Looks like there is some excitement today on the announcement of the new Blackberry "Bold" which is Research in Motion's (RIMM) foray into 3G; Apple's (AAPL) turn comes soon for their 3G entry. It feels like I am doing more product discussion [May 1: A New Phone for your CrackBerry Addicts] than stock discussion of late with RIMM. Jim Goldman from CNBC details how this smartphone war is shaping up, and if you'd like a video look at how the phone looks/works you can click here.

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• It's been a year since RIM released an update, and during that time, just about every spotlight has turned to the iPhone from Apple with so many experts ceding the market to the upstart touch-screen wonder.
• And the Bold is something to behold. I haven't talked to a single person who has seen it, touched it, played with it, whose first reaction wasn't "I want that."
• The particulars shape up this way: First, no touch-screen on the Bold as has been widely rumored. Instead, a beautifully rich, half-VGA, 408x380, 65,000 color screen where, I'm told, images jump off the screen.
• Other notable items: 1Gb of on-board memory with capacity for 16 gigs; wi-fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a 2 megapixel camera, full HTML browsing (like the iPhone), 3.5G and good battery life.
• RIM isn't offering any specifics on release dates, but it should be some time this summer. A source tells me it will be priced competitively with iPhone, probably in the $399 or below range.
• Trouble for Apple is that, unlike Vista, RIM is indeed offering a compelling alternative to iPhone. The media player and spectacular screen will appeal to consumers and business users alike. The RIM keyboard will give the device the edge over Apple's iPhone for enterprise users as well. Business users who may have been on the fence between the two may lean their way back into the RIM camp with Bold.
• Still, several analysts are out this morning with bullish reports on Apple, including Piper Jaffray, which says current iPhone versions are in incredibly short supply lending credence to the June 3G release. And American Technology Research raised its Apple target to $220 from $210, and raised its iPhone shipments to 11 million and 17 million in calendar years 2008 and 2009 respectively, from 7 million and 10 million.