Research in Motion (RIM), the makers of BlackBerry, are drumming up hype ahead of the launch of their “redesigned, re-engineered, re-invented” smartphone operating system.

As part of the global launch of the BlackBerry 10 OS on Jan. 30, the company is organizing events in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Johannesburg and Dubai to showcase the new products. And for each location, RIM is flying in bloggers and journalists from across the region.

BlackBerry has in years past had a strong following in Qatar, especially for corporate email and BBM (BlackBerry Messenger). But recently, both Google’s Android operating system and the Apple iPhone have been making rapid gains. 

RIM hopes new features, including a completely reworked web browser, improved touchscreen keyboard and better camera will bring users back, although it is ostensibly playing catch-up with its competitors there.

When asked on Twitter, some of Qatar’s residents shared their views about the upcoming BlackBerry 10 launch with Doha News.

What are your thoughts?