BlackBerry handsets are not entering the wow factor in many eyes of the customer; no new phones to excite are being released, so where does this leave RIM and current owners? So let’s take a look at was has happened and what can be done.

RIM shares went up by 8.6 percent last Wednesday, which is a good rebound after certain declines when you consider last Tuesday took a 3.5 percent drop, Thorsten Heins replaced co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. Things could get better when the upcoming BlackBerry 10 smartphones release somewhere around September 2012, Reuters reports that RIM’s Nasdaq-listed shares closed at $16.30, and its Toronto stock was at C$16.40, this leaves a drop of 75 percent in the past year.

We talked about the new BlackBerry Curve 9320 and 9220 phones soon to be released, the 9320 features a 3.2 megapixel rear facing camera, 2.44-inch qVGA display, 512MB of RAM, quad-band, optical trackpad, QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, Bluetooth, FM radio, GPS, proximity sensor, magnetometer, accelerometer, and a microSD slot for up to 32GB.

The Curve 9220 features a 2.44-inch qVGA display, 512MB RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth, FM radio, magnetometer, 2 megapixel camera, QWERTY keyboard, accelerometer, quad-band and proximity sensor.

The question is “Are the two phones mentioned above enough to put BlackBerry where they once were?” Is there really a BlackBerry struggle where customers are thinking about the leaving choice? It exists and it’s happening.

Now we are only going on what we ask customers, we have had plenty of emails, social network reactions etc. We have even asked many questions, with one getting the most response, this question was “Have you left BlackBerry for another phone, if so what phone?”

We will not list every single comment, as this would be an endless page, we will give you a rough idea of what came in. A few have left BlackBerry for Android but miss BBM, another commenter said that they had a BB phone for two days because it was free, but could not live with it so stayed with their HTC Hero.

Other responses included one saying that they left BB before it became fashionable to leave them, and another ditching their BlackBerry phone after the Storm debacle for Android. Had a brief affair with an iPhone last year but now I’m just on a Galaxy Nexus.

Here are other comments regarding leaving BlackBerry, we will number them so it makes it easier to read: 1) I left BB when the 9700 ran its course and the MyTouch 4G came out. 2) Went to Atrix, then Dell Venue Pro (WP), then Galaxy Note. I’d return if BB10 hits a home run. 3) Went to iPhone 4s from BB Bold. It’s a company phone, so I could have picked the same BB, a 2 year-old Android, or the brand new iPhone, not the hardest choice I’ve ever made. 4) Nope I haven’t left my bb but now it’s just a back up phone. I use it only once my iPhone is low on battery life. 5) My friend is leaving BB for iPhone because he will be able to do the stuff that I do on iPhone, he is now getting the iPhone 4S. 6) I’ve left bb for iPhone I was happy for a while than I’ve decided to give a go to windows phone it was the worst 4 days of my life I’ve sold it after 4 days got nexus s and that was the best choice.

We all know that iOS and Android phones are the dominant in the smartphone market, and BlackBerry has its main selling point, which is simply the BBM messaging service. iPhone users have iMessage but it has never been as good as BBM, so if BlackBerry phones are not doing well with its current or future customers, then RIM should consider BBM on other platforms.

Well, the good news is that you cannot rule out a cross-platform BBM, RIM’s CEO Thorsten Heins even said you should never rule this out.

Is there room in the market now for BlackBerry to make people sit up and say “Yes now that is a phone I really want?”