Sound off: What analysts are saying about BlackBerry 6

It's a nice leap forward for RIM and certainly for BlackBerry users. It's probably the BlackBerry you'll want, but a lot of the stuff they showed is table stakes at this point. I feel like they need to come up with compelling things we haven't seen elsewhere. ... The question is: Is there enough here to pull consumers away form other devices and grow share beyond consumers who might be upgrading to the newest BlackBerry of the week? ... This is a device that's competing in a world of Incredibles, Evos, iPhones,  the Galaxy S--devices that have really pushed the envelope in terms of hardware and software--and it feels like RIM is getting the table stakes up on the table. They did what they needed to do. They satisfied their core audience. But it's not clear to me that they're going to win a lot of consumer converts." --Michael Gartenberg, partner with Altimeter Group

They finally are bringing a true touch-based phone to the market, and at least it will be competitive on that front. However, the key to smartphone growth is the ecosystem it is tied to. The ability to create apps and tying them to rich, cloud-based products and services is key to growth. This is a nice step in this direction, but OS 6 is still not a rich enough OS to compete with iOS and Android. While sleek designs are important, it is the ecosystem tied to these smartphones that really make them powerful." --Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies

I think RIM has always had kind of difficult circumstances. They have a tightrope they have to walk between the users they're trying to attract and their existing enterprise subscriber base. They've done a pretty good job of making sure there some continuity between this OS and the old OS. Everything is refreshed, everything is enhanced, but there is pretty good continuity... They're in a more difficult situation in developing these types of devices than most other smartphone makers. It's hard for them. They can't just say, 'We're going to be like Palm, and we're going to scrap Palm OS and create the webOS.' They've got a user base that has their own level of expectations of what BlackBerry is supposed to do." --Kevin Burden, analyst at ABI Research

There's a school of thought that RIM needed to hit a home run with both OS 6 and whatever the initial device was. I don't necessarily subscribe to that school of thought, and people that do will be disappointed. I think the 9800 does what it needs to do--not more and not less. And basically what it needed to do was fire the imagination of RIM's installed base, staunch churn off of BlackBerry and potentially attract subscribers who would choose a comparably specified Android device. As for OS 6, my initial view is that it brings RIM generally in line with competitive products in terms of functionality and the quality of the user experience. ... But I don't think anybody had their socks knocked off by this today." --John Jackson, analyst at CCS Insight

It gets RIM back in the game. ... Probably one of the better pieces of news is RIM's embrace or extension of HML5 as a way to develop native BlackBerry programs, because the company has significant ground to make up in the app race. So [they're] taking a page from Palm's book [and] embracing Web development standards in order to create local applications. We really didn't see the kind of focus on media that has characterized a number of high-profile handset intros that have larger screens, like the Evo or Droid X. We heard no mention of HDMI. There continues to be a premium on efficiency and getting things done, and just really extending the RIM legacy of secure, reliable, lightweight operating systems for handsets that offer good battery life. ...This could help stem the tide of BlackBerry users that have been considering jumping ship to iPhone or Android devices. But likely won't do much to attract users of those platforms. --Ross Rubin, analyst at the NPD Group

RIM has 50 million active users, many of whom are fanatically devoted to the brand. The Torch and OS 6 should make this group very, very happy. It should also help RIM's margins, as there is finally a reason to buy from the high end of the line rather than the middle. There are three pain points RIM needed to address: Web browsing, user experience and apps. RIM has fully caught up in Web browsing. The user experience straddles the line between keeping things familiar and providing additional functionality, which, again, ought to thrill current BlackBerry customers, but may not be enough to attract new users. On apps, the jury is still out--RIM has a lot of catching up to do." --Avi Greengart, analyst with Current Analysis