I agree with Kangal that so many things appear about a year too late, but I have a theory as to why this is happening and how it impacts BB10.

I think that given the lag time that it takes to get a phone designed, approved, and marketed, most new companies cannot forecast where the specifications of market leaders will be. Consequently, they (1) go cheap and (2) underestimate the competition.

Take the BB10 Z10, for instance. It'll be marketed in the US in March, with other markets having it available now. Did BlackBerry really expect the specs of top Android phones to be quad core S4 pro, 1080p screens at 441 ppi, packing 2300+ mAh batteries? It's like taking a knife to a gun fight.

And that's not all. I have an n900, E7, and N9. My issue with these, the BB10, WPx and the other "smaller" OS class is that they are always starting over. Bugs that have long since been worked out generations ago from older platforms continually re-emerge in newer ones. Like how the email IMAP counter for Yahoo unread email is buggy in my N9. So younger systems have to devote scarce resources to debugging while established powers are building cool *** features like Google Now. BB10 has a many more bugs, gaps and misfires than do established powers, though perhaps fewer than many other young OS's do. I do not know of any way around this disadvantage. :-(

I won't discuss the app-gap, other than to say that BB10 had better get that Android 4.1 runtime environment up ASAFP to minimize the app-gap.

I think that these reasons of hardware, software, and OS sophistication are what make the new OS's seem like they are a year behind the leaders. In many ways, they are. The benefit of my N9 is that it presents a cool UX that is original and fun.

Can't we have both? I would love if someone would make a perfect N9 skin for Android AND dual boot Harmattan onto, say, an Xperia Z? I could have my Harmattan apps, my Google stuff, top-end specs, all with an authentic or carefully replicated swipe UI. A guy can dream . . .