New BlackBerry phones to ditch keyboard

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TORONTO, June 21 (UPI) -- Canada's Research in Motion says the first phones running its newest BlackBerry 10 operating system will not have RIM's iconic physical keyboard.

The first BlackBerry 10 phones will feature touch screens with virtual keyboards only, the company said.

RIM said there would be handsets with physical keyboards following the first models but did not disclose when those might appear, ZDNet.com reported Thursday.

The decision to forgo physical keyboards is seen as a considerable risk for RIM, as corporate users have long been supporters of the highly regarded physical keyboards seen on most RIM handsets to date.

Rim has offered BlackBerrys with virtual keyboards in the past that haven't sold well, but the company is obviously counting on BlackBerry 10, intended to offer the multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience users now expect, to convince customers to go with a touchscreen keyboard, ZDNet.com said.