Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) gave dev-elopers a glimpse at its next-generation BlackBerry 10 smartphone on Tuesday and a set of software tools to create flashy apps to run on its new operating system, but investors were unimpressed and RIM’s shares tumbled.

At RIM’s annual BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, new CEO Thorsten Heins took

centre stage to unveil a prototype of the devices RIM expects to launch later this year. The BlackBerry 10 devices will

navigate with fewerkeystrokes than the legacy smartphones, relying on swipe gestures and word suggestions.

“We wanted a user paradigm that is easy and fast,” Heins said, demonstrating how information from documents, e-mails, calendars, and address books could slide in and out from the screen’s edges. “It’s all about making things flow.”Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners, said Heins’ presentation only served as a reminder of the tough road the company has ahead as it prepares for the make-or-break Black-Berry 10 launch.RIM knows consumers will not buy its new phones or tablets unless developers get excited about the platform and create a wealth of apps to operate on it. A dearth of apps for the legacy BlackBerry is one of the big reasons RIM has suffered huge market-share losses to Apple Inc and Google Inc’s Android in recent years. To regain its stride, RIM is essentially starting from scratch. Few of the apps available for its existing smartphones will work on the new platform, and the legacy BlackBerry will not be able to run apps created for

the new platform.Based on an operating system called QNX that is compatible with numerous open-source coding languages, BlackBerry 10 is a major break with RIM’s legacy operating software, a proprietary system that turned off developers.

The prototype device that RIM handed out to developers has no physical keyboard, unlike most BlackBerry models. Known as Alpha Dev, it looks like a smaller version of RIM’s PlayBook tablet, complete with a touch-sensitive frame that a user can swipe to call up a menu.

RIM said it was already working with some partners to ensure content and apps are available when the devices are launched. Among them are Endomondo, which specialises in apps to promote physical fitness; PixelMags, a mobile magazine newsstand; Poynt, a local search

engine; and Wikitude, whose apps super impose information over camera images.A recent survey from Appcelerator and IDC showed

less than 16 per cent of developers were very interested in creating programmes for RIM, compared with 90 per cent for Apple and

80 per cent for Android.