The decision of Verizon Wireless to push Motorola Droid so hard was the main reason why RIM is feeling the pressure from Android and the phenomenal iPhone that storms the world.

“Verizon Wireless made clear from the start that its Droid smartphone was designed to put pressure on Apple, the maker of the iPhone, and AT&T, the exclusive U.S. iPhone carrier. As part of a US$100 million marketing push, Verizon Wireless enumerates several ways it believes the Droid outperforms the iPhone.”

RIM has nobody but themselves to blame, as their first touch screen phone, BlackBerry Storm, wasn’t a real good product, and Verizon Wireless seems like got fed up with the sluggish sales of BlackBerry Storm, and Storm 2. Verizon Wireless was a strong backer for RIM’s Storm, but the sales of the Storm haven’t lived up to expectations. This was what cause Verizon Wireless to get on Motorola Droid, and undoubtedly, it worked!

What RIM hopes for now is to sell more phones and earn fewer profit margins. The Verizon Wireless buy-one-get-one-free campaigns were designed to sell more phones for RIM.

“We believe that now is the time to aggressively pursue adoption,” Balsillie said in a conference call on Sept. 25, 2008. That push would come at a cost. Gross margins would fall to 47 percent, from 51 percent the prior quarter, as a result of the decrease in overall handset margins.

It remains to be seen whether this strategy will work for RIM or not. What we know is RIM is definitely not a very comfortable zone right away as they face strong challenges not only from iPhone, but also Google’s Android handsets.

via ZDNet

Picture shown is the rumored 2nd generation of BlackBerry Tour, BlackBery Essex, which will be available for Sprint customers. It is said that the phone will be available in 2010. Apparently, the BlackBery Esses is not a touch screen phone; it is just a regular canyd-bar shaped BlackBerry PDA phone with trackpad and Wi-Fi connectivity.

via CBforum

BlackBerry Curve 8530, the latest Curve-series smartphone from RIM, is now available at Verizon Wireless as well. The Verizon Wireless’s version of Curve 8530 is pretty much just like T-Mobile’s Curve 8520, except the VZ’s Curve 8530 supports its own Verizon Wireless GPS services.

Features and specs of the Curve 8530 include 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi, built-in GPS, full QWERTY keyboard, 2-MP digital camera, and advanced media player for music, pictures and videos. This BlackBerry phone supports BlackBerry App World for downloading third-party mobile applications.

The selling price is $99.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a voice plan with an Email and Web feature or an Email and Web for BlackBerry plan.

AT&T Wireless today announced the BlackBerry Bold 9700, a thinner, lighter, and more powerful smartphone than its predecessor, which is also known as BlackBerry Bold. The Bold 9700 phone has almost the same design and outlook of the old BlackBerry Bold. The new one still has the loved full QWERTY keyboard and a 2.44-inch LCD screen (unfortunately, it is not a touch screen).

RIM upgrades the Bold 9700 phone to 3.2-megapixel digital camera, 256 MB RAM, and faster 3G HSDPA connectivity. This BlackBerry phone will comes with a 2GB memory card, which is going to be the primary storage for user’s files and documents. The Bold 9700 phone still has the Wi-Fi connectivity, MP3 player, and GPS navigation features.

“We think it’s a major upgrade that appeals to professionals and to consumers, both men and women,” said Jim Balsillie, RIM’s co-Chief Executive.

The selling price for the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is a little bit crazy – $200 with a two-year contract. The Bold 9700 will be available at AT&T stores pretty soon.

RIM, the Canadian company that make BlackBerry phone, is rumored to release a watch phone called BlackBerry “InPulse”. The “InPulse” phone is not a phone to check your heartbeat, it is a watch phone with PDA functionalities, capable of checking emails, receiving calls, browsing the Internet, and read the news. The phone has an OLED display that nobody knows whether it is a touch screen or not. We kind of disbelieve that the rumor is true, but the phone world seems like want to believe that.

RIM, the maker of BlackBerry-series phones, today announced the BlackBerry Storm 2, the second-generation of Storm full touch screen phone. The first generation of Storm phone isn’t a success for RIM, as customers complain that the phone is too slow, and the soft QWERTY keyboard cause too much of troubles. RIM said that they have solved the problems in the Storm 2 with its new SurePress technology, which is said to be effortless when clicking on the screen and the display would be able to detect if a finger is resting on the screen.

Features and specifications wise, the Storm 2 doesn’t get much upgrade. It still has the old 3.2-megapixel digital camera, MP3 music player, BlackBerry App World, and BlackBerry Maps. However, the good news is the upgrades that Storm 2 get are what users need the most. The Storm 2 is going to support multi-touch navigation, kind of like Apple iPhone, but not as good as. For example, you could now copy and paste text by holding two fingers on both ends. Another upgrade that the Storm 2 get is Wi-Fi connectivity, which allow users to browse Internet at HotSpots. Lack of Wi-Fi was a major complain for the first generation of Storm, and now users get it in Storm 2.

We all sure do hope the Storm 2’s software isn’t going to be as buggy as the Storm 1. If you have a Storm 2 on hands, please leave a comment here and tell us about your opinions.

RIM, the maker of BlackBerry PDA, today announce BlackBerry® Smart Card Reader, an external part that is used authenticate and control users’ access to BlackBerry smartphones. The Smart Card Reader utilizes Bluetooth technology and advanced AES-256 encryption. It is lightweight and wearable, so users could either put it inside a pocket or wear the reader on a lanyard. This reader supports BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, allowing system admin to control access permissions over the wireless network.

You could view the demo on how the Smart Card Reader works here.