Still love Blackberrys?
Source: Roger Cheng
The company showed off the BlackBerry Bold 9790, which looks like a compact version of its flagship Bold 9900 phone, as well as the all-touchscreen Curve 9380, which looks like a slightly smaller version of the all-touchscreen Torch, and shares similarities with the original--and glitch-plagued--Storm.
The two phones augment an already plentiful line-up of BlackBerrys for RIM, which is hoping its revamped BlackBerry 7 operating system will at least draw in its more loyal customers. While the company is rolling out these phones, it is also working on a next-generation line of BlackBerrys that run on a more advanced BBX operating system. These devices aren't expected to hit the market until next year.
Pricing information and availability on the phones are not yet available, and will come from its various carrier partners around the world.
The Bold 9790 has a 1-gigahertz processor, a high-resolution touchscreen display, 8 gigabytes of installed memory and a slot that allows for an additional 32 gigabytes of storage.
The Curve 9380, as its namesake suggests, is for less active users. RIM didn't disclose the specs on the device, but they are likely to be lower end, making for a device that's more competitive in price.
As with other BlackBerry 7 phones, the Bold and Curve have support for near-field communications, which power mobile payments, as well as augmented reality.
Separately, RIM said it was launching its BBM Music service in the U.K. today. The service, already available in the U.S. and Canada, allows customers to share their songs through the popular BlackBerry Messenger service. RIM added that the company's customer base has passed the 8 million subscriber mark.
While RIM is still seeing year-over-year growth, its share of the smartphone business in key markets such as North America is shrinking. The company has yet to counter the growth of the iPhone and Android smartphones, and even its current line of BlackBerry 7 phones is seen as clunky and old when compared with the other operating systems.
RIM still has its hopes pinned on BBX to drive its comeback next year. But for now, it is pushing as many BlackBerry 7 devices as possible.
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