Ontario-based Research in Motion launched its latest smartphone Tuesday, a touchscreen Blackberry with slide-out keyboard the company hopes will wrest market share away from rival Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

The company unveiled the Torch 9800 and its new operating system to a small group of reporters in New York.

"Today we are celebrating what may well be the most important phone we have had in our history," said Mike Lazaridis, one of the company's two CEOs.

RIM hailed the new device as the world's first smartphone to contain both touchscreen capabilities and a keyboard, and touted its improved web-browsing capabilities, which some have considered a BlackBerry weakness.

The company also hailed its new Wi-Fi Music Sync, which allows Torch users to access and update their music libraries over Wi-Fi.

Other user-friendly features include built-in links to social media websites, and automatic text formatting for easier reading.

Ian Lee, a business professor at Carleton University, said that it's "do or die" time for RIM, citing the growing competition in the tech sector.

"Innovate or die is the message, especially for technology companies," he added. "They have to put out the newest developments or they run the risk of being beaten up and falling to the wayside."

But tech expert Marc Saltzman said the Torch's specs "aren't that impressive," and pointed out the phone offers a 3.2-inch screen, a camera, a Qwerty keyboard and the ability to streamline social media accounts, all of which are found on other phones on the market.

"We've seen a lot of this already, but I hope for BlackBerry's sake, for Research in Motion, it's more than the sum of its parts," Salztman told CTV News Channel on Tuesday after the phone's launch.

"I think some of the key advantages with this new BlackBerry Torch…is that it has the best of bold worlds -- both a touchscreen and a glide-out keyboard -- and BlackBerry knows keyboards."

The phone will be available south of the border with AT&T beginning Aug. 12 for $199.99 with a two-year contract. Canadian providers Bell and Telus would only say Tuesday they will offer the new phone later this year, while Rogers said it will make an announcement "in the coming weeks."

With files from The Canadian Press