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Some of us thought that RIM was going to make it interesting with the Blackberry 9000. Earlier reports seemed to indicate that RIM recognized the "It" factor of the iPhone, and was adopting some new jazz into their upcoming handset.

aaannd…not so much.

Pictures released of the Blackberry 9000 are surprising.

MacDailyNews reports… "RIM clearly seems to have tried to copy Apple’s iPhone exterior look, but beyond that derivative bit of attempted tomfoolery, the anachronistic physical buttons remain, taking up space whether or not they’re in use. Also remaining is the small screen, mashed into the upper half of the device in order to make room for those tiny, slippery-looking plastic buttons festooned all over the bottom half of the device."

I could go into analyzing the new RIM device further, but why bother? We thought they had the nerve to drop the physical keyboard, at least on the face of one device, but it doesn’t look that way. I understand their reluctance to drop the keyboard, but the same old smaller screen with big clunky monochrome buttons on it isnt going to help them while Apple brings user savvy to the corporate market.

And about those keyboards?… based on a February survey of iPhone owners that found 72% “very satisfied” (versus 55% for RIM), Apple’s gamble seems to have paid off. It’s a great "virtual" keyboard, and just gets better.

I’ve said, a few times, that I thought RIM, more so than Microsoft or Palm, would apply what they’ve all been talking about… user "experience"… and step out a bit. We’re still not seeing it. I don’t expect any of them to be able to emulate the "It" of the iPhone… I just expected RIM to be more interesting this year while trying.