BlackBerry World rumour round-up
Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the the BlackBerry range of smartphones and the PlayBook tablet, is set to host BlackBerry World from 3-5 May 2011.
This is the biggest BlackBerry event of the year and many are expecting RIM to unveil its upcoming line of devices and expand on its plans for the PlayBook, its entry into the tablet market.
Over the course of the last few weeks, Boy Genius Report (BGR) has posted a number of articles about new BlackBerry devices that RIM have yet to confirm.
According to BGR, RIM has six major products in the pipeline that are all set to be released between June and September.
BGR calls these devices the BlackBerry Bold Touch (codenamed Dakota), BlackBerry Touch (codenamed Monaco/Monza), BlackBerry Torch 2 (codenamed Jennings), BlackBerry Curve (codename Apollo), another BlackBerry Curve with a touch display (codename: Orlando), and the BlackBerry Curve Touch.
RIM have not yet officially named the devices, so the names are subject to change even if the details in the leaked information proves true.
BGR also provided quite a bit of detail on each device. Where the Torch 2 (Jennings) and Curve (Apollo) seem to be incremental improvements on the current Torch 9800 and Curve 9300, the other four devices each offer something different from BlackBerry’s usual fare.
Most notably, these rumoured devices are all to sport touch screens.
However, despite the many devices RIM is rumoured to be working on for release later this year BGR recently reported that RIM may only officially announce the Bold Touch at BlackBerry World this week.
Both BGR and CrackBerry reported on 29 April 2011 that RIM had accidentally outed the BlackBerry Bold Touch on its website, saying it was “coming soon” and would be running “BlackBerry OS 7.”
The most recent version of the BlackBerry operating system (OS) is BlackBerry OS 6.
PocketNow also recently picked up on the 802.11n Wi-Fi certification of what seems to be the upcoming BlackBerry Bold 9900 (screenshots at BlackBerry Rocks).
According to PocketNow, this is in-line with the “leaked” specifications of the BlackBerry Bold Touch. It isn’t certain that the Bold Touch (“Dakota”) and the Bold 9900 are the same device, but it is difficult to draw a different conclusion based on the information at hand.
The BlackBerry Bold Touch (or 9900) is rumoured to be exactly what the name implies: A BlackBerry Bold with a touch screen. It is also to boast a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm CPU, 2.8-inch 640×480 resolution display, 8GB internal storage, 768MB RAM, a 5 megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording support and even NFC (near field communications) support.
It will be interesting to see how accurate the rumours surfacing during the lead-up to BlackBerry World are.
Whether they turn out to be true or not, the next week is bound to be an interesting one for BlackBerry fans and businesses that rely on RIM’s products.
BlackBerry World Rumours << Comments and views
Jan Vermeulen is a guest of RIM SA at BlackBerry World
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