Live: The Best BlackBerry Ever… Launch Post – BlackBerry Torch 9800

AT&T CEO just got on stage to announce what he calls the Best BlackBerry Ever. The BlackBerry Torch 9800.

Ralph de la Vega is going on and on about how AT&T and RIM are amazing and “Innovative”

De La Vega is saying that the 9800 will be exclusive to AT&T

Mike Lazaridis just got on stage to tout the features of the Torch

RIM called it the Torch because of the WebKit browser which came from Torch mobile which was acquired a year ago

Mike moves on to talk about BlackBerry 6 which is also launching

Just noticed RIM’s new tagline for the Torch “Act on Inspiration”

It looks like Mike just said that BlackBerry 6 will be able to sync music and media wirelessly over Wi-Fi

Don Lindsay VP of BlackBerry User Experience just took the stage

RIM is focusing on making the BlackBerry experience amazing for everyone even new BlackBerry users.
Set of principles:

• Fresh but familiar
• Make it approachable – easy to learn (Touchscreen)
• Powerful and flexible – (Preserving what BlackBerry is known for like cross app integration)

3 new feature areas where they have taken these 3 principles and applied them:
Homescreen
– Redesigned yet it looks like a BlackBerry
– New notification previews which lets you tap on the notification bar and see what is going on and what the subject line is giving you a quick glance.
– New content and bookmarks on the homescreen with additional views just by swiping showing frequent apps or favorites
Universal Search
– you just slide open the device and type to search
– as you type results are returned instantly
– It will even show up emails and calendar events under an icon for each
– It also lets you broaden the search to look for Google, App World, & more
– 3rd parties are starting to plug into the universal search which they will be showing soon. Searching Slacker, YouTube, Podcasts….
Media
– Trying to make the “Already Strong” media experience on the BlackBerry even better
– Totally manage pictures from your device
– Two finger tap! RIM has added right click capability.
– Pictures can be titled by the city you are currently in!
– Podcast app coming from RIM
– Wireless Media Sync – Music syncs over Wi-Fi
Unified Social Feeds
– Built in RSS feed Reader which is cool
– Seamless combination between social apps like Facebook and RSS
– No real sense that other applications are running like Facebook and other apps – Not sure if that is a feature

Holy crap I just spotted a “New Post” button in RIM’s RSS reader. Does that mean RIM will let you post to your Blog from your BlackBerry?

David Yach Chief Technology Officer at RIM just took the stage – Hyping why BlackBerry 6 is huge for developers and users

BlackBerry 6 from the perspective of developers and users:
– RIM made it easier to discover apps and themes with App World which leads to increased app demand
– Universal Search plugs into App World
– Carrier billing coming with BlackBerry Torch on AT&T
– BlackBerry Payment Service coming up which lets developers take payments which allows try and buy and subscriptions
– The Advertising Service API allows devs to put ads in their applications and access to multiple ad networks and analytics
– WebKit browser will allow devs to create apps on top of the browser using HTML5 and CSS letting devs create apps quickly and at a low cost
– These apps on not limited like regular websites since they can run in the background and access device information
– New User Interface elements in BlackBerry 6
– Cascading menus allows for submenus and new graphical menus
– Previous BlackBerry apps will continue working on BlackBerry 6
– RIM will be pushing icons on the favorites screen that will be selected by AT&T. Think Spam Icons…

RIM is plugging a few apps that work just fine on current BlackBerrys like Slacker, PrimeTime2Go, MobiTV, and others that have monthly subscription fees billed to you by AT&T. Awesome right?
Looks like Slacker is already working with Universal Search

David Christopher Chief Marketing Officer for AT&T just took the stage
You have to love how AT&T and RIM are talking about how they collaborate so well
AT&T developer program will be integrated for BlackBerrys.
They will be doing a joint webcast with RIM to help developers build for BlackBerry 6 – AT&T will also be at DevCon
AT&T is dedicated to a huge advertising campaign for the BlackBerry Torch 9800.

They are now showing their first TV soot
Gotta love their tag line. Less an evolutionary leap more of a triple axel.

The BlackBerry Torch goes on sale on August 12th for $199.99 after a 2 year contract