When announcing the launch of the new Pearl 3G, President and Co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM), Mike Lazaridis, said that the BlackBerry Pearl 3G was 'unlike any other smartphone in the world'. He was correct.

On first inspection it could appear that RIM’s latest BlackBerry Pearl offering was suffering from an identity crisis. Gone is the familiar ‘qwerty’ keyboard so synonymous with the brand, replaced instead with a more traditional alphanumeric keypad.

However, the handset indicates growing consumer demand for business quality communications technology in their lives away from the workplace and its integration into just one device. Praise for the new BlackBerry Pearl has been gushing.

One impressed user wrote that he “would be surprised if there is anything it cannot do.”

Reviews have applauded the BB Pearl’s usability, its size (it is the smallest BlackBerry handset yet), its 3.2 megapixel camera and its functionality. Like other models in the BlackBerry range, the new BlackBerry Pearl 3G allows the user to organise their lives via a single device.

The real story, though, is the rapidly increasing popularity of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). Because the BB Pearl so fantastically caters for both the business and consumer markets and as RIM have sold millions of BlackBerry devices globally, BBM is to become a more important means of business communication.

Instantaneous and available on BlackBerry devices, including the new BlackBerry Pearl which hit the shops earlier this year, the ease and speed of communication could enable an ever more decentralised workplace to remain connected on the move without having to use email, though the BlackBerry Pearl 9105 3G puts email communication in the palm of your hand.

With time at a premium, BBM, and the BlackBerry Pearl 3G, could prove to be the ideal marriage of usability, style and performance for an ever better connected generation.