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RIM roadmap shows BlackBerry Curve Touch
RIM's product roadmap for 2011 contains some interesting details
The mobile world is forever learning about new handsets in leaked photos or hints from supposedly confidential tests, but nothing quite matches the product roadmap on the leak-ometer.
Canada’s favourite phone-maker RIM is the subject of the latest case of a roadmap heading up a one-way street straight into the wrong hands – in this case, the hands of noted BB blog CrackBerry.
The roadmap is only for BlackBerry’s CDMA devices but Europe-friendly GSM versions should be heading out right around the same time, so we can assume the info counts for both.
First comes confirmation that the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will launch in the second quarter, which we knew already. The summer, meanwhile, is set to be a pivotal time for RIM, with the Dakota – a.k.a the BlackBerry Bold Touch – and the Monaco – the consumer-friendly Storm 3 – set to touch down.
But it’s the last entry on the roadmap that’s most intriguing. Towards the end of the year BlackBerry plans to introduce an all-touch version of its BlackBerry Curve – the cheap messaging-friendly handset that has built quite a following in the couple of years it’s been around.
For an entry-level smartphone it has a fairly decent spec, too – an 800MHz processor, 5-megapixel camera, 1GB of flash memory with an SD card slot for adding more, and a 3.25in touchscreen, along with the usual BlackBerry messaging smarts.
BlackBerry’s ailing fortunes in all major markets mean 2011 is a vital year if it is to remain one of the top smartphone contenders. Mass-market friendly handsets like the Curve Touch could hold the key to turning things around – though of course by the end of the summer the competition will have moved on too.
What do you think – will the Curve Touch put BB on an upward curve again, or is it too little too late for the Canadian smartphone giant?
User comments (2)
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azam28 January 2011
it sounds amazing but the intresting thing is thatnearly all new handsets have a touch screen. who knows whats next? a phone where you say"phone contacts and phone tom" who kows?
Report as inappropriateazam28 January 2011
it sounds amazing but the intresting thing is that nearly all new handsets have a touch screen. who knows whats next? a phone where you say"phone contacts and phone tom" who kows?
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