Remember when having a Blackberry phone was considered “hip”? It really did make you cutting edge, with the ability to surf the web and also complete actual work, Blackberry’s were the ultimate in productivity and cell phone design. This little known company had the cell phone world abuzz, and you couldn’t keep them in stick.

Fast forward a couple short years and things have done a complete 180 for RIM Technologies (makers of the Blackberry line). With iPhone, Android, and even Windows phone garnering a larger market share, Blackberry has been hard pressed to keep pace with rapidly evolving offerings of its competitors. To think, things used to be so promising:

Indeed, app makers have been abandoning Blackberry in droves, which makes the phones less than attractive in this competitive niche. The operating system, once industry leading in productivity, has aged badly and now feels cumbersome. Many are sounding the death knell for their beloved BBs.

However, it appears that RIM is not going to simply lay down and die. According to TGdaily, Blackberry is set to release as many as 7 new handsets this calendar year, and thanks to their critically lauded Playbook, finally has an OS capable of competing with the leading brands.

Can Blackberry get up off the canvas? More importantly, have their users moved on?