Blackberry clams up

BLACKBERRY MAKER Research in Motion is to move away from its traditional brick design and will create a phone that can fold in half.

Today RIM release a phone called the BlackBerry Pearl Flip, which will be available from T-Mobile USA and in other markets later this year.

Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive of RIM, said 70 percent of handsets in the country have this shape but to use one on a smart phone is a bit of departure. Particularly with Apple popularising its brick with pictures on it.

The Flip replaces the successful Pearl, which launched two years ago. Both models have 20 keys and double up some letters on each key.

RIM has done very well with the Pearl, which was its first entry into the consumer smart phone market.

The release of the new product comes after IDC showed that RIM nabbed 53.6 per cent of the US market for smart phones in the second quarter.

The Flip will work on T-Mobile USA's slow data network with Wi-Fi capability, and can place calls over Wi-Fi. µ

L'Inq
AP