WSJ yesterday revealed  RIM’s plans to launch a BlackBerry touch –screen smartphone to rival Apples iPhone & iPad.

The new smart phone is said to have a slide-out keyboard, and will let users swipe through screens and expand images with their fingers.

Rim are also testing a tablet device as a larger screen companion to the BlackBerry phone and could be available by the end of the year

For the full story visit WSJ here

Intersting article on the shelf life of apps stores looking at how developers are promoting themselves in an ever crowded market.  Bango are a mobile analytics company that provides the technology that powers commerce for businesses targeting the growing market of internet enabled mobile phone users.

Bango are Silver Sponsors at Mobile Social Media on the 15/16th March at Olympia, London.

(Bango – 03/02/10)

With the intense coverage that mobile applications continue to attract, the content developers are already starting to investigate alternative distribution channels to the App “Stores” themselves. In the rush to follow the now crowded mobile apps market, developers are starting to realise that after all their efforts to build a mobile app, to get noticed and survive they need to look beyond the app store. (more…)