RIM announces BlackBerry 7; brings HTML 5, BlackBerry Balance to handsets [Updated]

Included in the company’s barrage of press releases this morning, Research In Motion officially announced BlackBerry 7. The new smartphone operating system — formerly known as BlackBerry 6.1 — brings HTML 5 and a new Just-In-Time (JIT) JavaScript engine to the browser, along with BlackBerry Balance support, enhanced universal search, and a new “Liquid Graphics” theme. BlackBerry 7 will debut on the recently announced BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 — the company did not, however, mention if older hardware would be upgraded to the new code.

UPDATE: RIM has confirmed that BlackBerry devices currently in-market will not be upgraded to BlackBerry 7.

Tags: 6.1, 9900, 9930, balance, BlackBerry, BlackBerry 7, BlackBerry Balance, bold, HTML 5, name, new, Research in Motion, RIM, Software, update