It's no insult to suggest that RIM's unveiling of its new handset the BlackBerry Torch 9800 (pictured) in New York earlier today was a routine rather than flashy experience.
Indeed, its clarity made the firm's goals explicit: to hold on to its existing market, but dangle enough carrots on sticks to tempt away some iPhone users.
As a result, the Torch, which is set to launch for $199 on AT&T in the US on August 12th and run BlackBerry 6 OS, is undoubtedly RIM's most pointed attempt to take on Apple.
The 'touch qwerty slider' device, as it's billed by the company itself, will come with a 5MP camera (with built in zoom and face recognition), a 3.2 inch 480x360 screen, Bluetooth 2.1, 512MB of Flash memory, 4GB of onboard memory, and a microSDHC memory card slot that can hold up to 32GB.
Together, forever
"This is one of the most significant launches in RIMs history and we are proud to introduce the new BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6 together with AT&T," RIM president and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said at the event.
"With a new user interface, new browser and new handset design, the highly anticipated BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry 6 deliver integrated and uncompromising capabilities for consumers and business professionals that preserve the industry-leading strengths of the BlackBerry platform while adding exciting new dimensions."
Indeed, much of the conference focused on the wider launch of BlackBerry 6, with RIM essentially repeating much of what is already known about the OS.
Instead, the company decided to cast some light on the motivation behind the platform, with BlackBerry 6 having been designed with key targets in mind: being fresh but familiar, approachable, and powerful and flexible to name but a few.
Have I seen you before?
Strongest of all such goals appears to be familiarity, however.
While there are new features aplenty carrier billing will now be available on BlackBerry App World, while linking photos with social networks and bypassing PC syncing to enable users to subscribe to podcasts, for instance, is a focus - RIM seems more concerned that existing BlackBerry users feel safe upgrading to the OS.
Pushed forward more than any other was the platform's geo-location setup, which automatically tags any pictures you take with their location, and its new 'universal search' feature.
As such, any search term a user enters brings up a catalogue of icons relating to wherever said word appears, from bookmarks and emails to music tracks and podcasts.
Powerful partners
Perhaps more important than any of this, however, is RIM's strategic partnership with AT&T.
Executives were on hand to state that the carrier repeatedly billed as a long-time backer of BlackBerry is fully on board for the launch of the Torch and ready to put serious marketing might behind it.
"We were the first to launch the BlackBerry solution in 1999 and have a rich history of innovation and collaboration with Research In Motion," said AT&T's president and CEO of mobility and consumer markets, Ralph de la Vega.
"The two companies that brought the first BlackBerry smartphones to market have teamed up again with the new BlackBerry Torch, creating a true generational shift in hardware and operating system for this enormously popular service."
As such, the two parties are preparing to roll out TV ads complete with the tagline 'less like an evolutionary leap, more like a triple axel' later this week, with print promos set to push the device as the crucial Christmas run-in looms large.
