THE LATEST BLACKBERRY BLADE

A Toronto design agency has come up with a prototype concept for a new Research In Motion Ltd. smarphone that is creating a buzz in the blogosphere.

Pixelcarve Inc. has developed a mockup of a potential BlackBerry 10 device it calls the “BlackBerry Blade.” A web image displays a sleek and futuristic, slightly curved design that features familiar BlackBerry branding and a touch screen that slides away to make way for a QWERTY keyboard.

The concept includes a 4.5 inch display, quad-core 1.5GHz processor, damage resistance glass and a high pixel density rear mounted camera.

BlackBerry enthusiast blog site CrackBerry.com calls the design “hot,” but says it may be too good to be true. Speculation is building that the first BlackBerry phone operating on the QNX operating system will be dubbed the London and could hit stores in September.

That’s around the same time the new Apple Inc. iPhone is to debut, although conflicting reports have surfaced as to the new handset’s release date.

Pictures of the London and Blade prototypes were making the digital rounds as RIM said Friday that app developers will get a first taste of the long-awaited BlackBerry 10 phones and OS in May.

A RIM spokesman said developers will receive a prototype device called the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha to be used as an apps testing platform at is BlackBerry 10 Jam developer’s conference in Orlando starting May 1.

RIM social media manager Alex Kinsella said attendees will receive the limited edition device running “a modified version of the PlayBook OS which will help developers design their apps for the BlackBerry 10 smartphone form factor.” The hardware and OS are not the final products, he stressed.

“It’s a device to help developers get started with designing for what’s coming. The purpose . . . is to give developer attendees a testing device to create excitement as they start to develop BlackBerry 10 applications alongside us.”

He said the prototype “shows the path to the BlackBerry 10 OS, which has been customized to a phone. This device will allow developers to test the applications they are building with our BlackBerry 10 toolsets.”

RIM has delayed launch of its new family of BB 10 phones using the new operating system until late 2012, saying it is awaiting delivery of a processing chip that can assure extended battery life.

The company, which has lost consumer and business customer market share in North America to Apple devices and smartphones running Google Inc.’s open-source Android software, is banking on the new BB 10 offerings to help revive its brand..