The new phones had been expected earlier this year, but were delayed. Though the company is profitable and seeing growing sales, it is increasingly seen as a has-been that missed the chance to parlay the BlackBerry's popularity as a corporate e-mail device into mass-market dominance.
The Canadian company, which is based in Waterloo, Ontario, is updating its high-end Bold models to include touchscreens. It's also launching two Torch models with big screens but no physical keyboards, mimicking the basic design of the iPhone.
RIM launched a keyboard-less touchscreen phone called the Storm in 2008, more than a year after the first iPhone, but the Storm's quirky design and poor software made it a flop.
"The all-touchscreen Torch has been a while coming as a natural successor to the disappointing Storm, particularly when the smartphone market has gone touchscreen mad over the past 18 months," said Malik Saadi, an analyst at Informa.
The phones run a new version of the BlackBerry operating system, which RIM said is much faster, particularly for web browsing.
The Bold models will be the first BlackBerrys to include so-called Near-Field Communications chips, so they can be used in place of credit cards by swiping them across properly equipped payment terminals.
Many companies, including cellphone carriers like AT&T and web companies like Google Inc are promoting the idea of using phones as digital "wallets."
