RIM may unveil OS 6 and 'Storm 3' Tuesday
Company calls press conference with AT&T, pointing to September launch
Published: 30 July, 2010
READ MORE: US | Research In Motion | OS | Handset
Like Nokia, RIM needs to produce a knock-out smartphone and OS upgrade for the holiday season, to regain investor confidence and address market share nerves. Its product is now expected to see the light of day next Tuesday, when the BlackBerry maker has scheduled a press conference.
The firm would not give any details of its event, but it had previously said it would launch the new release of its software platform, BlackBerry OS 6.0, before September. It has dropped some hints about what release 6.0 will contain, including a fast WebKit browser and a new user interface optimized for multitouch. Many believe it will not be enough just to emulate the iPhone, though, but to come up with something really distinctive - a platform that enhances the experience in RIM's enterprise email stronghold while leapfrogging rivals on the road to the full cloud/browser experience.
In a research note quoted by Dow Jones, Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros wrote: "We believe the new user interface with multitouch technology and WebKit-based browser closes the gap materially against Android and iPhone."
It seems that AT&T will be the US launch partner for the first BlackBerry 6.0 device, given that its logo also appears on the event invitation. This would fit in with the carrier's recent moves to broaden its smartphone portfolio and reduce its dependence on the iPhone, in case it loses its exclusive soon. It also needs to introduce alternative bighitting handsets that could poach users from other cellcos, since a rising proportion of its iPhone contracts are going to existing users, and Verizon enjoyed higher levels of net adds in the last quarter. AT&T is also supporting Android, Brew, Symbian and webOS and was the first operator to pledge support for the upcoming Windows Phone 7.
The phone itself is expected to be the 'Storm 3', the first in this family to sport a slide-out Qwerty keyboard and with dual CDMA/HSPA support for world roaming.
RIM's stock has suffered this year, falling 18% since the start of 2010, largely because of fears of rising pressure on the firm's second place in the smartphone market, from challengers like Android vendors. Investors are also concerned about the high marketing and product development costs that will be incurred to fight off these challenges from larger and richer competitors.
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