Tyler Livingston
Copy Editor

With all the constant chatter about the Apple iPhone, it’s easy to forget that BlackBerrys are indeed the most popular phone in North America, consistently outselling the iPhone every year.

The folks at Research in Motion (RIM)—the company that owns the BlackBerry line—have been busy lately, rolling out new devices just a few months apart.  This summer is sure to be packed with new BlackBerry releases on the most popular networks in the United States: AT&T and Verizon.

On Friday, May 22, the new BlackBerry Curve 8900 shipped to AT&T stores nationwide.  The release of this device in particular was important to many long-time BlackBerry users and new customers alike since the Curve model is BlackBerry’s most popular series of smartphone.  The new Curve is now available from AT&T for $199.

The next BlackBerry to be released will be the Tour on the Verizon network.  RIM has not announced an official release date for either of these devices, but it’s fairly certain that the Tour will be available in June or July of 2009.  The BlackBerry Tour will include 3G but not Wi-Fi, and it will have an improved 3.2-megapixel camera over the 2.0-megapixel camera found in the current BlackBerry Bold.

The BlackBerry Onyx is very similar to the Tour: the design is almost identical—the only difference is that the chrome band that lines the device is slightly more prominent on the Tour than it is on the Onyx.  As far as features go, the Onyx will provide the improved 3.2-megapixel camera and 3G as well as Wi-Fi.  Wi-Fi is the only advantage the Onyx has over the Tour.  The BlackBerry Onyx will be available through AT&T.

AT&T will carry the next summer BlackBerry as well, entitled the “Gemini.”  It will most likely not support the 3G network, but it will include a first for any BlackBerry: an optical trackball.  All current BlackBerry smartphones feature a small trackball in the center of the device that the user rotates in order to navigate menus.  BlackBerry’s optical trackball will not be a ball at all, but a flat circle where the trackball used to be and will operate much like the trackpad on a laptop.

There are also rumors that BlackBerry will be announcing two new touch screen devices in the near future: the Storm 2 and the Magnum.  Little is known for sure about the Storm 2—it is unclear whether it will be available on Verizon or AT&T in the US.

The BlackBerry Magnum will be an AT&T device and it seems that it will combine a touch screen with a physical keyboard.  This is a combination BlackBerry has never experimented with, but it’s sure to spark an interest in consumers and business people alike.

With all of these new Berrys being introduced to the market, everyone is bound to find one that they like.  BlackBerry should have no problem remaining the continent’s most popular cell phone brand.