BlackBerry OS (Operating System)

BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system, developed by Research In Motion(RIM) for its BlackBerry line of smartphone handheld devices.The operating system provides multitasking and supports specialized input devices that have been adopted by RIM for use in its handhelds, particularly the trackwheel, trackball, and most recently, the trackpad and touchscreen.
The BlackBerry platform is perhaps best known for its native support for corporate email, through MIDP 1.0 and, more recently, a subset of MIDP 2.0, which allows complete wireless activation and synchronization with Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, or Novell GroupWise email, calendar, tasks, notes, and contacts, when used with BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The operating system also supports WAP 1.2.
Updates to the operating system may be automatically available from wireless carriers that support the BlackBerry over the air software loading (OTASL) service.
Third-party developers can write software using the available BlackBerry API classes, although applications that make use of certain functionality must be digitally signed.

*Current versions:

While RIM develops and releases updated versions of its operating system to support each device, it is up to the individual carriers to decide if and when a version is released to its users.On April 2010 RIM announced the new BlackBerry OS 6.0 version,which was released in the 3rd quarter 2010.RIM announced BlackBerry OS 7 on 2nd May 2011. It would be released in Summer 2011. RIM announced that current devices would not be updated to BlackBerry OS 7 (No Legacy Device Support). RIM also announced the BlackBerry Bold Touch (Blackberry Bold 9930 & 9900) which runs Blackberry OS 7.

BlackBerry OS version is currently available:

➢BlackBerry OS 4.5.0
Trackball: Pearl 8100 8110 8120 8130 Curve (Baby Bear) 8300 Curve (Momma Bear) 8320 Curve 8310 (Huron) 8800 8820 8830
➢BlackBerry OS 4.6.0
Trackball: Pearl Flip (Kickstart) 8220
➢BlackBerry OS 4.6.1
Trackball: Pearl Flip (Kickstart) 8230
➢BlackBerry OS 5.0.0
Trackball : Curve 8350i  Curve (Papa Bear) 8330 Curve 2 (Gemini) 8520 Curve 2 (Aries) 8530 Curve (Javelin) 8900 Bold 9000 Tour (Niagara) 9630
Touchscreen: Storm (Thunder) 9530 Storm 2 (Odin) 9550  
➢BlackBerry OS 6.0.0
Trackpad : Pearl 3G (Stratus) 9100 Curve 3G (Kepler) 9300 Curve 3G 9330 Bold (Essex) 9650 Style (Oxford) 9670 Bold 2 (Onyx) 9700 Bold (r020) 9780
Trackpad/Touchscreen: Torch (Teledega) 9800
Features:

Intuitive, fluid design: sleek visuals, easy multitasking and smart organization

Simple setup: when you power up for the first time, you’ll see a short intro video, then go straight to setting up and personalizing

Social feeds and views: see all your social and RSS feeds in one place

Faster, richer web browsing: pages load fast and there's tabbed browsing so you can have multiple web pages open at once

Engaging multimedia: album art, new camera modes, sharing, a built-in YouTube app and more

Universal search: search everything on your smartphone at once and reach out to the web too
(source:en.wikipedia.org)