News that RIM the makers of the email addicts BlackBerry now plans to launch a touch-screen version later this year was reported in the Wall Street Journal. The new touchy device, is named the Thunder and is to be sold exclusively through Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and Vodafone PLC elsewhere.
Also this week, RIM announced its BlackBerry Bold, a sleek smartphone with a keyboard aimed at its core base of business users and on Wednesday IBM said that it has started selling software allowing Blackberry customers to access its Cognos business intelligence software allowing customers to view real-time analytics on the state of their business on their BlackBerrys. IBM has also introduced programs to allow BlackBerry users to quickly locate and communicate with colleagues with expertise in specific business areas and also to access personalized content from their corporate websites.
Is the Blackberry coming out of the pockets of the business community with its touchy feely iPhone response or merely entrenching itself further into it with its alliance with business information and IBM? We think that we are seeing a device fighting to keep pace with those all around it and desperately seeking to pamper to its core base. It will be interesting to see a touch screen being used on a Blackberry but again maybe not.
