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Blackberry and Apple - rumour suggests a "consumer mail phone" joint venture

RIM is a Canadian corporation, and so the rumour that Apple was teaming up to produce a consumer version of the Blackberry probably started there, with a report from Canada's branch of Reuters.

The original report quoted a Canadian consultant, Peter Misek, who works for Cannacord Adams, who picked up on a memo from RBC analyst Mike Abramsky.

Abramsky told his clients yesterday that "The launch of several new handsets later this year and in early 2007, including a yet unannounced, thin powerful QWERTY multimedia handset, are anticipated to drive revenues and shipments above consensus expectations."

That helped the shares.

The machine even has a name: "Blackberry Pearl" (first leaked by MobileMag)  who ran the story with Engadget's picture (above). But it seems that the idea that it might be an Apple joint venture, comes from Misek.

Several reports have exposed the new range of Blackberries, notably the Boy Genius section of Engadget which has video footage. No mention of an Apple core to the new phone, however.

There's also some confusion about the keyboard, with some reports saying that the Pearl is the 8100 and has a QWERTY text entry, while others say it's a standard looking phone with a phone dial keypad.