Bloomberg reports that BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins called the future of tablets into question at the Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles. During an interview, he said that there will be no reason to have a tablet in five years. He topped that statement off by saying that “tablets themselves are not a good business model.”

So, what does BlackBerry see as the future? Heins suggests that a “big screen in your workplace” will replace the tablet. That big screen may be part of the company’s future plans as he says BlackBerry is aiming to be “the absolute leader in mobile computing” in five years.

It’s no coincidence that Heins wants the death of the tablet to coincide with his company’s resurgence as a leader in mobile computing. Of course, that resurgence will only come if BlackBerry can produce hardware that convinces people to drop their iPads, Nexus 7s and other tablets in favor of whatever “big screen” the company can come up with.

That “big screen” may actually end up being a new PlayBook, but Heins says that any new tablet from BlackBerry must set itself apart. Maybe BlackBerry is looking at creating a desktop computer that can double as a large tablet. We’ve already seen this kind of stuff in the works at OEMs like Lenovo, but a BlackBerry-branded PC/tablet hybrid could prove interesting if the company could pull it off.

Of course, people are right to be skeptical as BlackBerry hasn’t really innovated on the hardware side of things in recent years. The BlackBerry Z10′s only claim to fame is that its software is somewhat unique while the hardware itself is nothing new. BlackBerry could easily sell a “big screen” device with a great software backing, but Heins makes it sound like BlackBerry wants to start innovating in hardware again as well.

At this point, we can only with the once mighty company all the luck in the world. Compelling hardware is hard to make and even harder to market after a strong incumbent has been on the scene for a few years. You only need to look to Microsoft for evidence of that.

If you fancy yourself a Facebook user, the latest update for BlackBerry 10 is sure to delight with its latest features:

Twitter users are getting a few less new features, but those that are being added still contribute to a better experience:

You can download Facebook for BlackBerry 10 here, and Twitter for BlackBerry 10 here.

In its Q4 results, BlackBerry reports that it had shipped 6 million smartphones through March 2. Out of that lot, 1 million were the new BlackBerry Z10. To ship 1 million BlackBerry Z10s in a little less than month is no small feat, especially for a company that’s recently been down on its luck.

Beyond smartphone sales, BlackBerry had a decent fourth quarter. Here’s the full breakdown:

The company notes that revenue is still down, but it’s not bleeding cash like it once was. From Q3 to Q4, the company posted a $49 million loss, or a loss of two percent. Compare that to the $1.5 billion loss it suffered from the same quarter last year, and its current losses don’t seem as bad.

It will be interesting to see what BlackBerry’s results for the current quarter look like as it has just launched the BlackBerry Z10 in the U.S. The company notes that 61 percent of its revenue comes from hardware sales, and the U.S. market might provide the kick its premium hardware needs.

BlackBerry announced today that the BlackBerry 10 platform now has over 100,000 apps. The company says that it added 30,000 apps over the span of seven weeks, which is pretty impressive no matter how you look at it. The platform isn’t slowing down either with BlackBerry 10 adding a number of new apps to BlackBerry World over the next few weeks:

“The response to the BlackBerry 10 platform and applications has been outstanding. Customers are thrilled with the applications already available, and the catalog just keeps growing, now with more than 100,000 apps,” said Martyn Mallick, Vice President, Global Alliances at BlackBerry. “Top brands and application providers are joining us every day and are seeing the benefits of being early supporters of the new platform. We constantly hear from developers that the BlackBerry 10 tools are easy to build with and that we provide opportunities for app differentiation that they do not see on other platforms.”

So where does BlackBerry 10 stand in comparison to the competition? WIndows Phone 8 has only just recently passed the 130,000 app mark so BlackBerry 10 could very well eclipse Microsoft’s platform if the Redmond giant’s current plan to spark app development doesn’t work out.

As for Android and iOS, it’s a little unfair to compare at this point. Both platforms have around a quarter of a million apps as they’re both well established. As Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10 become more established themselves, expect their respective app stores to grow.

BlackBerry got its band back together for a final performance in honor of BlackBerry 10′s launch. We won’t be seeing BlackBerry 10 until March 22, but at least you have a song to listen to until Friday’s launch.

Let’s hope that BlackBerry doesn’t use this as its TV ad in the U.S. unless it intends to market to the hipsters whom ironically like bad things.

[h/t: AllThingsD]

AT&T announced today that the BlackBerry Z10 will indeed be available on March 22. The device will cost $199 under a two-year contract. There’s no mention of how much the device would cost off contract, but another U.S. seller was selling the Z10 for $999.

“AT&T customers were the first to experience BlackBerry smartphones and services in the U.S. and we are thrilled to bring the next evolution, the BlackBerry Z10, to the nation’s fastest 4G LTE network,” said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, Devices and Developer Services, AT&T Mobility. “Customers who have grown to love the tried and true BlackBerry experience will continue to enjoy the easy typing and the secure platform they expect with a fresh platform that lets them get more out of their smartphone with easy access to all their messages in BlackBerry Hub.”

Enterprise customers will be happy to know that AT&T will also be offering BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 alongside the Z10′s launch. It will be added as one of the many Enterprise Management options offered by AT&T.

There’s still no word on when the Z10 will be available on other carriers. The official story for all carriers is that a March release is still in the cards so we’ll probably see some announcements from Verizon and T-Mobile later this week.

If you find yourself craving a BlackBerry Z10, AT&T says that preorders for the device will open tomorrow.

Bloomberg reports that the BlackBerry Z10 will go on sale in the U.S. on March 22 at AT&T. The carrier won’t comment on the rumored launch date, and BlackBerry is remaining silent on its U.S. launch plans. All the other carriers planning to carry the Z10 aren’t saying anything either.

We can assume that the BlackBerry Z10 is still on track to launch in the U.S. in March, but the company’s silence doesn’t inspire confidence. We’re already almost a quarter through the month and we don’t have any new details on the BlackBerry Z10′s U.S. launch. You would think that BlackBerry would want to announce a release date as soon as possible and begin advertising the launch, but that hasn’t happened yet.

As Bloomberg points out, the U.S. market has to wait longer for phones as testing periods at carriers take longer than in other countries. It could be that the Z10 hit a snag in testing at one of the carriers and it pushed the launch back for everyone. The March 22 launch date could be when everybody is launching, or it could be saying that AT&T will have completed its testing before everybody else.

Even if the Z10 launches on March 22, it may be too late. Samsung will be showing off the Galaxy S IV next week, and that alone may be enough to kill any chance BlackBerry had of catching a significant part of the U.S. market again.

All Things D reports that Netflix is not building an app for BlackBerry 10. The service wouldn’t say why it’s forgoing the platform for now, but a spokesperson did say that there are “no current plans” for an app. So, there’s some hope for Netflix on BlackBerry 10 in the future, but it’s a no go at the present.

It can’t look good for BlackBerry after it announced that its latest smartphones would have all the latest apps that its competitors have. Netflix is a name brand app that would have strengthened the BlackBerry 10 brand. It wouldn’t have a “major” loss, however, as most users still don’t watch Netflix on smartphones or tablets. The bigger concern for BlackBerry should be the news that Instagram is not developing a native app for the platform.

Like Netflix and Instagram, most developers are probably taking a wait-and-see approach for now. BlackBerry 10 will be launching in the U.S. this month and it should give developers more realistic expectations as to the success of the product. Of course, people might not go with BlackBerry 10 over its lack of software support from app developers. If that happens, BlackBerry will be stuck in a cruel cycle of decreased software support leading to decreased hardware sales.

Still, there are plenty of developers taking a chance on BlackBerry 10 with some big names in the mobile scene gambling on its success. If their bet pay outs, you can be rest assured that those sitting on the fence will come running.

BlackBerry upgraded the BlackBerry 10 software to 10.0.10.85 today, and the update contains a number of enhancements that the company thinks you’re going to love. Here’s the top five enhancements coming your way:

3rd Party App Performance
We’ve improved performance for 3rd party applications, so developers can build apps that run fast and smooth for you. With this update, you might want to keep an eye out for some fresh new app launches in March, like WhatsApp.

Phone, Calendar, and Contacts
Among the top improvements and features are fixes for Gmail calendars on BlackBerry 10. You’ll also find improvements in the BlackBerry Hub for logging calls log and how conversations are handled. We’ve also made general improvements to importing contacts from online sources.

Camera
We’ve optimized the camera for better photos in low-light situations. You’ll love the difference this makes for photos where you don’t use a flash – like the Time Shift Camera feature.

Browser and Media
With more and more of you using the gorgeous screen on the BlackBerry Z10 to consume online videos and media, we’ve made a number of improvements to the software in the way the browser handles video playback to provide a fantastic experience.

Battery Life
The software team has included a number of battery life optimizations with over 60 battery saving improvements since launch to keep you moving. These combined improvements are designed so that you see improvements in battery life and heavy users especially should see a longer average usage per charge cycle.

BlackBerry says that the update should be delivered over-the-air automatically, but says you can manually check for an update as well. The schedule for update delivery is decided by the carrier with some already offering the update. Other carriers will be pushing it out as soon as possible.

Sortable has reviewed the BlackBerry Z10 by not comparing it to other phones, but rather testing it out in a variety of situations. The review should help you come away with a better understanding of what the BlackBerry Z10 is truly capable of.

The BlackBerry Z10 has proven itself as a decently popular smartphone (in Canada), but it still has to prove that it’s the savior RIM BlackBerry is punching it up to be. We might be able to get a better grasp on its potential fortunes once the phone launches across all major carriers in the U.S. next month.