BlackBerry 7 device lives on as RIM brand gasps its last breath

Yesterday, we feasted our eyes on a leaked BlackBerry 9720 handset running BlackBerry 7. It was a little odd to see, considering that the company is going all-in with BlackBerry 10, but it seems Heins and company wants to see BlackBerry 7 continue slightly. Heins told shareholders today that there will be a BlackBerry 7 device released later this year.

We're not sure if Heins is referring to the 9720, but we have no reason to not think that it's the 9720. Either way, BlackBerry fans will be treated with one last hurrah of BlackBerry 7 before it officially gets overtaken by BlackBerry 10. Along with the farewell to BB7 is the ousting of the RIM brand, as BlackBerry becomes the official name of the company after shareholders approved the name change today.

The Canadian company announced plans for the name change back in January when they unveiled BlackBerry 10 and new corresponding devices. However, in the business world, you can't simply declare something and expect everything to fall into place. There's paperwork to be done and shareholders to please, but BlackBerry's shareholders have officially greenlit the name change during today's meeting.

However, since January, Research In Motion has been using the BlackBerry name as their company name in marketing materials, and they even went ahead and changed their ticker symbol to "BBRY," but in order to make it official, they had to get the vote of the company's shareholders.

As for this upcoming BlackBerry 7 device, details are still quite scarce. It's said it'll pack 3G data and a removable battery, but information about the internal hardware and even the screen size and resolution still isn't getting out just yet. Hopefully, we'll learn more about the device in the coming months.

VIA: USA Today, Engadget