Upcoming Blackberry Slider to look like Palm Pre [rumor]

Alejandro Salomon, a/k/a Salomondrin, is reporting that the upcoming Blackberry slider phone will be a portrait slider, similar to the Palm Pre, not a landscape slider like the Droid. This is contrary to earlier rumors that the device would be a landscape slider that were primarily based on the following RIM patent photo:

This is a wise decision by RIM because the physical keyboard is one of Blackberry’s strengths, included on all models except the Storms. A Droid-like slide out keyboard would have been difficult to use and many Droid users report that they rarely use the landscape slideout keyboard. Notably, almost all upcoming Android phones, including Google’s own Nexus One, will not have physical keyboards. However, HTC, the manufacturer of the Nexus One, has a few Android phones in development that feature Blackberry-like keyboards, which are expected to be released within the next six months.

Salomondrin’s rumor suggests that Palm will further slip into oblivion. Palm’s market positioning is weakened by a Palm Pre-like Blackberry. The Palm Pre is being reworked for Verizon and will feature Wifi, among other improvements. However, it is unclear if Verizon will heavily market the new Palm Pre or continue to place its bets almost entirely on the Droid (which is backed by a >$100 million advertising campaign).

The upcoming Blackberry slider is reported to have the codenames “Blackhawk” and “Mr. T.” As relayed before, Shaw Wu, a Kaufman Bros. analyst, reports that the Blackberry slider is far along in development based on his contacts in RIM’s supply chain.

Salomondrin has a solid track record for leaking reliable information about upcoming Blackberries and frequently displays pre-release devices on his website at Salomondrin.Net. No pictures of the upcoming Blackberry slider are available at this time.

[via Salomondrin on Twitter]

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