RIM’s newest consumer gadget, the ‘Curve,’ headed for AT&T

Research In Motion Ltd. is following up its pursuit of the consumer market with a device dubbed the “Curve,” which will sell exclusively at AT&T Mobility “later this spring,” according to the carrier. No pricing or more precise release date is available.
Vagueness, however, did not stop news outlets from trumpeting the news, as RIM’s device releases have fueled the company’s robust financials and reflect the vendor’s push beyond its enterprise/government customer base into consumer markets worldwide. The device, according to RIM, is the smallest and lightest BlackBerry on the market and includes a QWERTY keyboard as well as AT&T-specific features.
The Curve follows up on RIM’s first effort into the consumer market, the Pearl.
Interestingly, RIM’s announcement comes as many vendors gird for the anticipated arrival of Apple Inc.’s iPhone at AT&T, set for next month.
The new RIM device-the name appears to refer to a slight backward arc described by its two-tone casing and, perhaps, its well-rounded look-is quad-band and works over GSM, GPRS and EDGE networks. According to AT&T, that gives the device the largest BlackBerry domestic and international coverage area of any U.S. carrier-more than 13,000 cities and towns in the United States and 125 countries abroad.
The device will offer speaker-independent voice recognition for dialing, a media player and manager, as well as an HTML browser, trackball navigation, a 2-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth capabilities and a microSD card for expandable storage.
According to financial analyst Maynard Um at UBS, the Curve fills out RIM’s portfolio, which offers users a variety of form factors and functionalities.