Has RIM’s R&D department been using Motorola as a role model?  According to The Boy Genius‘ sources, the upcoming BlackBerry 9xxx-series smartphone is going to miss its original predicted May/June release date, and instead will hit the streets in July/August (but more like the latter), probably with an AT&T six month exclusive in the US.  If true, it would make it 15 months or so since RIM announced a brand new (rather than a variant) handset.

Current thinking is that the 9xxx-series will be RIM’s first HSDPA handset, after company president Mike Lazaridis confirmed to reporters that he has a prototype of the new model that uses the high-speed data connection.  Further specs are expected to include  a full QWERTY keyboard, 480 x 320 display, GPS and WiFi.