Heins began the BlackBerry World keynote by highlighting smartphone usage statistics. According to the data shared by RIM, the 77 million BlackBerry users around the globe are more engaged with social networking, and interact more from their BlackBerry devices than the averages for smartphones in general.

After the introductory pleasantries, Heins unveiled the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device. It's a buttonless slab--bigger than your typical smartphone, but smaller than a PlayBook, which is on the lower end of size for the tablet market. I'd say the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device was a 5-inch device, roughly the size of the original Dell Streak, or the Samsung Galaxy Note.

As the name implies, the device is loaded with an early Alpha build of the BlackBerry 10 platform. Attendees of the BlackBerry Jam developer conference that coincides with BlackBerry World will each be given a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device to work with.

The world has been waiting for the new and improved BlackBerry platform, and the accompanying devices for some time. Heins explained, "We're taking our time to make sure we get this right."

Makes sense. Microsoft seemed to come quite late to the game with Windows Phone, but it is a solid, innovative platform that was worth the wait. It's much better for RIM to take its time and get it right than to rush to market with a half-baked platform just to get something on the shelf. RIM already tried that--it's .