RIM: the trackpad is here to stay

If you thought that RIM were going to eschew the use of trackpad in their future phones, fear not – the trackpad is not going anywhere; at least not for awhile. In a recent interview that RIM’s VP Carlo Chiarello gave TechRadar, he mentioned that the trackpad will still be a core part of BlackBerry phones – at least for those phones that still pack a QWERTY keyboard.

“We tested a bunch of designs that got rid of the trackpad… and it wasn’t the same…If you’re coming from a keyboard environment on a BlackBerry, it’s almost a little bit of a safety net for you.”

As evident in their latest BlackBerry Bold phone the 9900/9930, even though it has a touchscreen, it still has the trusty ol’ trackpad that BlackBerry devices are known for. He mentioned that people like having it around, after being used to the functionality of having one from the old and current BlackBerry phones. While the trackpad isn’t present on devices like the BlackBerry PlayBook, you can expect to find it in their future phones.

(Via Ubergizmo)