Despite the firm promise that this year's BlackBerry World expo would see no new hardware unveiled, RIM has still managed to hit the spotlight thanks to the emergence of pics of the first BlackBerry 10-powered Alpha Developer devices.
The handsets are expected to be handed out to developers at BlackBerry World and the sidekick BlackBerry 10 Jam expo this week to get a taste of BB10, and even if they aren't headed for production, we have to say they do look fairly nifty.
Of course it's what's on the inside that will really make or break RIM's fortunes going forward, such has been the slump the Canadian business phone maker has been stuck in.
RIM has been promising big things from BlackBerry 10 for a while now, but the first real details are set to emerge this week.
And with the debut BB10 devices expected to be announced in August and on sale by October, it really isn't exaggerating to suggest that RIM's long-term future rests almost entirely on what happens between now and the end of the year.
Via CrackBerry