SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Research In Motion CEO Thorsten Heins says the company's BlackBerry phone is poised to regain its stature as a trailblazing device even as many investors fret about its potential demise.

Heins took the stage Tuesday at a conference for mobile applications developers to rally support for the upcoming release of a new operating system for the BlackBerry.

The San Jose, Calif. gathering gave Heins and other top Research in Motion Ltd. executives the opportunity to show off a few features of the Blackberry 10 system. The redesigned software won't hit the market until a still-unscheduled date early next year.

Delays of the operating system's release have raised concerns that the once-iconic BlackBerry will fall even further behind Apple's Inc.'s iPhone and other hot-selling devices running on Google Inc.'s Android software.