This is what the analysts from ABI projects predict, from the current 10% share in the mobile phone industry, smartphones will occupy a hefty 31% in the market.

Smartphones have been a synonym for convergence, and manufacturers use them as their flagship phones in order to show-off their latest innovations in technology. The three top smartphone Operating System suppliers are Symbian, Windows Mobile, and RIM.

ABI Research vice president Stuart Carlaw comments, "Smart operating systems are continually being optimized to run on processors with lower performance. There is a strategic move to support smart OSes in single chip midrange devices in order to unlock more data revenues." Carlaw adds that, "The market is currently dominated by Nokia (52%) and Symbian (65%). However, the coalescence of the framework wars in the Linux environment and the growing stature of Windows Mobile will enable new competitors to put pressure on this established axis."

In the future, we can expect Google Android and Apple Mac OS X for the iPhone to turn the figures in their favour, bringing mobile experiences close to computer replacement.

Picture: 3G.co.uk, Casario
Source: Slashphone

…so they come up with a patent. With the success of these slide up stylish business phones, Blackberry found a market to target, lack of originality I guess.

The patent is quite old, so now I wonder who came up with this concept first, all I remember on these gigantic slides were i-mate KJAM.

Blackberry seems to be wanting to get rid of their small QWERTY keyboards and opt for something bigger and more comfortable for the user to do what the Blackberry does best: email.

Besides the form factor, we can notice the trackball on the top slide, and most obviously what looks like a possible touchscreen. If the phone was to be released, it would need GPS, HSDPA and WiFi in order to join the competition.

Source: Electronista via IntoMobile