Originally cited to use the Android platform the BlackPad (as it’s becoming known) will likely use the latest version of the Blackberry OS to run the tablet. At the moment everything is still in the rumour stage but it’s amazing how often these thigs become reality!

Of course, any tablet PC will have to compare extremely favourably to the iPad so we’ll just need to wait and see what the outcome of this rumour is, but if RIM can make a Blackberry tablet as appealing as the recent smart phones then we may yet see a BlackPad come to market sometime in 2011…

RIM replaced Motorola in the Top 5 chart and tied with Sony Ericsson for the No. 4 position. RIM shipped 10.6 million phones in the first quarter, while Motorola, which had been a fixture in the top-five ranking since 2004, shipped 8.5 million phones.

Nokia held on to its No. 1 position worldwide, shipping an incredible 107.8 million phones in the first quarter of the year – up 16 percent from the same quarter year before.

The latest Blackberry phones and increase in demand for smartphones and access to email and other online features has helped push the Blackberry maker into the top 5.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mike Lazaridis, Research in Motion (RIM) co-chief, said:

“We have completely redesigned the home screen. You can search from the home screen for information on the device and the internet. We’ve redesigned all the core applications: messages, calendar, contacts — and we have great new multimedia apps and a new application for managing and viewing social networks.”

The new OS is reportedly closer to that of other leading smartphones like the iPhone and Android operating systems. We’re not sure how this will affect existing Blackberry applications but I’m sure the new OS will allow plenty of oppotunities to try new features and new ideas to the apps market.

Initially Blackberry 6 will be available on new handsets and then ported across to existing phones, in the same way that Blackberry 5 was released.

“I would have to say, of all the products and gadgets, that one would be a hard one to put down.”

Of course, Demi and her husband Ashton Kutcher are well known on Twitter for regular posts and being two of the first celebs to fully embrace the micro-blogging service. So, I thought I’d see who else loves their Blackberry – turns out there’s quite a few.

Straight away, there’s Audrina Partridge:

And then Alessandra Ambrosio:

Not to be out done – or accused of just posting attractive women! There’s Jared Leto:

and Kellan Lutz (not sure who this guy is…):

So is the Blackberry becoming the new smart phone of choice? With the increase in sales of applications recently it might be… There’s definitely a trend amongst the model types though with others reportedly using their Blackberrys including: Miranda Kerr, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel and Kim Kardashian.

It’s time to be proud of your Blackberry, show it off, don’t pretend it’s just for work and get socialising with it – there’s plenty of apps to get things moving. Check out my last post if you’re not sure where to start: Free Blackberry applications to social network

We’ve brought together a short list of applications that can turn your Blackberry into a social networking machine.

Facebook

1) Firstly, we have to go to Facebook – it’s the biggest social network site on the planet. And if recent reports are to be believed it’s aiming to get bigger than Google and become an integral part of everybody’s internet experience:

Facebook Blackberry Application

Twitter

2) Next, there’s every marketing person’s favourite micro blogging service: Twitter. If you don’t know what Twitter is yet, then you have some catching up to do! Put simply, it’s a system that allows you to publish short comments and messages (up to 140 characters) about your day, life, interesting links or anything that takes your fancy. It’s one of those things that most people don’t think are useful until they try it for a day and find out what their favourite celebs are up to, get links from business peers and easily swap jokes with friends.

There are a few Twitter applications for the Blackberry and we have 5 featured on the site:

Twitter Blackberry Applications

One of the most popular: TwitterBerry has recently changed it’s name to OpenBeak, but it’s essentially the same application at the moment.

FourSquare

3) The latest big thing in social networking is location tagging and location aware social networks. It’s estimiated that by 2013 these networks will have a revenue of over $3billion. One of the biggest and certainly getting most attention at the moment is FourSquare, with lots of funding and  a significant share of the market this looks like the location network to get involved with at the moment:

FourSquare Blackberry Application

So… what else? These are the three biggest and upcoming social networks around, especially for marketing and business use. But there is one more that is getting more and more inportant in the world of business: LinkedIn.

LinkedIn

4) With LinkedIn you can set up a business profile for yourself and meet like minded business people, create contact lists and join groups to help you market your business or even find a job with some of the biggest companies in the world. It’s worth taking a look at what you can get out of LinkedIn, it’s not a social network for fun – it’s all about business!

LinkedIn Blackberry Application

This is by no means a definitive list but with these four applications you can get your social networking campaign off to a great start – and if you just want to talk to your friends and share photos these will work just as well for that too!

The new Pearl still packs a powerful punch with 3G connectivity so users get all the usual email, internet and application functions normally found in a Blackberry phone.

Mike Lazaridis, president of BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion, said:

“Considering the fast growing consumer interest in smartphones and the fact that more than three-quarters of the people in the global mobile phone market are still buying handsets with a traditional alphanumeric keypad, we think the new BlackBerry Pearl 3G addresses a substantial market opportunity.”

The handset also comes with a built-in 3.2MP camera, GPS, Wi-Fi and support for up to 32GB of personal content storage.

“The BlackBerry Bold 9700 builds on the success of the original BlackBerry Bold with new, state-of-the-art features and a smaller, lighter and highly optimized design that looks, feels and performs great,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO, Research In Motion.

Key features of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone include:

• Sleek design measuring 4.29″ x 2.36″ x 0.56″ (109 mm x 60 mm x 14.1 mm) and weighing only 4.3 oz (122 grams)
• Sharp and dazzling 2.44” light-sensing display (480 x 360 resolution at 245 ppi)
• Highly tactile full-QWERTY keyboard – with finely sculpted keys and chrome frets – for fast, accurate typing
• Innovative touch-sensitive trackpad that allows intuitive and responsive navigation
• Built-in Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) with support for Wi-Fi calling via UMA where available
• 3.2 MP camera with variable zoom, autofocus, flash and video recording
• BlackBerry® OS 5.0, offering users email management and calendar enhancements* as well as a better browsing experience with faster JavaScript and CSS processing
• Built-in GPS for maps and other location-based applications, as well as photo geotagging
• Media player for videos, pictures and music (music play now extended up to 38 hours), plus support for BlackBerry® Desktop Manager for both PCs and Macs, and BlackBerry® Media Sync for easily syncing iTunes® and Windows Media® Player music with the smartphone**
• 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, dedicated volume controls, Lock and Mute keys seamlessly integrated across the top of the handset
• microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 16 GB cards today and is expected to support 32 GB cards when available; a 2GB card is included
• 256 MB of Flash memory
• Access to BlackBerry App World™, featuring a broad and growing catalog of mobile applications developed specifically for BlackBerry. Categories include games, entertainment, IM and social networking, news, weather, productivity and more.
• Premium and easy-to-access phone features, background noise suppression technology and high quality speakerphone
• Bluetooth® (2.1) with support for Secure Simple Pairing, hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits and other Bluetooth peripherals
• Support for BlackBerry® Internet Service and BlackBerry® Enterprise Server
• Available in two versions to support various carrier 3G network frequency combinations:
  • UMTS/HSDPA 2100/1900/850/800 MHz and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM
  • UMTS/HSDPA 2100/1700/900 MHz and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM
• Removable, rechargeable 1500 mAhr battery that provides approximately 6 hours of talk time and 17 days of standby time in 3G mode

RIM says that it has solved the problems that held back the first phone and has upgraded the touch screen which was one of the biggest drawbacks.

Analysts have speculated that it has been harder for other companies to create reliable and intuitive touch screen technologies due to the patents held by Apple for the iTouch/iPhone.

RIM have labelled their technology “SurePress” which requires an actual push rather than a touch to get the phone to respond to certain tasks.  The first version of it was a train crash, so hopefully things will have improved, but then for people like me with fat hands, we’ll wait and see!

There are plenty of other changes which a too numerous to list, but one other key alteration is the keys on the side of the device which have been upgraded, the previous phone’s keys had a tendency to fall off!

I’ll be interested to have a little play around with this phone.  BlackBerry appear to have fallen behind with their devices recently and with competition such as the iPhone and the new Android phones, they need to up their game.  Perhaps they have with this phone?

A recent study by employment law firm Peninsula has found that employees who use BlackBerry phones extend their working week to 55 hours – an extra 15 hours on the national average.

What this report is really showing is the way that modern office hours are becoming increasingly irrelevant as workers send and receive emails and keep on working long after they get home and should be relaxing. Of course, it’s not the BlackBerry that’s to blame, it’s the users who feel they have to work like this to get ahead. And once you’ve started down the line of “always on” communication it’s very hard to stop – even harder to tell your bosses that you don’t want to be contacted at the weekend any more!

Over the next few years there might well be some form of backlash to this lifestyle as people start to reclaim their non-working hours. You can’t work all the time!

RIM is even hoping to offer Microsoft Silverlight support so there are definitely things to look forward to in the world of BlackBerry applications in the future!

From the original Boy Genius report:

You know when the word “planning” is used in the same sentence as RIM, however, that it probably means it’s a while away. And it is. We’ve been told this won’t happen until next summer or right before it as RIM needs their devices to be more beefed up as well as have access to higher data speeds for this to work effectively (HSPA and LTE). RIM has already achieved over 10Mbps downloads on next generation BlackBerrys in the test labs with test LTE equipment so it’s looking good, folks.

Fingers crossed…