WATERLOO, Canada - A little bit of excitement has been generated among the BlackBerry watchers, as a new version of the Pearl is set for release. It is the 9100, a smaller version of the original Pearl, and narrower than the current 9700 Bold.

We now have a new candybar style BlackBerry to analyze. The design looks sleek and the keyboard is multifunction (SureType), trackpad instead of track ball (we all agree that is an improvement for all the BlackBerry models).

Early word has it that this version will run on the 5.0 operating system, and so should most upcoming units . There is speculation that this version has Wi-Fi and GSM, a good idea, and easily implemented.

More to come as the official release nears.