For the BlackBerry family of smartphones and tablets, 2012 will be a decisive year. The BlackBerry offerings for the New Year were recently unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and they include a couple of new entries in their lineup of tablet computers and smartphones. Whether BlackBerry continues to be the favorite platform for mobile business services has a lot to do with what its parent company has in store this year.

BlackBerry 7 OS should provide ample footing to rejoin the pack of contemporaries, Android and iOS. With premium features, such as Documents To Go and BB Messenger 6, RIM will have no problems matching the productivity of competitors. With all of the new apps available, there’s nothing consumers won’t be able to accomplish with their digital device. Here’s a look at how RIM plans to edge out the competition and establish itself as the premier mobile device brand in 2012 and beyond:

Smartphones

One of the BlackBerry projects canceled prior to the CES was the BlackBerry 10 slider phone, codenamed Milan. It is not certain whether a new prototype of the BlackBerry 10 is in the works, which is something that insiders are predicting will be unveiled for the upcoming BlackBerry World Expo in May of 2012. The only two smartphone developments that are certain at this point are destined for emerging markets in Africa and East Asia: two new streamlined Curves. If there is a BlackBerry 10 release for the North American and European markets, it will not be available until around September.

Tablet Computers

The first BlackBerry PlayBook will be a 7-inch offering with a 3G chipset. The new Playbook 7-inch tablet will run on the new OS 2.0, an upgrade that RIM claims is strongly focused on improving the management of business services on the go. Users of the new PlayBook can expect a rich experience with the BlackBerry Bridge connection and synchronicity platform to seamlessly transfer, update and share information across tablets and smartphones. The PlayBook 7 is expected to debut in mid-February, followed by a more powerful PlayBook 10 in December, which will feature a Long Term Evolution (LTE) chipset.