Blackberry Tour: Business Traveler's Main Phone

With all the media hype and focused interest on both the Palm's Pre and Apple's iPhone 3GS, Research In Motion's Blackberry seems to be taking quite a hit in both popularity and sales. Have the Crackberry addicts gone cold turkey and transferred elsewhere? How will RIM get them back? By adding and marketing new smartphones for those who can't afford both aforementioned mobile phones--and The Tour is just one of them.

This coming Sunday both Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless will be releasing the Blackberry Tour: a mobile phone that has the usual bells and whistles with a big plus on overseas connection. RIM's market target for this phone looks like people who are on the move globally.

The device is likely to appeal mostly to business customers, particularly those who travel, and existing BlackBerry users.

While Sprint Nextel also plans to market the phone to consumers, the carrier plans to target these customers first.

"Clearly there is already a strong base of BlackBerry customers, and many of them are business users," said Tim Donahue, vice president of business marketing for Sprint. "And we want to make sure they have access to the latest and greatest BlackBerry device out there."

Specs:

• Data services: MMS , SMS , WWW , GMail , E-Mail , Google Talk , Yahoo! Messenger , AOL Instant Messenger , Windows Live Messenger
• Modem: Integrated Wireless cellular modem
• Cellular enhancement protocol: GSM , EDGE , GPRS , HSPA , UMTS , CDMA 2000 1X EV-DO Rev. A
• Dimensions (W x D x H): 2.4 in x 0.6 in x 4.4 in
• Weight: 4.6 oz
• Built-in devices: Camera , Digital player
• Flash memory form factor:Integrated
• Flash memory installed: 256 MB
• Input device type: Trackball , QWERTY keyboard
• Band / mode: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband) / CDMA 800/1900 (Dual Band) / UMTS 2100
• Digital audio standards supported: MP3 , MIDI
• Display type: TFT active matrix
• Color support: 16-bit (64K colors)
• Max resolution: 480 x 360
• Battery installed: (max) 1 Lithium ion
• Max supported batteries: 1
• Talk time: 300 min
• Standby time: 336 h
• Power supply device: Power adapter
• Wireless connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0

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