Do people really care what color their cell phone is? Blinged out teeny-bopper Paris Hilton models aside, did we really need the new, white Pearl, from RIM?Apparently, we did. Why the Pearl was charcoal-colored and not white to begin with, I couldn't say, but now we have both to choose from, at least for T-Mobile subscribers. (I should disclose up front that I am a Pearl user and admitted BlackBerry addict. Have they created the Betty Ford for techies yet?)

I think the elegance of the original pearl was that the track ball lit up a nice, pearly white, symbolizing the gracefullness of the device and its higher class yearnings over the brick-y BlackBerrys of the past. It's simply a sophisticated phone for the BlackBerry user who doesn't like holding calculator-sized slabs of plastic to their heads. Its cache is just there. True, the new white Pearl does that, too, but it doesn't contrast well against the rest of the phone.

The thing that bugs me about white cell phones is that they just don't look serious. I've seen scads of them at trade shows, and when I see white, I automatically think "toy". They just aren't business-y. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't "business" BlackBerry's stock in trade?

Maybe the white pearl is for bid-ness, yo.

Yeah, that's it. We're supposed to buy into the whole notion that cell phones are to be urban, personalized, diamond encrusted, covered with stickers, and somehow distinctly ours. Lindsay and Paris look out, here comes the white pearl, and it will be way sexier than whatever crappy 3 karat accessory you're carrying around.

Hey, come to think of it, the white pearl will definitely stand out in a dark nightclub, especially one with black lights. How did I not see it, it's the perfect play by RIM. They're geniuses! They had it figured out all along.

Us business folks who need to project some sort of cool image when we go out partying at night are saved! Rather than pull out those bulky 8700s, we'll slip out our white Pearls and have them glow with that distinctive un-earthly color when they are bathed in black light. It'll make us look so hip to have a radioactive phone in our hands, we'll be the talk of the nightclub.

Either that or the laughing stock. You pick.

Either way, the guy/gal you're trying to pick up on the other side of the bar will notice you.