In just about a month’s time RIM will reveal what they hope will be a life raft amid a sinking ship, BlackBerry 10. Their newest operating system combined with the new devices running it could quite possibly be their final hope in the smartphone race after years of decline in this market.

Now some images of the OS has leaked onto the web, which shows the general layout of the icons, as well as what looks like a Siri-like clone. They say imitation is the highest form of compliment, and in the images it looks like RIM really like Apple and Google. There is much anticipation for the new OS and people are hoping that it will be a fresh take on how a smartphone should look and work, very much like what we saw with Windows Phone. Alas, that seems not to be the case here.

At the end of the day competition breeds innovation (especially in the electronics market), so we the consumers are the ultimate winner. It will be good to see BlackBerry come to the fold again. They have a very loyal following and that might very well be their saving grace.

What do you think of the new OS? Does it look appealing, or too much like its competitors?