Just at the time when Palm posted its third quarter loss; just at the time when Palm is hoping some windfall from its upcoming multimedia smartphone Palm Pre, the reports about BlackBerry Niagara are around! According to the reports, BlackBerry Niagara could be released in May. Well, the reports are not good for Palm, which is gearing up to launch its Palm Pre this summer.

The Street this week quoted analysts saying the BlackBerry Niagara will land on Verizon Wireless' network in just about two months. However, it said nothing about exact release data or pricing model of BlackBerry Niagara.

According to reports, BlackBerry Niagara, the next smartphone from the Research In Motion's popular line of BlackBerry Curve devices, is expected to be bigger than the Curve but smaller than the BlackBerry Bold. Similar to the Bold, the BlackBerry Niagara will feature 480 x 320 screen and will run the 624MHz CPU processor. The BlackBerry Niagara will run BlackBerry OS 4.6. It will feature a full QWERTY keyboard, EV-DO Rev. A, a GPS, a 3.2-megapixel camera and BES 5.0 support.

What is more, Apple has recently unveiled iPhone OS update 3.0, which indicates a new iPhone. According to reports, Apple is also planning to release its new iPhone this summer, likely to be in June. And, according to the reports, Palm is also eying for June launch of its Pre.

According to analysts, it's going to be a great smartphone season, as the Palm Pre, new iPhone, and BlackBerry Niagara are expected to hit the market around the same time, in May or June. So the stage is set for "summer slam" of three smartphones!