Back to Tech Blog homepage
BlackBerry CEO promises new toys
January 24, 2007
Research in Motion, the Canadian maker of the iconic BlackBerry family of wireless communicators, is gearing up to launch a slew of new products over the next few months.
These include the ‘Indigo’ which is due to be unveiled at next month’s 3GSM tech fest in Barcelona and is expected to marry a full Qwerty mini keyboard with the BlackBerry Pearl’s cool multimedia capabilites and the ‘Crimson’ about which relatively little has leaked out so far.
Jim Balsillie, RIM’s chief executive, remained appropriately tight-lipped during an interview at RIM’s Waterloo, Ontario HQ this week.
He did nevertheless promise "different form factors and different protocols" along with "better GPS and mapping, better video, better music and memory: all kinds of application capabilities." He also said new devices would feature better global capabilities, better partnership frameworks and new carrier launches.
"This conversion space is the most interesting space imaginable, and the most interesting time imaginable, so we’re going full on to keep up," he said.
Meanwhile he was showing off the latest white version of the BlackBerry Pearl, which he dubbed the ‘pearl Pearl’ and said he had given a pair to his teenage son and daughter who apparently have taken to them like the proverbial ducks to water.
Dad said, like other young Blackberry converts, they mostly use their new toys for messaging, media and browsing, but don’t talk on them very much.
Paul Taylor, New York
