[Skeevecr]

That would be bad news, but I don't buy it. They were announcing the Playbook way before it was released - why treat the new phones any differently? (In related news, I saw a Playbook in person today - WANT!)

They announced the playbook much earlier because they needed to try and drum up 3rd party developer support for a new platform, any new phones that get announced at BBW will be much closer to their release date and would have presumably had to be in the carrier labs for approval testing by then.

[Skeevecr]

Instead of them focusing on the market where they are losing share daily, they spent all that time on the playbook, still losing market share and will have modest sales at best for the playbook. I would think that if your smartphone share is shrinking you would be working or reinventing that and not focusing on a niche market.

The new phones due this year have a drastic improvement in hardware specs that at least puts them into the mainstream part of the highend market, albeit still behind the cutting edge where things like battery life are optional so they are clearly aware of what they need to do in their more established markets, however given that they bought qnx with an entire new team of developers that they did not lose any focus on the handsets since those would have been developed by their existing people.

[Skeevecr]

I still think RIM will at least announce both Bold Touch and Touch at BBW..maybe they'll highlight the fact the Bold Touch will be their flagship device and show off the Touch as the "Future" of things to come.

I could see them maybe missing the Torch 2 off this show if at&t have it as an exclusive to start with and want to launch it at a separate event like they did with the first one, but it does seem very unlikely that they would only announce one model when they are all coming out at a similar time.

I think we will definitely see the Touch and Bold Touch announced, possibly Torch 2 depending on at&t and perhaps the apollo/sedona curve too with any other curves being too vague and unconfirmed at this point to expect to hear anything about them.

[The_Engine]

The right way to do the key note at bwc is start off in what RIM has delivered. Playbook sales (if good) and the general state of things. Then spend a lot of time on 6.1 and what it brings. Then show off the hardware to run it. I think they should cover the Bold Touch, Touch, and Curve. Maybe torch as well. Its a tried and true way to do it. But they have give bloggers some solid hands on time. And they should have solid release info.

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[dceaton]

It seems that folks are getting concerned over an internet rumor that has not been confirmed or denied by RIM. I'm personally going to wait and see what RIM decides to do at BWC, then critique or praise their decision at that point. In any case, I'm very excited for the Bold Touch.

[enb123]

They announced the playbook much earlier because they needed to try and drum up 3rd party developer support for a new platform, any new phones that get announced at BBW will be much closer to their release date and would have presumably had to be in the carrier labs for approval testing by then.

Good point. I hope they're encouraging a lot of development for 6.1 as well. The leaked ad for the Touch was pretty suggestive of the phone's gaming abilities, and I'd love to see a lot of apps take advantage of that.

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[experiment 626]

I still think RIM will at least announce both Bold Touch and Touch at BBW..maybe they'll highlight the fact the Bold Touch will be their flagship device and show off the Touch as the "Future" of things to come.

+2. This sounds the most likely to me.Of all the upcoming devices shown for this year the Bold Touch is the one that seems ready to go to market now.

[Skeevecr]

Good point. I hope they're encouraging a lot of development for 6.1 as well. The leaked ad for the Touch was pretty suggestive of the phone's gaming abilities, and I'd love to see a lot of apps take advantage of that.

While I am sure they want to encourage development for these new phones, there are existing apps available so they wouldn't be starting from zero like the playbook, not to mention the obvious point that carrier acceptance testing will mean they have less control over release dates than they did with the playbook as well.

[Skeevecr]

+2. This sounds the most likely to me.Of all the upcoming devices shown for this year the Bold Touch is the one that seems ready to go to market now.

You'd hope that there was very little difference between the three main devices beyond maybe some slight differences in radio performance given how much they have in common with each other when it comes to components and software.

[xanadome]

"Assuming" that BGR is right, and RIM has whatever reason that they are only capable of putting one new model in the market at this time, then why were they showing off those plausible "leaks" of various models? Granted they were all mockups and protos and those promos must have been easy to make even by using the currently available chips and proto OS6.1 etc, I have a feeling that RIM was just exploring the market preference to determine which model they should be concentrating on. Were we used as RIM's polling samples? Hope not.

[zensen]

with a lot of their phones leaked already, doesn't leave much for imagination - maybe a way to throw people off guard. Throwing this one out there, would be nice if that was read wrong and that they are showcasing more phones but one in particular has yet to been leaked

ironic thing is.. people are annoyed when RIM have plans of only showing one phone at this event but when Apple shows up everyone is expecting just one phone from them :P

[Skeevecr]

I think people would be annoyed due to the leaks that have already confirmed the existence of all these new devices and for them to only introduce one new device officially would tend to imply problems with some of the others except for maybe the torch 2 where at&t might want that one introduced on its own, although even that seems slightly unlikely since it would still be a global product and at&t would be more interested in doing something closer to the definite launch date.

I expect we will see bold touch, touch and torch 2 announced, maybe the apollo/sedona as well if those devices aren't intended to be released slightly later since their leaks have been later and generally less extensive so far.

[Snipperdo17]

with a lot of their phones leaked already, doesn't leave much for imagination - maybe a way to throw people off guard. Throwing this one out there, would be nice if that was read wrong and that they are showcasing more phones but one in particular has yet to been leaked

ironic thing is.. people are annoyed when RIM have plans of only showing one phone at this event but when Apple shows up everyone is expecting just one phone from them :P

what phone hasn't been leaked? they all have leaked in some sort

[michael.molloy1985]

I thinks it smart. Real BB loyalists will understand.

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[gord888]

it is possible that rim is delaying the monaco release with os6.1 so they can focus on putting qnx in it sooner in their timeline. Doing so would explain why they would only announce the bold touch.

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[BoldtotheMax]

I don't care so as long as the Bold Touch is announced!

[mustangv8]

Pissed if we don't get any news on the monaco.

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[ZMc1834]

I am not going to pay much attention to this rumor, but I will say that if it turns out to be true, then it will be the last strike for me with RIM. Waited for something other than the Playbook to be announced at every tech show/conference this year, and if they don't give anything but 1 device at their own show, then my faith in RIM will be completely lost. But as I said, I'm not going to believe it until it actually happens.