Research In Motion says its forthcoming BlackBerry 10 platform has received FIPS 140-2 certification, which means it meets security standards demanded by government departments in the USA and Canada. As a result, government agencies will be able to use BlackBerry 10 smartphones as soon as they’re launched.

This is the first time that BlackBerry products have been FIPS-certified before going on sale.

Mark Bridge writes:

Last week I referred to the previous week as having been ‘big news but no big surprises’ - and in many ways the past seven days have seen much of the same.

The new BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system from RIM is still on course to launch in the first quarter of 2013, according to a recent announcement from the company. New BlackBerry devices will also be announced alongside the OS.

BB10 was originally planned for a 2012 release.

Although ABI Research has calculated that total mobile phone shipments fell to 387.3 million units in the past quarter, the International Data Corporation has just published figures showing an increase. It says the worldwide mobile phone market grew 2.4% year-on-year in Q3 2012 to 444.5 million mobile phones.

When it comes to smartphones, it reckons 179.7 million units were shipped in the quarter; a 45.3% increase on Q3 2011.

The number of smartphones shipped worldwide increased by 32.8% year-on-year to 155.5 million in the third quarter, according to new figures from ABI Research. However, total mobile handset shipments fell by 1.9% to 387.3 million units.

40.2% of all mobile phone shipments in Q3 2012 were smartphones, up from 39.3% in the previous quarter.