BlackBerry Torch: Just What the Doctor Ordered?

Aug. 3, 2010— -- The new BlackBerry Torch has some high expectations to meet.

Unveiled today by executives from Research in Motion (RIM) and AT&T, the phone is RIM's first touchscreen smart phone to include a slide-out typewriter keyboard.

But it's also the Canadian company's latest attempt to show investors and consumers that it can keep up with the ever-popular Apple iPhone and Google Android phones that threaten its market share in the United States. The new phone also comes after a wave of negative news about the United Arab Emirates' decision to ban the phone starting in October.

Don Kellogg, senior manager for telecommunication research and insights at the Nielsen Co., said RIM had a lot riding on today's announcement.

"The stakes were high," he said. "We released a report recently showing a pretty high percentage of folks that have BlackBerrys are looking at iPhones and Android devices as well."

Half of the BlackBerry users in the United States could potentially switch to an iPhone or Android phone when they make their next mobile phone purchase, according to Nielsen research published Monday.

Second-quarter Android sales climbed 900 percent from a year ago, claiming 34 percent of the U.S. market and leaving RIM with 32 percent, another report released Monday by research firm Canalys concluded. RIM led the U.S. smart phone market in 2009 with a 46.7 percent share, according to market intelligence firm International Data Corp.

But the new BlackBerry Torch 9800 -- and the new BlackBerry 6 operating system -- might be enough to keep BlackBerry users from looking for greener pastures, Kellogg said.

"Up until this point, BlackBerry users had to choose between getting a touchscreen device through BlackBerry, like the Storm, or getting a traditional QWERTY [typewriter keyboard] device, like the Tour," he said.

"I think in a lot of ways, this device kind of allows users to have their cake and eat it too. ...I do think that this is an evolutionary step for BlackBerry."

The Web browser is on par with Apple and Android devices and the phone's multi-tasking and multimedia capabilities will go a long way toward keeping customers happy, he added.