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RIM seems to have found the black Pearl

RIM will be announcing a new device with multimedia capabilities and an integrated camera in the next month or so. Will this convince BlackBerry fans to stay with this platform or will the power of Windows Mobile and S60 sway them to a new device operating system?
Written by Matthew Miller, Contributing Writer

My kids and I were watching Sci Fi channels dorky "Who Wants to Be a Super Hero" show the other day and they candidate super heroes had BlackBerry devices with a video feed of Stan Lee providing instructions on the device display. Well, we all know that BlackBerry devices don't support video like this and it obviously was a camera mod. However, according to a press release that Engadget obtained the BlackBerry Pearl (aka 8100) will support multimedia functionality and include a camera with a flash and zoom. Other specs include 65k color display, microSD slot, EDGE data on the T-Mobile network. You'll be able to listen to MP3 files and check your email at the same time. The Pearl will retail for US$199 with new activation and should launch sometime in September.

It is good to see multimedia capabilities coming to the RIM BlackBerry platform, but I personally still don't fully understand why people are so addicted to these devices when there are other more functional alternatives like the Nokia E61 and HTC Phone Edition devices that support push email and much more. I understand that people primarily use BlackBerry devices for email and believe the reason these other devices are not being used today is that it takes a bit longer in general for the enterprise to get the latest and greatest devices.

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