Largest Global Launch of BlackBerry Smartphones Goes Curve-less

Since the announcement of BlackBerry 7 back in May at BlackBerry World we’ve been patiently waiting for the new generation of smartphones to drop. We were given official word that a new Bold Touch 99xx would be coming to us at the end of summer and even during the General Shareholder meeting, RIM’s CEO’s promised that 7 new devices would be landing soon. Earlier this morning RIM announced via press release that they are getting ready for the largest global launch of BlackBerry smartphones ever with more than 225 partners around the world and over 500 certification programs for these new handsets. While RIM went on to officially announce the rest of the BlackBerry 7 lineup, something seemed to be missing. The magical number “7” has been downsized to “5” at least for now, with RIM officially announcing 3 more handsets next to the Bold 99xx, making it a total of 5, not 7 (Bold 9900/9930, Torch 9810, Torch Touch 9850/9860). So what’s missing?

I couldn’t help but to notice that one of RIM’s highest selling models, especially in international markets, was absent from the list – the BlackBerry Curve. I’m not saying we’re not getting a new curve because evidence proves otherwise but the point here is that RIM is launching its largest global launch of BlackBerry smartphones without the Curve. When RIM decides to officially announce its newest Curve it should appear as model 9360/9350 in part to RIM adding OS7 device compatibility into the App World. Leaked slides over recent months suggests that the new Curve is set to carry the code name “Apollo” which will NOT be touch screen but will be packed with:

• 800 mhz proccessor
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Tri-band UMTS/HSPA 7.2Mbps
• Bluetooth 2.1
• Wi-Fi b/g/n
• GPS
• NFC
• 512MB of eMMC, 512MB of RAM
• 5-megapixel camera with flash
• HVGA 480 x 360 display
• 1050 mAh battery
• Tavor MG-1 800MHz CPU
• BlackBerry OS 7
• 11mm thin