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Research In Motion is to launch a new model of its BlackBerry handheld email device which is intended to compete directly with Apple's iPhone and other popular smartphones.

The new handset, the BlackBerry Bold, is aimed not only at RIM's core business user base but also at the ever-growing retail market for such multi-function phones.

The Bold is the first BlackBerry to run on high-speed 3G mobile networks that allow it to offer a host of multi-media features.

Features include a two megapixel camera which can also be used to record videos, a video player to watch films and manage music collections, and also the most vivid display ever seen on a BlackBerry screen.

In addition, its design pays a certain homage to the iPhone, with a sleek black design set off by a silver rim around the edge of the handset.

In the US, RIM appreciates that the iPhone is probably its biggest threat when it comes to corporate users.

The Canadian-based company hopes the new handset will encourage business users to upgrade the handsets they currently have, rather than jump ship to the iPhone.

However, in Europe and Asia, the Bold should help RIM increase its subscriber base because 3G networks are more common than in the US.

Two-thirds of BlackBerry sales still come from the US and Canada, something which RIM is hoping will change with the launch of the Bold.

In a separate development, RIM, in tandem with Thomson Reuters and the Royal Bank of Canada, launched a $150m venture capital fund to invest in third-party applications and services for the BlackBerry to speed the development of additional services.

O2 has confirmed reports that the iPhone is not currently available anywhere in the UK, and customers may have to wait for the putative 3G Apple iPhone.

Last month the price of the 8GB Apple iPhone was slashed to £169 in preparation for the release of a 3G iPhone, which Apple is expected to launch in the US at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 9.

Stock of both the 8GB and the 16GB Apple iPhone models, have flown off UK shelves, forcing service provider O2 to admit that no stock remains and the original iPhone will not re-appear. However, with no definite UK release date for the 3G iPhone, Brits could be waiting some time before they can get their hands on any model of Apple's hybrid mobile phone, media player and web browser.

The Carphone Warehouse has not yet officially confirmed it has no iPhones available, but its website highlights that they have no stock.

Both O2 and The Carphone Warehouse have said that the 16GB iPhone may yet appear later this month, but the word is not to expect a lot of stock to arrive.