Is a BlackBerry touch-screen coming to AT&T?
After its first disastrous foray into touch-screen devices to compete against the Apple iPhone, Research in Motion appears to be preparing a new touch-screen phone — this time to include a slide-out keyboard — to regain its lost sales momentum.
RIM introduced the BlackBerry Storm nearly two years ago, a phone so awful that it was blasted by reviewers and was such an embarrassment to Verizon Wireless that the carrier changed tactics and embraced the open philosophy behind Google’s Android operating system.
The key problem with the Storm was that RIM didn’t change it’s operating system to accommodate for a touch-screen environment. It was the same OS you’d find on a standard qwerty-based BlackBerry, and that led to a confusing and confounding touch-screen experience for BlackBerry fans who wanted the cool factor the iPhone offered.
Now, according to a report in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, RIM is heading back to the drawing board and finally looking to redesign it’s operating system specifically for a touch-screen phone.
The touch-screen smartphone will include a slide-out keyboard, the Journal reports according to the usual people “familiar with the device.” The phone could be the BlackBerry 9800 — c’mon, fix that name! — which gadget blog Electronista speculates is heading to AT&T.
Also, like Google and to compete with the Apple iPad, RIM is experimenting with a tablet device. RIM didn’t confirm the tablet plans to the Journal, but did say that a BlackBerry phone running a new operating system and a new Web browser will ship in the early fall.
The stakes are very high for RIM at the moment. Apple and Google have seriously encroached into their market share. It remains the No. 2 seller of smartphones, behind Nokia. But in the U.S. and Canadian markets, shipments of RIM smartphones dropped to 38 percent in the March quarter from 54 percent from the year-earlier period, according to Strategy Analytics. Meanwhile, Apple’s share climbed to 23 percent from 18 percent during the same period.
RIM needs to get it right this time, creating an easy to operate phone that taps into the current app craze while continuing to deliver a service that made it so popular in the first place.
This story first appeared on Appolicious.com
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BlackBerry to challenge iPhone with new touch-screen phone http://bit.ly/d12WyY
RT @ericbendy: BlackBerry to challenge iPhone with new touch-screen phone http://bit.ly/d12WyY
RT @ericbendy: BlackBerry to challenge iPhone with new touch-screen phone http://bit.ly/d12WyY — a little late to the dance, eh?
BB was asked 2 leave 1st party rt @cokehat BlackBerry to challenge iPhone with new phone http://bit.ly/d12WyY – a little late to the dance?
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