RIM (Research In Motion) is the company behind the well-known business terminal BlackBerry, which in recent years has fallen prey to the popularity of terminals equipped with iOS and Android OS. In an attempt to regain at least part of the market share lost to those from Google and Apple, RIM announced that next week it will provide the first official information about its own Internet tablet, which could be called BlackPad. DevCon starts next Monday, an annual conference dedicated to BlackBerry application developers, and the Wall Street Journal claims that RIM could present the BlackPad tablet right within this conference.
The tablet, which some inside RIM are calling the BlackPad, is scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of this year, these people said. It will feature a seven-inch touch screen and one or two built-in cameras, they said. It will have Bluetooth and broadband connections but will only be able to connect to cellular networks through a BlackBerry smartphone, these people said. Since the tablet won't be sold with a cellular service, it's not clear which carriers or retailers will sell the device. In a significant development, RIM's tablet will eschew the recently revamped BlackBerry 6 operating system in favor of a completely new platform built by QNX Software Systems, these people said.
It is assumed that the new tablet will have a new OS produced by a third company, but for now these are just rumors and it remains to be seen what/if RIM will present something interesting next week. I want as many internet tablets as possible to be launched because the competition will make those from Apple offer us more and more new functions in order to stay on top.
