BlackBerry gets personal

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The maker of the BlackBerry, a popular phone for business users, Thursday announced a new multimedia phone aimed at the consumer market.

The new BlackBerry Curve includes the e-mail and calling capabilities of Research In Motion's (Charts) other products, but adds a 2.0 megapixel camera with zoom and software to manage multimedia files.

The new BlackBerry Curve

The phone is the smallest and lightest BlackBerry with a full keyboard.

It will also allow visitors to view photos and video, as well as listen to music. RIM includes new software from Roxio to help organize content on the phone.

The introduction of the Curve comes on the heels of the successful launch of the BlackBerry Pearl, which introduced a navigation ball in the center of the phone.

The Curve comes in a silver finish, and is about 4 inches by 2.5 inches.

Cell phone manufacturers are scrambling to come up with models that can be competitive with Apple's (Charts, Fortune 500) forthcoming iPhone, which is expected to be released in June 2007.

Shares of RIMM are up 4.0 percent so far this year, while Nokia (Charts) has risen 26 percent and Motorola (Charts, Fortune 500) has fallen 15 percent.