It is speculated that RIM is now dedicating most of its development of BlackBerry 6 devices and the operating system for GSM compatibility, which may mean that CDMA BlackBerry 6 smartphones may not arrive until 2011. This would probably be a smart business decision for Canadian Research in Motion as much of the world is on GSM technologies, but could present itself as a strain on the manufacturer’s relationship with large CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless.

RIM’s revenues from Verizon Wireless has dropped from near 40% to around 10-15% according to one report, and that could be due to the carrier’s push on Android and the Droid brand as a viable iPhone competitor. Verizon Wireless has touted the Storm as an iPhone alternative, but that device was met with mixed reviews. Since the Storm, RIM and Verizon has pursued the Storm 2 with limited success.

The first BlackBerry 6 device may be the BlackBerry 9800, a sliding smartphone that belongs to the Bold branding, and may launch on AT&T later this summer or early fall.

(via: Rimarkable)