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On February 12, Rogers Communications and RIM announced the BlackBerry 8800, the newest addition to Rogers’ lineup of BlackBerry devices.

Operating on Rogers’ high-speed EDGE network, the quad-band BlackBerry 8800 is the thinnest BlackBerry handset yet. It incorporates built-in GPS (Global Positioning System), a full QWERTY keyboard, RIM’s new trackball navigation system for fast and intuitive navigation (i.e The Pearl), a media player, and a microSD expandable memory slot for storage of music and videos. The BlackBerry 8800 offers features including support for phone, email, text and instant messaging, web browser, organizer, multimedia, corporate data applications and more.

The BlackBerry 8800 features built-in GPS and supports location-based services applications. It includes BlackBerry Maps, which provides on-screen driving directions with the ability to track the route via the GPS – and integrates with other BlackBerry applications, so users can generate a map from an address in their BlackBerry Address Book and send maps via email from their BlackBerry 8800. Rogers’ customers can also receive turn-by-turn voice and on-screen driving directions on the BlackBerry 8800 with TeleNav GPS Navigator(TM. TeleNav GPS Navigator includes turn-by-turn voice and onscreen driving directions with 3D full-color moving maps.

The BlackBerry 8800 will be available in Canada exclusively at Rogers Wireless and is expected to be available in retail and business channels in March.

For more information on the device you can visit www.rogers.com and www.blackberry8800.com

After unsuccessful attempts to unseat both Apple’s iTunes Music Store and iPod music player, Sony Ericsson is going after a market it is already established in by combining two of its current products into one.

Announced yesterday was the introduction of the Sony Ericsson W800 Walkman, the first cell phone to include the Walkman name. The device is expected to go on sale later this year and will include a 512MB storage card, allowing for approx. 120 songs.

Sony is looking to battle the likes of Nokia, who struck a deal with Microsoft, and Motorola, who has already announced iTunes compatible phones.