T-Mobile is accepting pre-orders from businesses for Research In Motion's BlackBerry Curve 9360, which T-Mobile says will offer "powerful new BlackBerry features" at a bargain price.
The 9360 runs the latest version of Canada-based RIM's operating system, BlackBerry 7, and has a 2.4 inch screen above a full QWERTY keypad and navigation track-pad. Other features include a 5-megapixel camera with flash, video recorder and Wi-Fi 
connectivity for voice and data . It's preloaded with the latest release of BlackBerry Messenger, which now extends to a range of other apps , such as Foursquare.
Available in black and merlot, the Curve will go on sale next Wednesday, and while the carrier did not announce the price, several published reports placed it at $79 with a two-year contract and a $50 mail-in rebate.
Stiff Competition
The new Curve comes at a time not only when T-Mobile's future is unclear as AT&T tries to salvage its $39 billion acquisition of the carrier from Germany's Deutsche Telekom against the objection of the Justice Department, but as BlackBerry is losing market share to the surging platforms of Apple's iOS and Google's Android .
RIM last week announced revenues for the second fiscal quarter that were below expectations and handset shipments of 10.6 million rather than the 11 million to 12.5 million projected for the quarter ending in August.
Gartner Research said in August that RIM's share of the world smartphone market declined to 11.7 percent in the quarter, from 18.7 percent in the same quarter last year.
RIM faces more stiff competition as the year advances. A Wall Street Journal blog report Wednesday said Apple's much-awaited iPhone 5 will hit the market on Oct. 4, and several top smartphones, such as Samsung's Galaxy S II and Nokia's Sea Ray --the first Windows Phone 7 device from the Finland-based manufacturer -- are also about to hit store shelves.
Consumer devices expert Avi Greengart of Current Analysis believes BlackBerry must think outside the box to win back market share.
"RIM needs to achieve parity with Apple and Google on user interface, needs to give consumers confidence that it will eventually achieve parity with them on apps, and needs to provide a few specific areas where the BlackBerry is markedly superior to the competition," Greengart said.
Big in Indonesia
"Until then, products like the new BlackBerry Curve and Bold 9900 are not enough to convince U.S. consumers to forgo Apple or Android, but they do give BlackBerry users who do not want to leave the platform something worth upgrading to. It is important to note that products like the BlackBerry Curve are selling extremely well in certain markets like the U.K., Indonesia and large parts of Latin America, where BBM is driving sales."
Another analyst, Gerry Purdy of MobileTrax, has more simple advice for RIM about QNX, the operating system it acquired in April 2010 and has been slowly adding to its devices.
"RIM has to migrate to QNX ASAP," Purdy said.
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