Alec Saunders, VP of developer relations for RIM (emphasis mine):
“It’s a huge step forward on our path to eventually launching BB10,” Saunders said. “It’s tangible evidence of the company making progress to finally shipping the device.”
They’re shipping prototypes in May.
From his tweet:
Fun fact – those new designs were tossed out 5 years ago because SJ didn’t like them. Now there is nobody to say “no” to bad design.
Since this is the third iteration of the Apple TV user interface (fourth if you count Front Row), I’d say those first interfaces also weren’t great. Poor design escaped from Apple when Steve was there, too (take a look at the Game Centre UI, for starters).
Furthermore, Michael Margolis clarified his comments in another tweet:
Sadly there isn’t enough context in 140 characters. SJ didn’t like the old grid, but may have loved this new iOS style.
An Apple TV interface that was grid-based was tested at Apple five years ago, and Jobs didn’t like it then. The product that was being produced was wholly different to today’s Apple TV, too. This is a non-story.
Via Sebastiaan de With, who has a totally rad new blog that you should all visit.