The Wall Street Journal Digital Network reported that RIM is readying a slate of new devices and software. RIM’s intentions are too keep the BlackBerry comptetitive to touch-screen devices like the Droid, Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad. Apple continues to reel in market share, leaving RIM with no option but to live up to its name, “Research in Motion” and come up with new devices and software that will fulfill expectations.
RIM has already released the new and improved Pearl 3G, and is in the process of testing a touch-screen smartphone with a slide-out keyboard aka the 9800. When we first heard about the BlackBerry 9800, it was under the codename ‘Slider’ under the Bold family. Now, rumor has it that other names are being discussed to name the new BlackBerry Device. The name BlackBerry Torch has surfaced as a posibility, but no official confirmation yet.
Photos and video of the 9800 have hit the net and it runs on a new version of the BlackBerry operating system (OS6) and works similar like an iPhone, letting users scroll through screens and expand images with their fingers. It also has a universal search bar that lets users purge all the phone’s data and some data online as well, sources say.
To compete with the iPad, RIM has already made efforts to produce a tablet device to serve as a larger-screen companion to its BlackBerry phone. Sources say that the BlackBerry tablet, which is in an early stage of development, will connect to cellular networks via a BlackBerry phone and could come out as soon as the end of the year. A RIM spokeswoman said the company doesn’t comment on rumors and speculation. RIM executives have said they will ship a phone running a new operating system and a new Web browser in the quarter ending Sept. 30, but haven’t provided details of the device. They haven’t discussed plans for a tablet.
Although RIM sells more smartphones globally than any company besides Nokia Corp., grabbing 19% of the world market for the do-everything devices in 2009, according to the research firm Strategy Analytics, its share of the key North American market is slipping. With RIM’s efficient platform and new devices in production, expect to see BlackBerry outshine in the future.
Sara Silver and Ting-I Tsai contributed to this article.
Via: WSJ