The leaks about Research In Motion’s upcoming BBX smartphones have all had one thing in common: RIM’s famed QWERTY keyboards have been nowhere in sight. Both the BlackBerry Colt and BlackBerry London feature slab designs that will rely on software keyboards. For those not quite ready to give up on those physical keyboards, Engadget reached out to RIM for more information.
The response was that RIM would “maintain choice within its product portfolio” and is “absolutely committed to building more great keyboard-based smartphones.”
The answers do suggest that we will see QWERTY keyboard-packing BBX smartphones but all-touch devices seem to be gathering more of RIM’s attention these days. With the leaks so far poiting to all-touch devices, I suspect that RIM could lead off with one or more such devices and only later follow up with physical keyboard devices.