BlackBerry shares slide as new devices face uphill battle

Shares of BlackBerry, RIM’s new corporate name, fell almost 10% early on Thursday, after a 12% decline the previous day, as some tech analysts questioned whether the new BB10 devices the company launched on Wednesday were the sure-fire hit that BlackBerry needs to get back into the game.

“The problem with the Z10 is that it doesn’t necessarily do anything better than any of its competition,” said Joshua Topolsky of technology news website the Verge. “No one could argue that there’s a ‘killer app’ here. Something that makes you want or need this phone because it can do what no other phone can do. That’s not the case.”