ranking of most popular dog breeds on Wednesday showed Labradors in the lead, with other large dogs moving up and once-popular smaller breeds such as the Yorkshire terrier and the miniature poodle losing some ground.

"Bigger breeds are making their move," said AKC spokeswoman Lisa Peterson. "The bulldog has muscled his way into the top five," she said, displacing the popular Yorkie, which dropped to sixth.

The No. 2 in popularity was the German shepherd, followed by the golden retriever and the beagle, which swapped the third and fourth spots from last year's rankings, "adding insult to injury for smaller breeds," Peterson joked.

With more than two continuous decades as the United States' most popular breed, the Labrador tied the feat of the poodle, which was tops for 22 straight years in the 1980s and 1990s, AKC said. Poodles took the eighth spot this year.

"Labradors come in different temperaments, just like we do," said Micki Beerman, an owner and fan of the breed.

"I have five, and she never leaves my side," she said of Sheena, a 5-year-old chocolate Labrador who sat next to the Brooklyn resident.

"They're just everyday, intelligent, loving animals," Beerman said.

The AKC also released some regional preferences that indicated bulldogs were becoming a favorite in New York City, taking the No. 2 spot while the French bulldog was third.

"They're a wonderful family pet," enthused Deirdre Nardelli about the bulldog.

Labradors became most popular in New York, while Yorkies plummeted from first to fifth place in the city in just one year.

The AKC revealed its rankings in advance of next month's Westminster Kennel Club dog show, the nation's most prestigious dog competition that culminates with the "best in show" award at Madison Square Garden.

Two new breeds, the Russell terrier and the treeing Walker coonhound, will compete this year.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by Patricia Reaney and Doina Chiacu)

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TACOMA, Wash. (AP) Wanted: A green thumb with extensive knowledge of the black, or at least gray, market.

As Washington state tries to figure out how to regulate its newly legal marijuana, officials are hiring an adviser on all things weed: how it's best grown, dried, tested, labeled, packaged and cooked into brownies.

Sporting a mix of flannel, ponytails and suits, dozens of those angling for the job turned out Wednesday for a forum in Tacoma, several of them from out of state. The Liquor Control Board, the agency charged with developing rules for the marijuana industry, reserved a convention center hall for a state bidding expert to take questions about the position and the hiring process.

"Since it's not unlikely with this audience, would a felony conviction preclude you from this contract?" asked Rose Habib, an analytical chemist from a marijuana testing lab in Missoula, Mont.

The answer: It depends. A pot-related conviction is probably fine, but a "heinous felony," not so much, responded John Farley, a procurement coordinator with the Liquor Control Board.

Washington and Colorado this fall became the first states to pass laws legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and setting up systems of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores where adults over 21 can walk in and buy up to an ounce of heavily taxed cannabis.

Both states are working to develop rules for the emerging pot industry. Up in the air is everything from how many growers and stores there should be, to how the marijuana should be tested to ensure people don't get sick.

Sales are due to begin in Washington state in December.

Washington's Liquor Control Board has a long and "very good" history with licensing and regulation, spokesman Mikhail Carpenter said.

"But there are some technical aspects with marijuana we could use a consultant to help us with," Carpenter said.

The board has advertised for consulting services in four categories. The first is "product and industry knowledge" and requires "at least three years of consulting experience relating to the knowledge of the cannabis industry, including but not limited to product growth, harvesting, packaging, product infusion and product safety."

Other categories cover quality testing, including how to test for levels of THC, the compound that gets marijuana users high; statistical analysis of how much marijuana the state's licensed growers should produce; and the development of regulations, a category that requires a "strong understanding of state, local or federal government processes," with a law degree preferred.

Farley said the state hopes to award a single contract covering all four categories, but if no bidder or team of bidders has expertise in all fields regulatory law, statistical analysis and pot growing multiple contracts could be awarded. Or bidders who are strong in one category could team up with those who are strong in another. Bids are due Feb. 15, with the contract awarded in March.

Habib, the chemist, said she's part of a team of marijuana and regulatory experts from Montana who are bidding for the contract. They're fed up with federal raids on medical dispensaries there.

"We want to move here and make it work. We want to be somewhere this is moving forward and being embraced socially," she said.

Khurshid Khoja, a corporate lawyer from San Francisco, wore a suit and sat beside a balding, ponytailed man in a gray sweatshirt Ed Rosenthal, a co-founder of High Times magazine and a recognized expert on marijuana cultivation. They're on a team bidding for the contract.

"I've seen the effect of regulation of marijuana all my life," Khoja said. "I'd like to see a more rational, scientific approach to it."

Several people asked whether winning the contract, or even subcontracting with the winning bidder, would preclude them from getting state licenses to grow, process or sell cannabis. Farley said yes: It would pose a conflict of interest to have the consultant helping develop the regulations being subject to those rules. But once the contract has expired, they could apply for state marijuana licenses, he said.

After the questions ended, the bidders mingled, exchanging business cards and talking about how they might team up. One Seattle-area marijuana grower, a college student who declined to give his name after noting that a dispensary he worked with had been raided by federal authorities in 2011, approached Rosenthal.

"It would be my dream to smoke a bowl with you after this," he said.

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Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

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LOS ANGELES (AP) CBS says the big reveal is coming for "How I Met Your Mother."

The network said Wednesday the sitcom will air its ninth and final season next fall.

And CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler promised that TV's "most mysterious mother" will be unveiled as the show wraps up.

That would be the mystery woman with whom Ted, played by Josh Radnor, ultimately has a family.

The sitcom's cast also includes Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan.

20th Century Fox Television says all the actors will return for the 2013-14 season.

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MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) Police SWAT teams and hostage negotiators were locked in a standoff Wednesday with a gunman authorities say intercepted a school bus, killed the driver, snatched a 6-year-old boy and retreated into a bunker at his home with the kindergartener.

The gunman, identified by neighbors as Jimmy Lee Dykes, a 65-year-old retired truck driver, was known as a menacing figure who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a shotgun.

He had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning to answer charges he shot at his neighbors in a dispute last month over a speed bump.

The standoff dragged on through the night and into the afternoon Wednesday after the gunman boarded a stopped school bus filled with children in the small town of Midland City, population 2,300, on Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

Sheriff Wally Olsen said the man shot the bus driver when he refused to hand over a 6-year-old child. The gunman then took the kindergartener away.

Dykes was believed to be holed up with the boy in an underground bunker of the sort used to take shelter from a tornado.

"As far as we know there is no relation at all. He just wanted a child for a hostage situation," said Michael Senn, a church pastor who helped comfort the traumatized children after the attack.

The bus driver, Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was hailed by locals as a hero who gave his life to protect 21 students.

About 50 vehicles from federal, state and local agencies were clustered Wednesday at the end of a dirt road near Dykes' home. Authorities gave no details on the standoff, and it was unclear whether they were in contact with Dykes or he had made any demands.

Homes nearby were evacuated after authorities found what was believed to be a bomb on his property.

Mike and Patricia Smith, who live across the street from Dykes and whose two children were on the bus when the shooting happened, said their youngsters had a run-in with him about 10 months ago.

"My bulldogs got loose and went over there," Patricia Smith said. "The children went to get them. He threatened to shoot them if they came back."

"He's very paranoid," her husband said. "He goes around in his yard at night with a flashlight and shotgun."

"Everybody up the hill tried to avoid him," he said.

Patricia Smith said her children told her what happened on the bus: Two other children had just been dropped off and the Smith children were next. Dykes stepped onto the bus and grabbed the door so the driver couldn't close it. Dykes told the driver he wanted two boys, 6 to 8 years old, without saying why.

According to Smith, Dykes started down the aisle of the bus and the driver put his arm out to block him. Dykes fired four shots at Poland with a handgun, Smith said.

"He did give his life, saving children," Mike Smith said.

Patricia Smith said her daughter, a high school senior, began corralling the other children and headed for the back of the bus while Dykes and the driver were arguing. Later, Smith's son ran inside his house, telling his mother: "The crazy man across the street shot the bus driver and Mr. Poland won't wake up."

Patricia Smith ran over to the bus and saw the driver slumped over in his seat. Her daughter used another child's cellphone to call 911.

Another neighbor, Ronda Wilbur, said Dykes beat her 120-pound dog with a lead pipe for coming onto his side of the dirt road. The dog died a week later.

"He said his only regret was he didn't beat him to death all the way," Wilbur said. She called animal control, who came out and talked to Dykes, but nothing else happened. "If a man can kill a dog, and beat it with a lead pipe and brag about it, it's nothing until it's going to be people."

Dykes had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to face a charge of menacing some neighbors as they drove by his house weeks ago. Claudia Davis said he yelled and fired shots at her, her son and her baby grandson over damage Dykes claimed their pickup truck did to a makeshift speed bump in the dirt road. No one was hurt.

"Before this happened, I would see him at several places and he would just stare a hole through me," Davis said. "On Monday I saw him at a laundromat and he seen me when I was getting in my truck, and he just stared and stared and stared at me."

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NEW YORK (AP) Barbra Streisand will perform at the Oscars next month, the first time she's performed during an Academy Awards broadcast in 36 years.

Streisand won the Academy Award for best original song for "Evergreen" in 1977. She also sang the theme from "A Star Is Born" that night.

She won the Oscar for best actress for 1968's "Funny Girl."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also announced Wednesday that British singer Adele will perform at the Oscars. She and producer Paul Epworth are nominated for best original song for the James Bond theme song, "Skyfall."

The 85th Academy Awards air live Feb. 24 on ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

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Online:

http://www.oscars.org/

http://www.barbrastreisand.com/us/home

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd unveiled the long-delayed line of smartphones it hopes will put it on the comeback trail on Wednesday but it disappointed investors by saying U.S. sales of its all-new BlackBerry 10 will start only in March.

Chief Executive Thorsten Heins also announced that RIM was abandoning the name it has used since its inception in 1985 to take the name of its signature product, signaling his hopes for a fresh start for the company that pioneered on-your-hip email.

"From this point forward, RIM becomes BlackBerry," Heins said at the New York launch. "It is one brand; it is one promise."

RIM, which is already starting to call itself BlackBerry, had initially planned to launch the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones in 2011. But it pushed the date back twice as it struggled to work with a new operating system.

Ahead of Wednesday's announcements, analysts had said that any launch after February would be a black mark for the Canadian company.

"The biggest disappointment was the delay in the U.S., that it will take so long before the devices get going there," said Eric Jackson, founder and managing Partner at Ironfire Capital LLC in New York.

Heins said the delays reflected the need for U.S. carrier testing, although carrier AT&T offered few clues on what that meant.

"We are very enthusiastic about the devices. We will announce pricing, availability, and other information at a later date. Beyond that, nothing to add," said spokesman Mark Siegel.

RIM launched its first BlackBerry back in 1999 as a way for busy executives to stay in touch with their clients and their offices, and the Canadian company quickly cornered the market for secure corporate and government email.

But its star faded as competition rose. The BlackBerry is now a far-behind also-ran in the race for market share, with a 3.4 percent global showing in the fourth quarter, down from 20 percent three years before. Its North American market share is even worse: a mere 2 percent in the fourth quarter.

RIM shares tumbled along with the company's market share, and the stock is down 90 percent from its 2008 peak.

The shares fell as much as 8 percent on Wednesday, although they are still more than twice the level of their September 2012 low, reflecting ever-louder buzz about the new devices.

TOUCH COMPETITION

The new BlackBerry 10 phones will compete with Apple's iPhone and devices using Google's Android technology, both of which have soared above the BlackBerry in a competitive market.

The BlackBerry 10 devices boast fast browsers, new features, smart cameras and, unlike previous BlackBerry models, enter the market primed with a large application library, including services such as Skype and the popular game Angry Birds.

The BlackBerry Z10 touchscreen device, in black or white, will be the first to hit the market, with a country-by-country roll-out that starts in Britain on Thursday.

A Q10 model, equipped with small "qwerty" keyboard that RIM made into its trademark, will launch globally in April.

The Z10 device won a lukewarm review from Wall Street Journal tech blogger Walt Mossberg, who complained of missing or lagging features and a shortage of apps.

But David Pogue, who writes for The New York Times, apologized for describing BlackBerry as doomed in the past. The Z10 touchscreen device was "lovely, fast and efficient, bristling with fresh, useful ideas," he said.

Announcements about pricing so far have been in line with expectations. U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless said the phone would cost $199 for a two-year contract, while Canada's Rogers Communications is quoting C$149 ($150) for certain three-year plans.

GLITZY LAUNCH

RIM picked a range of venues for its global launch parties, including Dubai's $650-a-night Armani Hotel, which occupies six floors of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower.

The New York event took place in a sprawling basketball facility on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, just north of the Manhattan Bridge. The BlackBerry has been "Re-designed. Re-engineered. Re-invented," RIM said.

RIM, which is splurging on a Superbowl ad to promote its new phones, also introduced Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys as its global creative director.

"I was in a long-term relationship with BlackBerry, and then I started to notice some new, kind of hotter, attractive, sexier phones at the gym, and I kind of broke up with you for something that had a little more bling," Keys said at the New York launch.

"But I always missed the way you organized my life, and the way you were there for me at my job, and so I started to have two phones - I was kind of playing the field. But then ... you added a lot more features ... and now, we're exclusively dating again, and I'm very happy."

($1=$1.0029 Canadian)

(Writing by Janet Guttsman; Editing by Frank McGurty, Lisa Von Ahn and Peter Galloway)

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NEW YORK (AP) Justin Timberlake will be rocking that suit and tie at the Grammy Awards.

The Recording Academy announced Wednesday that Timberlake will perform at the Feb. 10 awards show in Los Angeles.

The 32-year-old pop star returned to music earlier this month when he released the single, "Suit & Tie," which features Jay-Z. The song is a Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

His performance at the Grammys will be Timberlake's first musical appearance on television in years. Most recently, he's appeared in movies like "The Social Network" and "Friends With Benefits."

Timberlake's third solo album, "The 20/20 Experience," will be released March 19. His last album was the 2006 multiplatinum effort, "FutureSex/LoveSounds."

The Grammys will air live on CBS from the Staples Center.

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Online:

http://www.grammy.com/

http://countdown.justintimberlake.com/

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