Prototype BlackBerry with touchscreen, slide-out qwerty, and webkit browser moved to prototype stage. Release in 2010?

I remember the day that I read about the rumors of a touchscreen BlackBerry. I was sitting in Chicago O’Hare Airport waiting for a flight to Houston. At that time, scouring the specs on BGR’s site left my jaw dropping and my heart racing. That was the pinnacle of my CrackBerry days. I have since moved on to many different platforms though my enthusiasm for the BlackBerry platform has never truly waned. All it will take is one breakthrough device (with better software of course) and my lusts will again be turned to the Canadian born giant again.

Rumors of an end all be all BlackBerry are nothing new. Well over a year has gone by since they first started circulating. But this time, a research note by Shaw Wu, a Kaufmen Bros. analyst, cites various “contracts in the industry” and parts suppliers who all claim or depict a touchscreen + sliding qwerty Berry. A phone just like the Droid but with a better keyboard and who knows what else? I’d love to see one.

Along with the obvious excitement over a touchscreen + qwerty BlackBerry, this new rumored BlackBerry (Is this the often rumored BlackBerry 9900?) device will surely come with a completely revamped WebKit browser. A new browser also isn’t a surprise per say as RIM’s recent acquisition of Torch Mobile — a company that developed a webkit browser — all but confirms it’s coming to BlackBerry devices in the not too distant future. RIM knows they need a new browser. Their current one sucks. With the iPhone and Android browsers being two of the top mobile browsers, both based on webkit, means RIM can’t afford not to. The device is currently in “prototype state” so any immediate release is out of the question. But next year its on…

CrackBerry meltdown in 3..2..

Electronista

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