Research In Motion (RIM) will launch its new BlackBerry OS – featuring a touchscreen interface – in the third quarter.
RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said in an analyst call the new platform, BlackBerry 6, would also work with most – but not all - existing devices, according to Engadget.
RIM will also bundle its new WebKit-based browser with the OS, Engadget said.
The new OS is critical for RIM’s efforts to match Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android touchscreen-driven systems.
Lazaridis showed off a video of the operating system at a RIM analysts’ event in Orlando, Florida.
“We’ll do our best” to make sure all devices have the 6.0 operating system in the future and it will be designed to work with current devices as much as possible, Bloomberg reported him saying.
The company aimed to “fix the things that people wanted to see fixed,” he said.
RIM chief operating officer Don Morrison said the company aimed to expand in China this year, and expected the market would account for a bigger share of revenue in 2010 than 2009.
RIM also unveiled new devices – the BlackBerry Pearl 3G and the BlackBerry Bold 9650.
RIM’s Nasdaq stock rose 2.95% after the announcement, but was trimmed 0.54% in after hours trading to close at $72.31 (€54.27).