BlackBerry Vs. The iPhone: Who Will Claim The Prosumer?BlackBerry Vs. The iPhone: Who Will Claim The Prosumer?

It looks like the coming of the iPhone could revolutionize the enterprise device market by making all enterprise-focused phones just a little more consumer friendly in orientation. Or better yet, prosumer. Today, Research in Motion stepped into the arena with the iPhone here at 3GSM in Barcelona by announcing the BlackBerry 8800, a fully prosumer BlackBerry.The BlackBerry 8800 is thin (but not as thin as the iPhone) and comes with an MP3 player, video player, camera, and GPS. Take that, Apple.

AT&T will offer the BlackBerry 8800 next week for $299, roughly half the price of the iPhone.

RIM has been moving into the prosumer market for a while, with its glitzy Pearl.

And RIM isn't alone. Other new smartphones are touting features that are sure to make many CIOs and IT managers a little nervous. Traditionally, IT managers haven't had to worry when it comes to RIM's BlackBerry devices because they were enterprise-grade and enterprise-ready. But as smartphones feature more consumer applications, and business users demand more consumer features on their smartphones, this may come to end, even for the beloved BlackBerry.

The iPhone is setting the agenda here at 3GSM six weeks after Steve Jobs wowed the global media and blogosphere with it in San Francisco.