BlackBerry 7 will continue till full BlackBerry 10 portfolio is launched

At the annual shareholder meeting today, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins threw some more light over the company’s upcoming BlackBerry 10 (BB10) smartphones. RIM will launch a full-touch BB10 smartphone followed by one with a physical QWERTY keypad, a product segment in which RIM excels and continues to remain the market leader. However, Heins also mentioned that BlackBerry 7 (BB7) smartphones will continue to exist.
Essentially BB10 will serve the premium, high-end segment of the market while BB7 smartphones will continue to cater to the low-end and mid-tier segments “until full portfolio of BB10 smartphones is not launched.” Heins did not give any timeline for the launch of the full BB10 portfolio or whether RIM had any new BB7 smartphones planned.