Not really known for making flashy devices, RIM has always been the business user’s choice for a smartphone. Apparently, RIM has seen that there is a serious amount of cash money to be made in other sectors and is planning on branching out.
The BlackBerry maker is currently testing a touch-screen smartphone with a slide-out keyboard, according to the folks who have actually gotten their hands on one. Apparently the phone runs a newer version of the BlackBerry OS and is very similar to the iPhone and Android devices. The new BB OS allows users to swipe through different screens and has the “pinch-to-zoom” feature as well. In addition, the new OS has a universal search bar that searches all of the phones data and even some online data as well.
Not wanting to be left out of the ever expanding tablet market, RIM is apparently toying around with their own tablet as well. The device, which is in early stages of development, will connect to cellular networks via a BlackBerry phone and could be out by the end of the year.
RIM isn’t really known for their ground-breaking design work, nor their OS’ ease of use, both of which are key features in a tablet. It’ll be interesting to see how well RIM can pull this off, because if they can pull it off well, it represents a huge chunk of an ever-expanding market.
[via wsj]
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