NEW YORK (AP) -- Research In Motion Ltd. on Wednesday unveiled five new BlackBerry phones with touch screens, as it hopes to revive the line‘s dwindling appeal in the face of competition from the iPhone and Android smartphones.
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In this product image provided by Research In Motion, the new Blackberry Torch 9850/9860 is displayed. (AP) |
The new phones had been expected earlier this year, but were delayed. Though the company is profitable and seeing growing sales, it is increasingly seen as a has-been that missed the chance to parlay the BlackBerry’s popularity as a corporate email device into mass-market dominance.
RIM, which is based in Waterloo, Ontario, is updating its high-end Bold models to include touch screens. It‘s also launching two Torch models with big screens but no physical keyboards, mimicking the basic design of the iPhone.
RIM launched a keyboard-less touch-screen phone called the Storm in 2008, more than a year after the first iPhone, but the Storm’s quirky design and poor software made it a flop.
"The `all-touchscreen‘ Torch has been a while coming as a natural successor to the disappointing Storm, particularly when the smartphone market has gone touchscreen mad over the past 18 months,” said Malik Saadi, an analyst at Informa.
The phones run a new version of the BlackBerry operating system, which RIM says is much faster, particularly for Web browsing.
AT&T Inc. said it would launch a Torch model with a physical keyboard this month, and the all-touch Torch and a Bold model later this year. It didn’t announce prices.
RIM‘s stock rose 82 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $24.97 in morning trading Wednesday, bouncing off a five-year low of $24.10 hit Tuesday.
The Bold models will be the first BlackBerrys to include so-called Near-Field Communications chips, so they can be used in place of credit cards by swiping them across properly equipped payment terminals. Many companies, including cellphone carriers like AT&T and Web companies like Google Inc. are promoting the idea of using phones as digital “wallets.”
<한글 요약>
풀 터치스크린 블랙베리 첫 출시
캐나다의 리서치 인 모션(RIM)이 풀 터치 스크린(full touchscreen)의 신형 블랙베리 5종을 수요일 공개했다.
아이폰과 안드로이드 스마트 폰에 맞설 신형 블랙베리 모델로 RIM은 새로운 세 종의 토치(Torch) 모델과 업그레이드 된 두 종의 볼드(Bold) 모델을 출시 했다.
최고급의 신형 볼드 모델 두 종은 전통적인 블랙베리의 디자인을 하고 있지만 터치 스크린을 포함하며 근거리통신 (NFC) 기능을 탑재하여 전자 지갑의 기능이 가능하게 되었다.
RIM은 이달 내 터치 스크린과 함께 슬라이드 아웃 형태로 쿼티 자판을 빼 사용할 수 있는 토치 모델을 출시하고 올해 안에 풀 터치 스크린의 토치 모델 두 종을 출시할 것이라고 했다.
2008년 터치 스크린 도입을 통해 만든 스톰(Storm) 모델이 디자인과 소프트웨어의 수준 미달로 실패한 후 RIM은 발전된 풀 터치 스크린 모델 블랙 베리 토치를 출시 했으며 속도가 향상된 새로운
자사 운영체제 ‘블랙베리 7’을 신형 5종 블랙베리에 탑재했다.
