Curve 9360, sporting the QWERTY keyboard for which BlackBerry phones are well-known, runs on BlackBerry 7 operating software. It has a 2.4 inch screen with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels. However, unlike Bold 9900, the phone's screen doesn't support touch input.
The company hopes that the revamped OS, which features a faster browser and better graphics, will help it take on iPhone and Android devices. RIM said that the new Curve will be available in the market at a price of Rs 19,990.
Curve 9360 comes with an optical trackpad, a 5MP camera and support for up to 32GB micro SD card. The phone also supports NFC (near field communication) technology though currently there is lack of accessories and services that can make use of it.
"Curve series has been extremely popular in India and we are excited to launch Curve 9360. It features a new design along with a performance upgrade and better mobile social experience. It provides an ideal upgrade path for our existing Curve customers as well as the millions of feature phone users in the Indian market," said Frenny Bawa managing director for India at RIM.
According to a study done by Voice&Data few months ago, RIM had a market share of 5.9% in FY 2010-11 after registering over 60% annual growth in revenue in India compared to FY 2009-10. But this year the company has faced strong competition from full touchscreen Android phones that offer better multimedia and web browsing at a cheaper price.
Samsung, the top seller of Google's Android phones, has adopted a multiplatform strategy, rolling out smartphones also running on Microsoft's software and its own proprietary "bada" software.
Samsung said in a statement that its Omnia W, which runs the latest release of Windows Phone, code-named Mango, features a 3.7-inch AM-OLED display and a 1.4 GHz processor. It will be gradually rolled to globally including Europe, CIS, Latin America, Africa, South East and South West Asia.
A Samsung spokeswoman said the date for a US rollout has not been decided yet.
Microsoft launched an update of its Windows phone software in May, hoping a host of new features will help it close the gap on smartphone leaders Google Inc and Apple Inc
Meanwhile, Samsung said on Sunday that sales of its Android smartphone Galaxy S 2 had topped 10 million units in five months, making it the company's fastest-selling phone.
Samsung also unveiled two LTE versions of its Galaxy S 2 smartphones in South Korea on Monday, seeking to keep alive its smartphone momentum and to step up challenge against Apple's iPhone.
Smartphone sales are one of few bright spots in the businesses of Samsung, which also leads global sales of memory chips, flat-panel screens and TVs.
Solid smartphone sales are expected to lead to higher-than-expected earnings for Samsung during the July to September period, analysts said.
