Rogers has confirmed that the BlackBerry Torch 9800 will be in stores starting September 24. The price will be $199.99 on a three-year term.

Presumably, customers will also be able to snag the device, which employs both a touch screen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, for higher prices on one and two-year contracts, and possibly outright as well.

"Rogers customers are excited about the new BlackBerry Torch coming to Canada," says John Boynton, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Rogers. "We're pleased to add the Torch to our substantial lineup of leading BlackBerry smartphones for businesses and consumers."

The BlackBerry Torch is the first of Research in Motion's (RIM's) smartphones to come out of the gate with the new 6.0 operating system, which includes improvements like a customizable home screen with easily movable icons, the ability to integrate information from BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace through Social Feeds, and threaded text messages. More robust touch screen operation is also said to afford a more intuitive experience. The Torch is also the Canadian company's first hybrid touch-screen/QWERTY keyboard phone.

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