Stakes are high for new Blackberry Torch

At a press conference in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday, executives from AT&T and Research In Motion, makers of the BlackBerry line of smartphones, introduced the BlackBerry Torch, the company's first phone with both a touch screen and a slide-out keyboard.

"Today, AT&T and R.I.M. are introducing the best BlackBerry device ever," said Ralph de la Vega, president of mobility at AT&T, during the event.

The Torch, which costs $199 with a two-year data plan, will be sold exclusively for AT&T's network beginning Aug. 12. It has a 5-megapixel camera with a flash and runs a new version of R.I.M.'s mobile operating system called BlackBerry 6.

Don Lindsay, the vice president for user experience at R.I.M., highlighted the phone's new software features, which include a redesigned home screen, improved support for multimedia and mobile applications and a better Web browser.

"It's not about bringing something new to BlackBerry but improving what we do best," he said. "We think this will be very powerful for users."

Research In Motion has a lot riding on the release of the Torch. The company has been losing market share and mindshare to Apple and Google as more users clamor for the iPhone and smartphones powered by Android, Google's mobile operating system.

A report released Monday by Nielsen said sales of R.I.M. devices to new subscribers in the United States were slowing, even as Android sales nudged past iPhone sales. The report also said 21 percent of Android owners and 29 percent of BlackBerry users had considered switching to the iPhone.

Another report from the research firm Canalys said that in the second quarter of the year, Android sales were up nearly 900 percent from a year ago, claiming 34 percent of the market in the United States. By comparison, Research In Motion has 32 percent, and Apple has staked out 21.7 percent of the market. A year ago, R.I.M.'s share was at 45 percent.

The company did not discuss the recent news that the United Arab Emirates would shut down mobile services like e-mail and text messaging on BlackBerrys for security reasons.