Technology Development

It's always interesting to see what an analyst has to say about the product roadmap of a company. According to RBC analyst Mike Abramsky, we should see at least 6 new BlackBerry devices before the end of 2010. This leaves RIM only 6 more months to roll out each device.




While it's a little hard for us to stomach that RIM will be releasing one new device each month, we can believe that we may see at most 4 new devices released before the end of 2010.



So far there is heavy operating system (OS) testing with carriers for the Curve 9300 'Kepler' and the Curve 8910 'Atlas'. We're 100% sure we will see these two devices release soon.



Rumors have suggested the Slider 9800, which may soon be known as BlackBerry Torch, will be releasing on AT&T in June. If you're familiar with RIM then you know they are very slow. So, an August release date doesn't sound so far-fetched.



We've previously said the Slider 9800 will be the first to release as an OS 6 equipped device. Therefore, as suggested on the roadmap the Clamshell 9670 will be releasing on Verizon and should be the last OS 6 equipped device to be released.



It is interesting that the 'Onyx Delta', the refreshed Bold 9700, should be released before the 9670. Details are still light on what's being called the 9900, but as we first broke, this device should be OS 6 compatible. However, we're unsure if it should be releasing with OS 6 as the base OS. It is still unknown if this device will in fact have a touchscreen (would kind of defeat the purpose of releasing the Dakota).



This brings us to the infamous 'Dakota'. There was a lot of rumors going around about a touchscreen Bold hybrid. We even saw the first pictures of it leak out. However, more rumors than suggested the 'Dakota' project had been canned. However, there were still small reports that suggested RIM was contemplating keeping the project going. Nevertheless, there hasn't been anymore tangible or intangible reports to suggest that this device will ever see the light of day.



The last thing we're concerned about with this proposed roadmap is the exclusion of the Storm3. We initially broke the first information on the Storm3, which gave some insight into the project. Then we heard that there could be a Storm4 shortly released after the Storm3! Although, unlike any other BlackBerry, there hasn't been any further information (besides rumors) to leak out and prove this devices' existence.



The Storm3 has been suggested as the true iPhone killer and said to release around the same time as the previous Storm devices. Apparently, Verizon Wireless has signed an exclusive deal with RIM for all future Storm-series devices. So, it is interesting that the RBC analyst, Abramsky, has left out the Storm3 from the roadmap. We had suggested that the Storm3 might not release in 2010 for the simple fact that Verizon would want it to be LTE 4G ready. However, Verizon's 4G won't be fully nation-wide in the USA until early 2011. Perhaps, we may not see a Storm device release this year after all?



Sometimes it is almost impossible to know what a company may be planning. You may recall, we had previously heard that RIM was supposed to release 16 new BlackBerrys in 2010! Of course, this won't be the case. How many (and which ones) do you think will release before the end of 2010?