CrackTablet
In a story reporting on the product roadmap of Canadian smartphone maker Research In Motion (RIM), the WSJ cites people familiar with RIM's plans as confirming that it's in the early stages of developing a tablet device.
The tablet would connect to mobile phone networks via a BlackBerry phone, rather than having a wireless modem of its own, and could make an appearance by the end of the year. There were no further details of the device revealed, but we would expect it to be running the BlackBerry OS.
The story also talks about RIM testing a new slide-out QWERTY smartphone running a new operating system, but we assume these are the BlackBerry 9800, images of which have already been extensively leaked, and OS 6, on which RIM itself produced the teaser below.
Both these developments clearly have the threat to BlackBerry's business from Apple, and the growing threat from Android, in mind. RIM currently has a surprisingly large share of the smartphone market, but momentum is against it. Meanwhile, recent studies confirm that the market for mobile broadband is in an exponential phase.
