The Blackberry 9000: Next Year's iPhone Killer?

Check out this leaked photo of the upcoming Blackberry 9000. No keyboard: all touchscreen.

The other big addition is WiFi, something no Smartphone should be without in my humble opinion.
Allegedly, the 9000 will have two hardware advantages over the that "so not for business" iPhone. First, it will have 3G, the least a wireless phone should have if we're forced to use their internet service.

Secondly, it will be faster than the iPhone. It is rumored to have a 624MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processor that edges out the iPhone's 620MHz Marvell ARM 1173 processor, at least theoretically.

The only other supposed features know to date are, as I mentioned earlier, WiFi, a 3.2MP Camera, GPS, 1GB of on-board memory (expandable?), HSDPA, and a very pretty 480 x 320 resolution screen. No word on an SD Slot but I would think that should be a given as both business and consumer users will want it.

The big question is how are current die-hard Blackberry users going to react to a touch-screen keypad? I wouldn't be surprised if the the touchscreen will have TouchSense from Immersion or something similar. That way RIM can overcome any complaints about the keyboard. All it needs is a little force feedback.

There's also the possibility (although it looks unlikely given the slimness of the "leaked" photo), that this could turn out to be a slider phone.

In any event, this design isn't replacing the entire Blackberry line anymore than the Pearl replaced the QWERTY keyboard versions. It's just another flavor designed as a direct hit on the business user who likes the iPhone.

The 9000 isn't expected to be released until first or second quarter of next year so a lot can change depending on public opinion to the "leaks" It could also be a red herring of sorts along the lines of what Dash Navigation did with their Dash Express GPS. For months they pictured and mocked up this ugly looking box but pushed it's features. Then a quarter before it's projected release, came out with a completely different and much more attractive unit....and I'm willing to bet that's not the final version either. This could just be a ploy by RIM to test the consumer waters and at the same time throw off Apple which also allegedly has a new 3G product in the works for first quarter.

Time will tell but I know one thing: we're going to see a LOT of new and exciting phones from a bunch of manufacturers. I personally can't wait to see the second generation of the HTC Touch.

2008 is going to be a fun year for wireless phone fans.

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