Touchscreen BlackBerry to Take On iPhone?

Touchscreen BlackBerry Patent

A Research in Motion (RIM) patent application points to the possibility of a touchscreen BlackBerry in the near future.

Because the patent application was published only four months after it was filed, as opposed to the typical 18-month waiting period, it’s possible that the production of a touchscreen BlackBerry could be right on the horizon.

The first line of the patent’s abstract reads:

A touchscreen liquid crystal display, method for using a liquid crystal display as a user input, and a mobile electronic device are provided.

Could it be a fake?

A commenter on ZDNet suggests that RIM could just be “spin doctoring” in an attempt to throw off its competitor, Apple.

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5 Days Into iPhone: Is the Keyboard Hard to Use?

iPhone Typing

In his iPhone review, the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg said the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard was frustrating to use in the first three days, but super efficient by the fifth day of practice.

Well, today marks my fifth day owning an iPhone. So is the iPhone’s keyboard really as easy to use as that of a BlackBerry or Palm Treo, as Mossberg claims?

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BlackBerry Software for the iPhone

Blackberry iPhone Software

iPhone critics can now quit comparing the iPhone to RIM’s BlackBerry and instead urge for this easy solution proposed by Gadgetell today: Blackberry software for the iPhone.

The iPhone skin someone made for the BlackBerry generated a lot of interest — albeit prompting a cease & desist from Apple. And RIM will soon unveil software that will turn Windows Mobile 6 smart phones into Blackberry clones.

All this mixing of software among mobile phones, but until now no one I know of had proposed turning the iPhone into a BlackBerry. One problem, of course, is that you won’t have the QWERTY keypad.

What do you think? Would BlackBerry software on the iPhone make it useful for business types?

Update: Forgot to add that the iPhone would need to accommodate third party applications for this idea to work.

Will the iPhone Take Down BlackBerry?

Jeff Matthews surveyed his readers (customers of Verizon, Cingular, T-Mobile, Sprint and Alltell – in that order) to find out whether the iPhone is truly a threat to the BlackBerry.

Among the 8 questions he asked:

  • Which iPhone feature do you like the best? Which feature bothers you most?
  • Would you switch your email to the iPhone and get rid of your current device?
  • Do you need a new iPod? Would you replace it with an iPhone?

It’s an interesting post. Check it out if you have some time.

Another iPhone Skin… This Time for BlackBerry

BlackBerry iPhone Skin

Apparently, some people don’t take threats from Apple’s legal team too seriously, because another iPhone skin has just been released, this time for the BlackBerry.

Click on the image to the left to get a larger view. The BlackBerry iPhone skin can be downloaded for free at BlackBerry Theme Central.

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