RIM Preps BlackBerry Tablet, New Smartphones to Rival Apple

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company is in early stage development of a new tablet computer, according to people familiar with the matter. That device, which will serve as a big-screen companion to its BlackBerry siblings, will be able to connect to wireless networks through its smartphones. The product could be launched as soon as the end of the year, these people said.

RIM is also readying a new touch-screen phone with a keyboard that slides out from the bottom. It will run a new mobile operating system, dubbed BlackBerry OS 6.0, and work much like an iPhone -- with swipe and finger controls.

Users will be able to add widgets, or icons for the apps they use most frequently, on the home screen, and swipe sideways to access separate screens, people familiar with new phone and software said. One display could have a collection of work apps, while another could have games.

It will also have a universal search bar that allows users to look up everything on the device -- from contacts and calendar data to songs -- and also search for keyword on sites like Facebook or Twitter, these people said. The smartphone will also come with a 5.0-megapixel camera and four gigabytes of memory.

Company executives plan to release a phone running the new BlackBerry operating system by the fall, but it hasn't offered any details on the device.

The new details surface as RIM faces increasingly stiff competition from devices built by Apple and products running Google's Android software. On June 24, Apple will launch its latest version smartphone, the iPhone 4.

RIM, which pioneered business-centric devices, hopes the new smartphone and operating system will turn around its sinking share in the U.S. market -- which dropped to 38 percent in the first quarter from 54 percent a year ago. By comparison, Apple's share rose from 18 percent to 23 percent in that same period.

The BlackBerry maker, which is still the second-largest smartphone maker by volume, behind Nokia, has been slow to match Apple and Google's touch-screen displays, robust Web-browser technology and online app store software. It only has one touch-screen smartphone line -- the BlackBerry Storm -- which users complain is clunky and hard to use compared to the iPhone. It also has a measly 7,000 programs, far behind Apple's 225,000 apps.

Still, RIM is aiming to address the critics and regain lost market share. After acquiring Torch Mobile, maker of the Iris browser for Windows Mobile, last year, the company has been developing a faster mobile browser and rendering engine that lets people access more than one page at a time, people familiar with the software said.

After Apple sold more than two million iPads in under two months, companies have been scrabling to develop their own tablets, including PC makers Hewlett-Packard and Dell, and Google and Verizon.