BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) yesterday unveiled a number of announcements at its annual Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES) in Orlando, Florida, as reports linked the vendor to production of a new version of its touch screen Storm smartphone amid top-selling US sales. Reuters notes that, according to research group NPD, RIM’s BlackBerry Curve moved past Apple’s iPhone in the first-quarter to become the best-selling consumer smartphone in the US. RIM, which already dominates the corporate smartphone market in the US, also had three of the top five best-selling consumer smartphones in the period, with the Storm at number three and the Pearl at number four. According to the company, more than half of RIM’s 25 million subscribers now fall into the non-corporate category. Separately, Reuters reported that RIM is planning a next-generation version of its Storm device. Co-CEO Jim Balsillie said Storm sales remain strong and added “we have next-generation devices with that and the whole roadmap.”

Meanwhile, the vendor yesterday made five new announcements at its enterprise event. The company is teaming with Cisco to let enterprises integrate their BlackBerrys with Cisco IP phones, providing single-number capability and other features, and also announced a business software partnership with Hewlett-Packard. Other news included a push API for consumer application developers, the availability of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0, and recognition that the Enterprise Server 5.0 has been awarded Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4+ (EAL4+) certification. Further, more high-profile, launches are expected this week. It has been reported that RIM will unveil the BlackBerry Niagara, a 3G device compatible with European and US networks, as well as Apex, a 3G flip phone. Both devices are rumoured to be made available from Verizon.