The first images of what sources are claiming to be BlackBerry 10 have surfaced on the Internet. We all knew it would happen at some point, long before Research In Motion decided to officially show it off. It's just the way these things work. And once the images found their way online, I waited a little while before I started making my way through the comment system on several different sites. As I plodded my way from one site to another, staying aware of the address and adjusting my scope of perception on the amount of presumed "fanboys" in attendance, I came away with one very simple resolution:

People are excited.

Actually, it may go beyond that, at least in some circles. On some of those Web pages. I wouldn't expect any less from some of those sites, if not all of them. And what I mean from "those sites," is sites that are geared towards the BlackBerry fan. If I went through the comment stream on one of those sites and saw fans decrying the rumored hard work of RIM, then I would start to think there isn't much hope for the company based in Canada. Then again, I knew I couldn't base my entire view on the future of RIM, and the basis of this article, just on those sites, too.

So that's why I went to several different ones. I wanted to find out if the view of RIM's future BlackBerry 10, even if it isn't official in any shape or form, has people excited about the future. Specifically, for the future that involves BlackBerry 10. We all know that this leak wasn't an official announcement, and we can only take it with a grain of salt. There's a real chance that whatever RIM unveils, hopefully at Mobile World Congress, doesn't look anything like what we're seeing in the images. However, there's a chance that it does, so we'll just go ahead and go off of that.

And, as aforementioned, people seem to be excited. And truthfully, why wouldn't they be? From the leaked images, it looks like RIM is going straight into the current generation of the smartphone war head first. They aren't completely ignoring where everyone else is going, and just doing whatever they want to do. Based on these images, the BlackBerry name is actually going to be something we add when we're talking about the current smartphone race, and not a company that's forever left to trail behind.

And that has a lot to do with the fact that RIM is taking cues not only from their BlackBerry PlayBook OS, based on the QNX Software, but because they're taking obvious cues from their competitors as well. The visual elements we're looking at are very reminiscent of icons from iOS, and even Android. What's more, BlackBerry 10 is apparently also ushering in a time where a BlackBerry-branded device will feature widgets, and we all know where that comes from. But it's where the PlayBook OS elements shine through that make the BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system really pop, and make a case for the future of RIM.

I did see a few dissidents within the comment systems, and that's not all that surprising. You can't make everyone happy. But the truth is, while we've all talked about options for RIM and different ways to make BlackBerry have a better position within the mobile market, it looks like Research In Motion has figured out what to do, and that's a good thing. It's good, because it shows that RIM isn't just ready to actually enter into the smartphone market, but it's good because it shows that RIM is finally paying attention. They don't seem to have their blinders on anymore.

Of course, this is just going off leaked images that aren't confirmed by anyone from RIM, so everything is still up for grabs. Will it look the same in a couple of weeks? We can certainly hope so.