The summer of the smartphone is heating up as Research In Motion (RIM) introduced its latest BlackBerry device, called the Tour. But will it be enough to keep RIM king of the smartphone market?
The BlackBerry Tour is hitting store shelves at an important time for RIM, which has been reportedly taking a sales hit as carriers promote exclusive phones, such as the Palm Pre and the Apple iPhone 3GS.
In a research note published this week, it is noted that BlackBerry sales declined in June due to carriers focused marketing dollars and sales attention on iPhone and Pre over older BlackBerry handsets. Sales of BlackBerry devices remained solid with some US carriers, but they were down at most of them.
But now it looks like RIM has a new device to excite its base of business users and consumers, especially those looking for a smartphone they can take overseas.
Unlike its smartphone competitors, the BlackBerry Tour is not offered exclusively on a single carrier network. Making its phone available on multiple carrier networks is not unusual for RIM, which sells its products on all four major carrier networks. But typically carriers don’t make the devices available on the same day. In some ways, the non-exclusive arrangement could help RIM sell more devices because it greatly increases the potential sales base. But it might also hurt, if carriers focus more marketing attention and budget on promoting their exclusive phones.
It is yet to be seen how popular the new BlackBerry Tour will be. But at this point any new device from BlackBerry is likely better than none.
The new phone, which sports Bluetooth, GPS, a 3.2-megapixel camera, a full QWERTY keypad, and a high-resolution screen offers everything that BlackBerry lovers have come to expect. And it also comes equipped with a Quad-band radio that allows the phone to be used internationally on both CDMA and GSM networks. The addition of the 800MHz and 1900MHz radio for CDMA is particularly important for users traveling to Latin America and parts of Asia where CDMA is available on these frequencies.
The device is likely to appeal mostly to business customers, particularly those who travel, and existing BlackBerry users. For RIM the real question is whether the Tour can get enough momentum in the market to boost sales in July and August to reach its sales targets. The launch of so many other hot smartphones at one time presents a challenge for the company as it tries to push the Tour to the forefront of customers’ minds.
More of the release of the BlackBerry Tour at gizmodo.com.
